Nature is sacred: start worshiping at home.

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We have often been told: “this place is sacred, keep it as it is” about Cheetal Walk. In a way, it reveals that people associate pristine nature with sacredness. Cheetal Walk however is nothing like pristine. For millennia, people have inhabited this area, hunted, cultivated, cut trees and herded cattle. It looks pristine today because it remained untouched for a few generations, and because we have decided to protect it.

Einstein, I believe, once said something like: “or everything is sacred or nothing is sacred.” People may consider nature to be sacred because it is the source of our very lives. Wild animals are beautiful, natural landscapes are absolutely gorgeous and intelligence seems to flow from every corner. The more we learn, the more we see how the law of nature produces a machinery compared to which our modern technology is child’s play.

But the same people who appreciate nature’s “sanctity” (maintained by private people, communities or governments), find no contradiction in getting into their SUVs, driving back on mad roads into overpopulated cities, work in small offices and live in boxes. This is modern lifestyle, you cannot do anything about it, there is no choice…

The problem is not so much that life is difficult in a polluted, inhuman reality. We are all there. The problem lies in the schizophrenia we have developed about nature, the separations we have built. On the one side, we have our busy cities where we are active, smart and make money, and on the other side, we have a “pleasant” stetting to unwind and relax. Today, the holy-day (also supposed to be dedicated to the sacred) is used to consume the remaining wild, to desecrate our world a little more with activities that do not differ from our routine: I want money, I want to achieve, I want to see a tiger, I want a selfie with an elephant, I want a bonfire, I want to see a charge, I want to see animals at night, I want a good road to get there, I want a spa, etc.

Now, if you consider everything to be sacred, then your office is sacred, your flat or house is sacred, your car is sacred. From all these gadgets, emerge a relationship with nature. So why not use a little bit of your hard-earned money to help conservation? Why not put some (rustic) tomatoes to grow on your balcony? Why not purchase a convenient car that pollutes less? Why not preserve an untouched space in your garden? Why not have a holy-day in a good eco-resort that tries to preserve nature instead of destroying it (this is hard to find and if you check, you will see that this industry has abysmal records to the point of destroying their very source of survival).

Next time you tell a guy that nature is sacred, if you do this, he will consider you to be a saint instead of a worshiper of futilities.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud.

Surviving the charge of a duck

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A terrifying duck charge

A terrifying duck charge

As I am often far from Pondicherry where we live, my wife purchased three ducks for company. One male duck is territorial and charges. I have seen our servant giving him a good whack with a stick (she was told not to hit the duck) because she is frightened of him, even though he is a perfectly innocuous animal. Its bite is nothing more than a tickle. However, I was also charged and observed that I felt a strong reaction. A duck weights two kilos and a human-being sixty kilos. A human-being is thirty times heavier than a duck. In the same manner an elephant is tens of times bigger than a human being, but would feel a bolt of emotions if anyone goes directly towards it.

In my opinion, there are four situations pertaining to encounters with elephants or other wildlife: the animal is unaware of human presence, aware but comfortable, uncomfortable, and sufficiently disturbed to flee or charge. I am talking of situations instead of distance because one can be very close to animals but undetected if our scent does not waft towards them. Response distances also varies with sex and conditions. Female elephants with babies are extremely aggressive and will be uncomfortable with humans as soon as they detect them.

With wildlife, responsible people will not go to the extent of disturbing animals. It is unethical to ask jeep drivers to provoke an elephant to charge, and photographers should not disturb birds roosting or nesting. Wildlife observation by itself provides sufficient pleasure when animals are left to their own devises. Beautiful encounters happen only when their behavior is natural, when they are not threatened in any way.

Many television programs disregard ethics to be sensational. Professional people disturb animals only I they must. For example, animal surveys create disturbance, but still need to be carried out if we want to know how many animals are present in a reserve. Beyond absolute necessity, no one should take the liberty to provoke additional stresses to species that are on the verge of extinction, because it endangers them further. Moreover, it is dangerous and too many people are killed by “accident”, that are not really accidents but involuntary or voluntary provocations.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud.

Revelation on World Elephant Day

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Picotti, the Messenger.

Picotti, the Messenger.

 

It is now two years that I live almost continuously in the jungle surrounded by elephants. Little by little, I rediscover for myself what must have been the tribal’s knowledge. Therefore, I am not the first on the elephants’ continent, far from it. I even remember seeing on TV Indonesian villagers allowing elephants to “use” their village land during migration. However, experience is different from knowledge. It provides a sense of closeness, a bond.

