News
January 2016 | The 6 elephants of the Foundation
From left to right: Dharma (8 years), Kamali (3 months), Gaja (2 years), Kalpana (40 years), Kuja (3 years), Kunti (32 years).
November 2015 | Fourth birth at Aane Mane
Kunti gave birth to her 3rd calf: a female born on November the 2nd, 2015. She was 91 cm in height and was named Kamali.
February 2015 | ElephanTTrackinG, a complete wildlife tracking system
Introduced by Aane Mane Foundation in exclusive collaboration with Geotraceur (France), ElephanTTrackinG is a complete wildlife tracking system that includes the latest technology available today.
ElephanTTrackinG was born from Aane Mane's determination to develop and share a tracking system for elephants in India on a non-profit basis. For us, GPS collars represent an indispensable tool to study the movements of wild elephants, but also the modern alternative to the historical practice of chaining tamed elephants, so that they may free-range in their natural habitat.
Log in to www.elephanttracking.org
October 2014 | Release of the book ENFANT D'ELEPHANTS (Elephants’ Child)
Text by Prajna Chowta
illustrations by Stéphanie Ledoux (stephanie-ledoux.blogspot.fr)
Published by Elytis Edition (www.elytis-edition.com)
ENFANT D'ELEPHANTS is the true story of Ojas, a little girl who lives in a forest in South India amongst elephants. She owes this childhood to her mother, Prajna, who left behind everything in search of the roots of her culture and lives with elephants, much like a hermit known in Indian mythology, Palakapya.
To fulfil this choice in life, Prajna had to walk away from society, from material comfort and even the idea of having a child. The arrival of Ojas turns her resolutions upside down. An infant of the forest, Ojas grows up in an environment that marks her imagination and forges her identity. Although, Prajna’s duty as a mother reminds her that she has to prepare her child to confront the human society, she tries to delay the moment when they both will have to set out to the very world that she chose to leave behind...
August 2014 | Elephant Blues selected at The World Film Festival, Montréal - Canada
The World Film Festival website: www.ffm-montreal.org
October 2013 | Third birth at Aane Mane
Kalpana has finally given birth to a male calf on the 22nd of October, at dawn. She is deeply involved in the care of her first calf, 93 cm at the shoulder and in perfect health. The calf was named Gaja (pronounced Gadja), which means 'elephant' in Sanskrit.
Meanwhile, Dharma has reached the height of 175cm and Kuja 132cm.
The 5 elephants live in a close and very protective herd and keep roaming over the forest.
March 2012 | Second birth at Aane Mane
Kuja, a female of 90 cm at the shoulder, in perfect health and free in the forest.
Jan 2012 | First elephant GPS collar made in India
Aane Mane is proud to participate in the testing of the first prototypes of elephant
tracking collars designed and made in India. The project was undertaken by two young
electronic engineers, Radhika Gandhi and Bharath Patil, under the direction of Dr. André
Pittet, Chief Advisor at the Center for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT), Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Aane Mane has equipped two tamed elephants (Kalpana and Kunti) to test the system that transmits every 2 hours an accurate position of the elephants in the forest. Elephant GPS collars are essential in the management of captive elephants in their natural habitat. In the future, some of the 3500 captive elephants in India may be released in the forest and monitored 24h/24, thus offering them optimal conditions of living comparable to that of wild elephants. Moreover, GPS collars may prove useful in the mitigation of human elephant conflict in areas where the elephant habitat is fragmented and occupied by human settlements.
For more information, go to animaltracking.net.in
October 2010 | They talk about the Elephant Code Book
Published by The Deccan Herald (www.deccanherald.com), an article about the Elephant Code Book.
May we have the trumpets please?
Savitha Karthik, October 28
City lights hold no charm for Prajna Chowta, who has her hands full running ‘Aanemane’, an elephant camp in the jungles near Mysore, documenting the moves of the majestic creatures and enjoying the sight of her four-year-old growing up in the lap of nature, says Savitha Karthik
Read moreMay 2010 | ELEPHANT CODE BOOK by Prajna CHOWTA 2010.
Published by the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (www.asiannature.org) & Aane Mane Foundation, Bangalore, India.
As many as 16,000 Asian elephants–one third of the entire population–are captive. In India alone, about 3500 elephants live in various and often critical conditions of captivity, contradicting the contemporary notions of wildlife conservation and animal welfare.
The Elephant Code Book examines the current methods of elephant keeping and recalls the historical background that is necessary to understand the present situation. It reviews the classical texts on the subject as well as the relevant scientific literature in order to define the principles, methods and minimum standards to be adopted as a code of conduct in the management of elephants in captivity.
Find out moreMay 2010 | Weaning and Training by Prajna Chowta
After 22 months of care during the gestation of the mother and another 2 years caring for the calf, comes the time for a delicate process which is the weaning and training of the calf: a sensitive subject in terms of animal welfare due to a lack of information.
Find out moreJuly 2008 | Dharma is now 1 year old and 1,18 m at the shoulder!
Dharma was born on July 7th, 2007.
He was a small male of 82 cm at the shoulder and approximately 90 kilos.
He is the first elephant born at Aane Mane's camp.