UTILIZATION PATTERN AND MUSTH DURATION OF CAPTIVE MALE ELEPHANTS IN SOUTH INDIAN STATE KERALA

Elephants form an integral part of the rich cultural heritage of Kerala occupying an unavoidable role in most of the temple festivals. Over and above their use in festivals these animals are used for draught purpose like in timber mills, pulling heavy objects, elephant safaris etc. This study was taken up to understand the utilization pattern of elephant for these activities and howmuch is the duration of musth in them. Month wise utilization pattern in a year was classified into- festival season, work, musthand idle. The data was collected using survey method, where the information was collected from the owner, the mahout, and also by physical verification of the claims in most of the cases. Most of the elephants enjoyed a lot of idle time. Private owners with more than one elephant have used their elephants to decorate the festivals more often than other groups. Maximum draught work load was born by the elephants of individuals who owned just a singleelephant, which were mainly used at timber mills and plantations. Elephants of temple trusts with multiple elephants experiencedlonger musth periods.