Wild Elephants in Southern India Expanding Range After Two Centuries

Elephants are the biggest land animals, and they usually stay in forests where they have lived for a long time.

Scientists in southern India found that wild elephants are now moving to new places.

These new places had no elephant sightings for more than 200 years.

One such place is the Oddanchatram forest range, where British records showed elephants in 1812.

After 1812, elephants were not seen there again until around 2006.

Between February and July 2016, scientists counted 18 elephants of different ages in the foothills of that forest.

The elephants probably came from the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.

There are two possible reasons elephants are moving: their old forests may not have enough food, or there may just be too many elephants.

When elephants go to new places, they can sometimes come near people's homes and farms.

That is why experts say we need a plan to manage elephants in their new areas so people and elephants can live safely.