In the book we recently edited –Giant Hearts, Priya Davidar and I tell an experience we had. To make it short, I went in the middle of an elephant herd to give water to the elephants. As I am better experienced with the elephant body language, I know what to do and how not to disturb them. The elephants observed me and came to drink when the tank was full and we thought it was pure grace. But it was not. It was normal behavior. Elephants are not as aggressive as we think they are and this is how I rediscovered it for myself.

Before leaving Cheetal Walk for a short while, I had to go to the well where a young bull, I was not acquainted with, was standing at nightfall. I decided to go in the full view of the elephant who was 20 to 30 m from the well. However, I walked slowly, deliberately, talking softly to the elephant, making sure he could see me. I always observed him, never went straight at him and I had decided to stop and return to the house at the slightest hint of discomfort. He could charge or run away. But looking at me, he continued to feed, scratched the soil with his tusks, dusted himself. I did my work and I slowly came back to the house, all the time watching the elephant. He did not budge, did not bother.

I was seriously puzzled by this experience that happened on 12 August 2015, World Elephant Day, because it went against what I knew about elephants. My earlier encounter with the herd was exceptional, I thought. I reasoned that the herd or some individuals had a purpose for letting me approach. They may have seen other persons providing water. But here, there was no purpose. The elephant was at peace with me because I approached the right way and did not go beyond his level of comfort, which varies with circumstances. Females with young would have far lower thresholds of tolerance.

With this encounter, I now tend to believe that the aggressiveness we see in elephants is mostly a response to our aggressiveness. We need to change.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud.

The Pope’s Encyclical

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The Pope’s Encyclical is a welcome wake-up call for the Christians, particularly Catholics of course, and some Protestants and maybe other people of other faiths as well. It reminds the Catholics of the importance of the environment and of other forms of life, a welcome move since to the Christian view, Man is the lonely apex of creation.

After a review of the environmental problems and its associated sociological problems, the Encyclical comes with a more theological chapter on Christianity and its understanding of our relationship with nature. Another chapter attempts to go into the root cause of environmental problems, i.e. the technological paradigm. The Pope considers it to form a set of beliefs that over-rides all other beliefs, in particular the notion that Man’s well-being (in a holistic, spiritual understanding) should be the aim of all activities. In economy for example, we are promised future happiness in a world with infinite resources. Optimist technocrats also prophesy solutions to all our problems with science and technology. This attitude percolates into all our lives with a conception of progress that pushes people to “go forward” without thinking twice. And in the Christian perspective, this is considered a sin because this mindset causes a shift from God, the source and the purpose of all existence on whom our focus should remain. This false “wealth” god creates environmental destruction and I must agree with the Pope that our planet is in dire straits. At last a leader is courageous enough to say it.

I don’t believe in happy technological endings and I don’t see the Eldorado some economists promise us. We are richer, maybe. Are we happier or better off? See in your own city how people are ready to kill early morning, stuck in traffic jams. As an ecologist I believe in frugality and in God, depending upon the airline, the weather, and the experience of the Captain. Otherwise, I am a rationalist, empirical sceptic as Nassim Taleb (a trader turned philosopher) puts it. With this prudently laid disclaimer, I would humbly disagree with the Pope on the source of the problem. To me, the source of all problems is political. Even in democratic regimes, we just don’t have abandoned our judgements (sold our souls) regarding technology. We have abandoned our very responsibilities in delegating our power. When we delegate our power with a vote, we hand over responsibilities to professional politicians who do what want their rich sponsors. They become kings. They form dynasties. Early democratic experiment in Greece had citizens taken for a short time at random, to write the Constitution (the law of the law). In that way, common people kept control of the law without conflict of interest. No one could be the king but everyone was involved in the public life.

What would happen to the environment if we dare try empower citizen to write and control the law? This, I believe, could save our planet and is worth trying. Amen.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

The beast is us

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Dame Daphne Sheldrick

Dame Daphne Sheldrick

I came to know about Dame Daphne Sheldrick through our book Giant Hearts. She graciously offered to write the preface and I discovered the extent of her work in Africa. I also discovered this picture of her on the web and somehow, this fragile old lady holding a young African elephant that looks absolutely overpowering and affectionate, made me wonder. This is supposed to be, with the Asian elephant, the horrible beast source of conflicts.

Now, if you consider the Greeks and the Turks, the Chinese and the Japanese, the Zulus and the Boers, the English and the French, etc. you see that we humans, are impossible to live with. Elephants are “in conflict” with us because of our inability to co-exist.

