The Elephant Corridor. A Myth
The Elephant Corridor in Sri-Lanka is a myth.
Yala, Wagamuwa, Wilpattu and Uda Walawe are not connected by a corridor for the elephants to move freely, since the rest of the land is densely populated and there is not even a hypothetical corridor.
My calculation is that not even one percent of the land is reserved for the elephants.
If I assume 10% (ten) of the land is allocated in a hypothetical space on this island as a zoological garden and all the elephants are relocated inside it for the people to see them as exhibits, and only 0.1% of the total population come to this putative zoological garden, to see them on one go (again hypothetical), there will be one man or woman standing every 10 feet (3.3 meters) of the perimeter and no elephant can move out without touching a human being.
If we get 1% to visit this zoo, one can stand and won’t be able to stretch the hands without pushing or shoving.
Elephant will have to trample 10 of them to get out of the perimeter and see the man’s world, which is fully developed.
One may wonder, why I used 10% which is high land mass in commercial concepts.
It is very simple.
My estimate is that there should be at least 35% of total land mass of the island to be reserved for rain forest, if we are to maintain at least 10% of our perennial rivers.
So take another 5% of for lakes, rivers and water bodies, we can assume that, we have 30% for the rain forest, the wild elephants should take major share of it, at least one third of it, which would be my target 10% of land reserve for elephants.
Please note that we have only about 1% occupying, water bodies equivalent to 870 km² of water or 400 square miles.
It is not enormous by any stretch of imagination, and can decline rapidly, if the rain fails for a prolong period.
That is another reason for elephant migration, looking for water bodies not only for foraging.
Currently, it is less than 25% may be touching 20% (we will be like Dubai in about another 50 years with the current development heist) and I say, not even 1% of the land is dedicated and left solely for our elephants.
So, the elephants have to, and they have no choice left, but to migrate through the developed land and we call it the encroachment and in actual fact it is the man who has encroached upon its habitat.
This is mainly due to our population explosion in relation to decline in elephant population.
So, by this unnatural selection, it will be only 500 elephants that will survive in the this land, and it is really an endangered species.
Stating that we have 5000 elephants in the forest is a mythical figure concocted by our Mega Media Men (M.M.M) to satisfy the politicians.
I think each elephant is counted ten (10) times in making that mythical figure, sometimes by reputed NGO's.
Development of the man’s world is also a big myth in the same stretch of imagination, since only a very few with patronage will be able to enjoy it.
I have made this calculation confusing and difficult so that politicians won’t be able to understand my logic of it but the figures are below for one to work out.
Human Population density in Sril-Lanka averaged out but in reality it is much more than that because people congregate on socio-economic reasons.
The population density in Gamphaha is more than Decca and Calcatta.
Kandy has 10 times the population density of Gaza Strip.
Beauty is that nobody talks about population control.
I have used the total population projected in another 10 to 50 years for my calculation since total square miles is roughly 25,000.
1000 in a square mile
400 in a Square Kilometer
400 x 2.4 =1000
Reserve only 10% 2500 Sq Miles (6500 Sq. Meters)
0.1 of population 250,000
Every 10 feet or 3.3 meters there is a man or woman standing.
Location Indian Ocean Coordinates 7°N 81°E
Area 65,610 km2 (25,332 sq miles)
Area rank 25th
Coastline 1,340 km (833 miles)
Highest elevation 2,524.13 m (8,281.27 ft)
Highest point Pidurutalagala
Water bodies 870 km² of water = 400 square miles and that is only about 1% of the land surface.
(If Water body is 1.5 % it equals to 1000 Km).
Population density 1000 / sq miles
Population density 400 / km
Hypothetical Elephants population is 1000 and it is exaggerated to 5000 by local media giants.
The biggest lie in this country.
