Heartwarming Video Shows Elephant Family’s Annual Migration In The Nilgiris

The change in weather often prompts animals to migrate in an attempt to meet their needs and reach a better climate. Recently, IAS officer Supriya Sahu shared a video that captured a herd of elephants in the Nilgiri hills starting their migration to Kerala. While sharing this video, Sahu wrote, “A beautiful family of elephants moves with their little ones somewhere in Nilgiris. The annual migration season of elephants from the deciduous forests of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the Moist evergreen forests of Kerala has begun as summer is setting in this part of the western ghats. Video by DFO Tamil Nadu Forest Dept.”

This video prompted many to highlight important issues like making wildlife corridors so that wild animals can safely move from one place to another without coming in the way of farmlands or residential areas.

Making this point, an X user wrote, “Madam, this new thrust to tea estate tourism should be handled in a cautious way based on the animal movement. I am worried about tea estates in Pandalur, Gudalur taluk in the elephant path to be part of it.” Another person said, “Please work with tea\coffee planters to ensure these divine animals have a corridors to pass through to avoid human and animal conflicts.”

An X user observed, “Elephants migration is incredible, because they walk through so many miles continuously, day and night everyday, its shows the innate intelligence that elephants possess to migrate through forests, during certain period of the year, to right spots to find their food and water.”

Another wrote, “Now wouldn’t it be wonderful if those elephants are left alone from human intervention…I have heard some are removed at times for the parades & festivals. Brutally removed from their families & TRAINED in a most brutal manner. If this is not true, let me know.”

As per Wildlife SOS, a conservation non-profit organisation, relentless construction between wildlife migration routes and climate change has caused elephants to unpredictably change their migration route and timeline. Back in 2020 the Uttarakhand Forest Department observed that “elephants were found to be further up in the hills; they had migrated from the lower ranges to the middle ranges of the Himalayas.” Similarly, an elephant herd named ‘Monica’ in south India, was known for migrating from Kerala to Tamil Nadu in August, but in 2022 it arrived at its destination a month earlier, causing disturbance among locals who were not prepared to receive them.