Some may say: “but farmers really suffer from elephants.” This is true. But, first remove the illegal settlements and reduce the provocations (like stopping a car near an elephant). And second consider the fact that nothing is done to organize activities at the regional level (like advising farmers on which crop to grow and helping them to shift to a better kind of agriculture). From my experience, when elephants are undisturbed and not attracted by our food, they are calm and peaceful animals. We see them every day crossing the Trust’s property not bothered one bit by our presence (we slowly come indoors), our noise or even low conversations. Not once in two years have I felt threatened.

As many in conservation biology say, the conflict is actually mostly a human – human conflict and not really a human – wildlife conflict. This is true with all of wildlife all over the world. As far as the elephant is concerned, conflict has a lot to do with management. But can we manage biodiversity if we can’t tolerate our neighbor? Can we do it if we don’t want to help the poor farmers?

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

The road to freedom and speed limits

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Tourists in Bandipur

Tourists in Bandipur

We live near the Masinagudi – Ooty road, coming from Mysore. It is a small road because it crosses protected areas. However, getting out of the jungle on the road, is being caught in a worse type of jungle. During the week, the first vehicle you are likely to encounter is a jeep taxi rushing madly, honking all the way, carrying people who are probably not in a hurry. Your next vehicle will a “vegetable express”, a small truck whose mission in life seems to be providing the Ooty market with unripe material: the speed at which they go prevents any cabbage from reaching maturity. During the weekend, you will meet medium sized buses and SUVs. Which is the most dangerous is difficult to say. Small buses are dangerous by nature because the tourists (who are probably not in a hurry either), need to be offloaded in Ooty for reasons that have been forgotten long ago. Lately, I found that the Toyota Fortuner drivers were particularly bad because, like elephant or tiger experts, they seem to think that the qualities of their pet toy -big, fast, powerful- are transferred to them. They take up the middle of the road, to be skillfully avoided by civilized people.

In spite of the attractive notice boards of the Forest Department: NO parking, NO cooking, NO photography, NO feeding animals, people do just the opposite. Each time we travel to Masinagudi (8 km away), we see a violation of some rules. The speed limit, scantly indicated, is 40 km per hour, to avoid road kills. In an area where tigers seem to be recovering from extinction, no driver is aware that, beyond the speed limit, he can kill a tiger crossing the road. Over speeding is so common that I came to believe that we own the slowest vehicle in the region. People also park their vehicles to picnic the jungle, preferably in front of the NO boards. They leave their trash behind, tease animals and risk their lives. With the present violation of laws, the respective departments can easily earn Rs 1,00,000 per month in fines between Masinagudi and Ooty.

Why being repressive when people need a little bit of freedom (and pay taxes to enjoy the reserves)? With dangerous and at the same time fragile wildlife, there is nothing much to do but apply the law (it is not right now). This brings us to the other part of the question that we must ask as conservation biologists: where are the lucrative infrastructures, activities and locations where people can have a little bit of freedom and fun without creating problems for the environment?

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

Joy of discovery – Material physics

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Large (African) elephant collider. Thanks Martin Colbeck!

Large (African) elephant collider. Thanks Martin Colbeck!

Even though we belong to this narrow field of conservation biology, we have an eye on other sciences, including physics. Not a very knowledgeable eye though, don’t ask for explanations. Our vision is sufficient however to know that when facts falsify theories, revolutions happen. This is exactly what happened to Suchitra Sebastian (the serious scientist of the family), condensed matter physicist at the University of Cambridge. She and her colleagues have discovered that samarium hexaboride behaves both as a conductor and an insulator in a way that is still unexplained by theory. This was the first time ever such an explosive news about the properties of matter occurs so closely to us, prompting us to share the joy of this discovery.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150702-paradoxical-crystal-baffles-physicists/

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

Elephant mortality paper – Article sur la mortalité des éléphants

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Elephant dung with plastics

Elephant dung with plastics

http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4332.7436-42

We recently published a paper (link above) on elephant mortality to analyze the causes of elephant mortality in some reserves of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. Poaching has decreased although it remains a threat, but others such as disease, accidents and “unknown” causes of death are on the rise. The “unknown” cause of death is the second highest after poaching over thirty years and is increasing. Why is that so? All causes of death may not be identifiable when carcasses are highly decomposed. But then, if detection is becoming better, missing the cause of death because of decomposition should decrease. Because of this paradox all efforts should be made to identify better the cause of death and if impossible (in case of advanced decomposition), it should be mentioned in the databases. Plastics, that are so widespread in the reserves, could be an increasing cause of mortality by intestinal blockage and nothing is seriously done to address this pollution. However tedious it may be, some dissection and/or collection of samples should be performed, because “unknown” should not become equivalent to “concealed“. Moreover, database maintenance could easily be improved and made available to the public.

