What it means to share a home with Asian elephants

The people behind the early warning network

Niu and Ai are part of IFAW's Community Ranger Network Initiative, launched in 2021. Each is responsible for monitoring elephant activity within a designated area, although the movements of elephants frequently bring the rangers together. Their role is to understand where elephants are, anticipate where they may move next, and ensure that reliable information reaches people who can use it to make safer decisions.

On the morning after Niu's late-night patrol, he and Ai set out together. At the time, 11 elephants were moving around Puwen, including four adult males that usually travelled alone. The males were in musth, a period when their movements can become more active and less predictable, requiring additional attention from the rangers.

They travelled by motorbike until the track became too difficult to ride, then continued on foot. Fresh signs of elephant activity were scattered across the hillside, and the rangers slowed down to examine the terrain. Years of field experience have taught them to interpret tracks, disturbed vegetation, soil conditions, wind direction, and other details that can indicate where elephants have been and where they may be heading. What might look like an ordinary patch of disturbed earth can reveal the direction of travel, how recently a herd passed, and whether the elephants are likely to return.

Field knowledge is supported by equipment that extends the rangers' ability to monitor a large and complex landscape. Niu carries a torch, first aid supplies, measuring tools, community outreach materials, food and water, and a drone. Infrared cameras and other monitoring technologies also help provide information about elephant movements across forest edges and farmland.

The tools matter, but technology alone cannot build trust. That depends on people like Niu and Ai, who understand elephant behaviour, know the landscape, and have built relationships with the communities receiving their warnings. They provide the connection between information gathered in the field and decisions made by families at home.

Turning information into action

As elephants move through the landscape, Niu and Ai update their locations through an early warning system and share information with relevant community messaging groups. They also visit households to explain what the updates mean and help families make decisions that reduce the risk of an encounter.

A warning might mean delaying work in a field, avoiding a particular road, or waiting before entering the forest. At other times, an update reassures residents that elephants have moved away and normal activities can resume. During the rainy season, when elephant activity increases along forest edges and people spend more time farming, collecting mushrooms, and travelling through forested areas, this flow of information becomes especially important.

Technology can locate elephants and communicate information quickly, but coexistence depends on people who know how to interpret that information and are trusted to act on it. Niu and Ai are field monitors, educators, messengers, and neighbours. Their knowledge of elephant behaviour and relationships within the community turn data into practical decisions that help keep people and wildlife safe.