"Go, but don’t let go,” she says, “continue to dream and look for your freedom.” A vibrant personality who has broken ties with monotonous routine, Prajna Chowta has carved a niche as a researcher, conservationist and a documentary filmmaker...

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"I'm just back in NYC and feel very buoyed by the intense immersion of the last fortnight. The space you have created at the camp through your commitment to the well being and future not only of elephants but of elephant people is downright remarkable. It's not often one meets people who live their lives in such an integrated way.

Thank you too for the amazing hospitality—morning chai in the mists, evening beers under the stars, mid-day dosais in the sunshine—and a healthy dose of reality with a swarm of bees!

Warm regards and trumpets to all."

Radhika Subramaniam

Director/Chief Curator, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center

Asst. Professor, Parsons School of Arts / New York

Film-maker and elephant researcher Prajna Chowta has been appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (Knight in the National Order of Merit), one of the highest civilian recognitions of the French government.

The Hindu - article: "France confers knighthood on elephant researcher"

Consulat Général de France in Bangalore :

>>Read the article on the French Consulate official website

Abstract: Although Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) have been brought to the Andaman Islands since the second half of 19th century for the purpose of timber extraction in which they played a crucial role, no historical study was ever conducted on the origin of these animals, the number of specimens involved, the trade and industry they were involved in, their adaptation to a different habitat, the origin of the mahouts, their working methods and the conditions under which both mahouts and elephants worked and lived.

This essay explores this iconic chapter in the history of the species based on a field investigation in the major elephant camps and timber extraction sites in the islands as well as a study of the archives kept by the Forest Department, the Government Secretariat and the Cellular Jail library in Port Blair. It also questions the absence of wild elephants in the archipelago in early history, unlike Sumatra and Borneo, and discusses the Government policies regarding the management of captive elephants in India and the feral elephants of Interview Island and Diglipur. (Word count : 20,233)

For more information, write to : contact@aanemane.org

The conference programme addressed all aspects of elephant culture, past, present and future and in all continents. It dealt with both material and cultural concerns, and covered both the Asian and the African elephant.

Prajna Chowta participated in the event with a talk titled : Cultural aberrations in the management of captive elephants.

Régis Debruyne was invited to expose the Contribution of comparative genetics to the understanding of the evolution and distribution of elephants.

>>Read all abstracts

From left to right: Dharma (8 years), Kamali (3 months), Gaja (2 years), Kalpana (40 years), Kuja (3 years), Kunti (32 years).

They are more autonomous but still come back to camp on their own regularly to receive their supplement ration.

Kunti gave birth to her 3rd calf: a female born on November 2nd, 2015. She was 91 cm in height and was named Kamali.

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 a modern alternative to the historical practice of chaining tamed elephants, so that they may free-range in their natural habitat. Moreover, it can be used as an advance warning system in the mitigation of Human Elephant Conflict, to prevent human casualties and damages to crops. >>more

Text by Prajna Chowta

Illustrations by Stéphanie Ledoux

http://stephanie-ledoux.blogspot.in

Published by Elytis Edition

http://elytis-edition.com/catbeauxlivrespage.htm

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...

>>The Hindu article

After 11 years at the camp, 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.

Kuja, a female, 90 cm at the shoulder, in perfect health. 

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.

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.

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. >>Download an excerpt here

ELEPHANT CODE BOOK by Prajna CHOWTA, 138 p. 2010. ISBN 978-81-909731-0-6.

Published by :

Asian Nature Conservation Foundation www.asiannature.org & Aane Mane Foundation, Bangalore, India.

Read May we have the trumpets please? by Savitha Karthik in The Deccan Herald

'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, writes Savitha Karthik...' >>Read online

Traditionally, elephant calves were weaned at the age of 2 or earlier so the mother could be put back to work. But how long does a calf suckle naturally? At what age does a young bull leave the herd? These are questions that help revising the ancestral management methods in a more humane manner. >>more

 In two years, Dharma has reached 1.40m and around 500kg.

Dharma was born on 7/7/2007. An auspicious date!

He was a small male, 82 cm at the shoulder, approximately 90 kilos and the first elephant born at Aane Mane's camp