Nous avons récemment publié un article (lien ci-dessus) analysant les causes de la mortalité chez les éléphants dans des réserves de la Réserve de Biosphère des Nilgiris. Nous montrons que le braconnage a baissé, bien que restant une menace, alors que d’autres, tels que les maladies, accidents et causes ‘inconnues’ augmentent. Les causes ‘inconnues’ sont les plus importantes après le braconnage sur environ trente ans et cette catégorie augmente en importance. Pourquoi ? Toutes les causes de mortalité ne peuvent pas être identifiées en cas de décomposition avancée. Mais si la détection s’améliore, le fait de ne pas reconnaître la cause de la mort devrait diminuer. A cause de ce paradoxe, il faut faire au mieux pour identifier la cause et si impossible (en cas de décomposition), le noter dans la base de données. Les plastiques, tellement répandus dans les réserves, peuvent augmenter la mortalité en provoquant des blocages intestinaux, mais rien de sérieux n’est fait pour adresser cette pollution. Aussi difficile que cela puisse être, il faudrait faire quelques dissections et/ou collecter des échantillons, car ‘inconnu’ ne devrait pas devenir synonyme de ‘caché’. De plus, la maintenance de la base de données pourrait aisément être améliorée et disponible pour le public.

Priya Davidar

Choking news – Respirez l’air pue de la montagne

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Polluting bus

I recently went for the pollution control test in Ooty, the Queen of the Hills, in the center of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. Our jeep is 8 years old and, it is good to know whether or not we choke people when we go to the market in the already over polluted Ooty. Elephants kill approximately 500 people per year in India, but atmospheric pollution results in hundreds of thousand premature deaths in India every year. Consequently, checking vehicles is very, very important. At the testing center, there was a tractor, a new car and our Mahindra jeep. Very nice people, congenial atmosphere, pleasant. A picture was taken of the car’s plate, I paid my Rs 120 and off I went, I was in a hurry. Only driving back to the city center did I realize that no check whatsoever had been done. The emission levels I have on my form are fake. None of the vehicles were actually checked for pollution. These are the news for this week from one of the most important biodiversity hotspots of the Earth.

Je suis allé récemment faire le test anti-pollution à Ooty, la reine de la montagne, dans le centre de la Réserve de Biosphère des Nilgiris. Notre jeep a 8 ans et il est préférable de savoir si nous enfumons les gens lorsque nous allons au marché dans la petite ville super polluée d’Ooty. Les éléphants tuent environ 500 personnes par an en Inde, mais la pollution atmosphérique provoque des centaines de milliers de morts prématurées. En conséquence, vérifier l’émission des véhicules est très très important. Au centre de test, il y avait un tracteur, une nouvelle voiture et notre Boléro. Des gens très gentils, atmosphère détendue, plaisante. Une photo de la plaque d’immatriculation fut prise, j’ai payé mes 120 Rs et en avant, j’étais pressé. Ce n’est qu’en retournant au centre-ville que j’ai réalisé qu’aucun contrôle n’avait été fait. Les niveaux démission sur mon formulaire sont inventés. Aucun des véhicules n’a passé un test. Voilà donc les dernières nouvelles de la semaine, d’un des plus importants ‘points chauds’ de biodiversité de la planète.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

Giant Hearts available – Voyages au pays des géants

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Giant Hearts cover page

We are very happy to announce that our book on elephants is now published. In this book, renown scientists and authors take you to the world of elephants. Meeting elephants needs more kindness that you would imagine, this book can show you how to go.

Giant Hearts is available at Amazon (here Amazon India): http://www.amazon.in/Giant-Hearts-Travels-World-Elephants/dp/8129136996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434879149&sr=8-1&keywords=Giant+Hearts+travels+in+the+world+of+elephants

Nous sommes très heureux d’annoncer la publication de notre livre sur les éléphants. Dans ce volume, des scientifiques et des auteurs de renom vous emmènent dans le monde des éléphants. Rencontrer les éléphants requiert plus de gentillesse que vous pourriez imaginer et ce livre peut vous montrer comment se faire des amis chez les géants. Nous espérons une traduction fançaise… Ce livre est diponible en anglais sur Amazon.