The White Elephant

The finding of a white elephant roaming the jungles of Sri Lanka made world wide news recently. This is the first record of such an animal from Sri Lanka, and the only one known to be living free in the wild. All other reported 'white elephants' being captive animals.

The white elephant was originally sighted by us as a new born in 1993. She was observed as an infant in a herd of 12 animals, when they came to drink at a watering place (Heen Wewa in Yala Block I), at dusk. There was another calf of about the same age in the group and the difference in the two animals was very obvious. Although we spent much time in the Park on individual identification, and were on the look out for the group, we were not able to locate her thereafter.

The white elephant as a baby in 1993

Many people were skeptical about the presence of such an animal. However, in 1996, a group of visitors to Yala saw her at Diganwala (another water hole in Yala Block I). She was photographed in the water. While all the other animals became pitch black on being immersed, she was very light tan colour and the contrast was breath taking. At this time she was about 4 feet (120 cm) tall. Since the original sighting, we have always been on the look out for the white elephant. We had a couple of sightings of her outside the park in the ensuing years, always limited to fleeting glimpses at dusk - enough to keep our enthusiasm up, but not under suitable conditions for observation or good photographs. Some of the chena farmers outside the Park had also seen her and noticed that she was different to other animals - they called her the "Cheena aliya" (Chinese elephant) because of her colour.

In 2004, we shifted our focus to working outside the park and monitoring the elephants there, to figure out how many elephants were outside the park and to understand their resource use patterns. Janaka, one of the CCR research assistants, is the main person doing the elephant monitoring. He is from Uddakandara - a village on the outskirts of the buffer zone, and is very familiar with the area. He does most of his work on foot, often climbing a tree to get a look at the elephants in the scrub or creeping through the bush to approach an elephant at close quarters. In July 2004 when he was observing a group of elephants coming to a watering place he spotted the white elephant again. At the time they had just come into the fallow chena fields and could be observed well, as the vegetation was sparse.

The white elephant in July 2004

We managed to track her and keep her under observation for about two weeks during this period. It was a very special experience to see her feeding together with the rest of her group in the fallow chenas. We refer to her as "Sudu-Aliya" which means "white elephant" or in short we just call her "Sudi". Subsequently, Sudi and her herd moved into thick scrub and it became more difficult to observe them. We haven't seen Sudi again since the wet season began and the start of the chena farming, when most of the elephants move into the park. We are hopeful of locating her again this dry season, starting around April/May when the elephants come into the chena areas again.

Although most of the time elephants put earth and dust on their backs, even under such circumstances, the white elephant is very distinctive. However, the contrast is greatest when wet. One day, while we were watching Sudi, a passing cloud splattered a few drops of rain, and one could immediately see the difference it made on her skin compared to the others. Unfortunately it being the dry season, the rain fizzled out after a few drops. So far we have been unable to get a photograph of her in the water, as her group come to water only after dark. They appear to be very wary of people and move into thick cover on the first indications of human presence, a behavior they probably stick to within the Park also. An elephant moving 5 meters into the thick scrub in the Park becomes practically invisible from the road. This is probably why there have not been many sightings of Sudi in the park, although her group probably spends the wet season there and the park is visited by thousands of people.

At present, Sudi is in a herd of 17 individuals, including two young calves and a number of juveniles. Since she was originally observed in 1993, she would be 11 years old now, so in reproductive age. Female elephants become reproductively mature by about 8-10 years of age. Since the gestation period for elephants is 22 months, a female can have the first calf by about 10-12 years age. So we expect Sudi to reproduce soon. Behaviorally she appears to be completely normal, and does not seem to be having any problems - either with sight or in interactions with other animals.

Sudi with her herd

Sudi is mostly a light tan color with white body hair but has a black tail tuft. Therefore, she is not a complete albino. Albinism used to be classified as complete and incomplete, with oculo-cutaneous albinism being considered complete where there was total absence of the pigment melanin, giving rise to lack of body color and visual problems. However, now it is recognized that there are around six genes that are involved in melanin production and mutations in any of them can give rise to forms of albinism.

White elephants have a very special place in Sri Lankan and eastern cultures and religions. In both Buddhism and Hinduism, there are many references to white elephants. While undoubtedly rare, such animals must have existed in the past also, as they feature prominently in our folklore and mythology. While this is the first record of such an animal in Sri Lanka, 'white elephants' have been reported from the mainland, especially Myanmar and Thailand. However, the definition of a 'white elephant' in these countries is similar to the caste system for elephants in Sri Lanka, where elephants are clustered into a number of groups according to their physical characteristics. Similarly, in Thailand and Myanmar, a 'white elephant' is recognized as having a particular number of toe nails visible, length and shape of tail, lighter body colour and so on, and does not necessarily indicate an albino animal. In Thailand, such 'white elephants' are considered royalty and to belong to the king. In the past, such animals were sometimes gifted to a nobleman by the king, who then had to spend an enormous fortune for the proper upkeep of the animal but was unable to earn any thing from it because such animals could not be put to work. The usage of the term 'white-elephant' to denote an unprofitable venture originates from this practice.

In many eastern cultures, the appearance of a white elephant is considered a very powerful omen of good. Unfortunately, this has always resulted in capture of such animals, the moment they were observed. So while it may signify a blessing to the people, it is quite the opposite for the elephant, having to spend the rest of its life in captivity as a curiosity. However, in this case, through the finding of the white elephant, we were able to focus the attention of the authorities on the ecological needs of the elephants, and the need to manage them outside the parks. Currently we are working with the Department of Wildlife Conservation to come up with a new management approach that will look to incorporate areas outside the parks in an elephant conservation landscape that will also benefit the people who do slash-and-burn cultivation. So we are hopeful that Sudi will in fact be instrumental in changing the elephant conservation strategy in Sri Lanka and bringing a better future for her and her kind, as well as to the people who share resources with them.

Story by Prithiviraj Fernando.

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