The movement of Cinta and her herd continues to be intensively monitored by our Elephant Conservation and Monitoring Units (ECMU), even though only radio-telemetry has been utilised during this period.
Cinta and her herd were guarded closely whilst they were close to a community hut
The dense forest cover where the elephants have been has posed a challenge for the monitoring of Cinta’s herd. The movement of the Cinta group encompasses several main areas such as ABT Block 1 and the Wildlife Conservation Area (WCA) within the PT.LAJ concession. Movement in the outer areas of ABT Block 1 is relatively dominated by using the border routes of the National Park, which are low in human disturbances. The movement of the Cinta group along the forest cover border and eucalyptus plantation area within the PT.WKS concession has been observed again during this period. The elephant herd has been observed dividing into smaller groups, and several young and adult male elephants have been observed within the various smaller groups. We estimate that there are 25-30 elephant individuals in the main Cinta elephant herd with various age structures.
Cinta ranging area
The high level of human activity within the Wildlife Conservation Area (WCA) is a major obstacle for Cinta’s herd. However, despite the high human activity in the WCA, the main rivers regularly used by the Cinta herd such as the Pekundangan River, Mendelang River, and Manggatal River have still been observed to be used as sources of salt licks and water for Cinta’s herd. With a movement area covering 167 km², Cinta’s herd has also been observed joining other GPS-collared elephants such as the young bull Teguh in the WCA area of PT.LAJ, Rahmad in the ABT Block 1 area, and Elephant Saleh in the PT.WKS concession with eucalyptus cover.
The ECMU recently captured this video of Cinta's herd from a high vantage point.
Thank you to our Cinta adopters for helping to keep her and the other elephants safe and protected in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem.
(Program run by Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Frankfurt Zoological Society)