BBC Natural World Sri Lanka Elephant Island

Beyond the southern tip of India

lies a jewel in the ocean -

Sri Lanka.

Its a land of extraordinary beauty,

of jungles, mountains and vast, fertile plains.

A rich variety of animals live here.

Many of them are found nowhere else.

But for me, one animal stands out.

Its totally iconic and instantly recognised right around the globe.

Sri Lanka is home to its own unique subspecies of the Asian elephant.

They look very different from their African cousins.

Their ears are smaller, their foreheads domed

and their backs more arched.

Im intrigued to find out just how deep those differences go.

I really want to get to know them and their world.

For me, its the chance of a lifetime.

Sri Lankans have a deeply spiritual relationship with nature.

For 30 years, their country was torn apart by civil war.

Now thats over, they want to welcome people back

to share their natural riches.

Theirs is a vibrant culture

and one that has always lived close to wildlife.

And their relationship with elephants is particularly special.

CHAINS JANGLE

Elephants also have a very special place in my heart.

Im a wildlife cameraman and elephants are my great passion.

Ive spent many years filming them all over Africa,

but Ive never filmed Sri Lankan elephants

and thats why Im here.

For me, Sri Lankas hard-won peace offers a golden opportunity

to get to know its elephants and the world they live in.

My destination is Uda Walawe National Park,

in the south of the country.

With me is elephant scientist Shermin de Silva.

If anyone can help me get to know the elephants, Shermin can.

Its the end of the dry season and the vegetation is pretty sparse.

Im hoping thatll make the elephants easier to spot.

Ooh - theres an elephant! Oh, yep.

Its amazing!

I had no idea it was there and I suddenly saw it!

They disappear in the grass quite easily.

Theyre really good at hiding actually.

Its great to see one so quickly.

Physically, theyre similar in many ways to the African elephants

I know so well, though their ears are significantly smaller.

Shermin tells me we know relatively little

about the behaviour of these elephants.

Shes been studying them for seven years - a lot less than the

many decades that scientists have been studying African elephants.

The first challenge is always to find ways

to identify individual elephants

and to try to understand the relationships in the herd.

At this relatively early stage of her research,

even Shermin sometimes struggles.

Studying seven years is not a long time compared to the

lifespan of an elephant, I dont really quite know whos related.

Some of them, the younger ones, I know are mother and calf pairs,

but the older ones, Im only guessing that theyre families.

A lot of people would come out and theyd say these

elephants all look exactly the same, but I mean,

as I know from African elephants,

you learn how to recognise individuals very quickly.

Now, for me coming here for the first time,

its quite difficult for me at the moment to separate out these

individuals so Im going to have to use all these visual clues.

Youre going to have to learn a lot of ears and tails,

and pretty much anything thats distinctive, you make use of it. Yeah.

Theres something magical about these animals.

Its not just their size, or that slow, peaceful way they have.

Its the way they seem to think.

Theyre as interested in me as I am in them.

Very close. Are you curious?

ELEPHANT SNORTS

ELEPHANT SQUEALS

Oh, what an amazing sound. Thats a squeal.

What a great sound!

Thats incredible.

Its great to get so close.

But this ones not so happy about it.

ELEPHANT GROANS

Whoa! Thats not good.

Two of them have taken a dislike to our support vehicle.

That head down and ears-forward stance is a threat posture.

And thats serious.

Elephants are said to have killed 50 people in Sri Lanka last year.

ELEPHANT GROANS

There was no cue, or anything like that.

No, she just decided that she didnt like the car being there.

It must be quite invasive, mustnt it, a very loud diesel engine?

Yeah, and the engine sounds so similar to their vocalisations,

its in the same frequency range.

Yeah, there must be a lot of infra sound coming out of this car

so it probably sounds much louder to them than it does to us.

Right. Yes.

Im starting to notice subtle details of behaviour.

The elephants here swipe clumps of grass against their feet

before eating it - something Ive not seen before.

It seems to be their way of knocking off the sand

and dust that sticks to the roots when they pull it from the ground.

Shes lifting her foot right up

and just deliberately smacking the toenails. Yes.

Shermin tells me this is a trick

they have to learn from their parents.

The behaviour is passed down, from one generation to the next.

As with their African cousins,

Sri Lankan elephants have a matriarchal society.

Groups are made up of females and youngsters.

But the size of the groups is quite different.

African families can be 30 or 40 strong.

Here, I can see far fewer animals in each so-called social unit.

And Shermin explains that the Sri Lankan elephants

social system seems to be less fixed and more fluid.

The herd covers the whole park.

But its made up of many smaller units and the elephants

switch between them as and when they please.

Theres one thing Ive seen here thats just

the same as African elephants.

The bond between mother and baby is every bit as strong.

Ive always thought you learn a lot about elephants

by watching them with their young.

These little ones are already six months old.

What Id really like to see is how they behave

with their new born babies.

So Ive tried to time my trip with the arrival of the monsoon,

when theres the best chance of a new baby being born.

As I travel through Uda Walawe,

the whole park seems to be waiting for the rains.

Peacocks are the heralds of the monsoon.

PEACOCK SQUAWKS

As the rains approach, the males elaborate tails grow

and the courtship displays begin.

The birds give me confidence I wont have long to wait.

In the meantime, Shermin has someone else she wants me to meet.

She takes me to look at another side of elephant life here in Sri Lanka.

An insight into the challenges they face growing up here.

This is an area on the very edge of Uda Walawe Park.

The Elephant Transit Home, or ETH for short.

Meet the gang.

All these elephants are orphans -

their families either killed or separated.

The ETH hopes to release all 28 of them back into the wild.

But first,

these little ones must learn as much as possible about elephant society.

With no family around, that means learning from each other.

But whos to say learning cant be fun?

For these orphans, bath time is a highlight of the day.

Theyre a joy to watch.

Its heartening to see these unfortunate elephants

so relaxed and content.

Shermin wants me to meet one particular elephant.

This is Namal.

Hes just two-and-a-half years old.

He was found a year ago, tangled in a snare.

Hes been here ever since.

Namal cant play with the gang at bath time.

His only company is his keeper, Salinda.

Luckily, they seem to be good friends.

But hes obviously missing out on the social bonding

that elephants need if theyre to prosper.

Its not just about learning - its about belonging.

Playing with Salinda is fun,

but its no substitute for the company of other elephants.

Like toddlers everywhere,

Namal is quite a handful.

When he leaves the water,

it becomes obvious why Namal cant play with the other orphans.

When ETH rescued him from the snare, they couldnt save his leg.

The prosthetic limb helps him get around.

But hes just too fragile and nervous to hang out with the gang.

The caring staff here tell me that there is hope.

Apart from his disability, Namal is a normal, healthy calf.

Hes smart enough to save Salinda the trouble of rubbing him dry.

And, like any youngster, hes always keen to make friends.

But as Vijitha Perera, the head vet at ETH, explains,

the trouble is, Namal now sees humans as family.

Oh, so he actually prefers human company to elephants?

Yeah. Right.

So that wouldnt be good if he were released back. Yeah.

Namal will never return to the wild.

Whats so sad is that after a year in ETHs care,

hes still not strong enough to spend time with the other orphans.

But Vijitha tells me hes growing fast. His time may yet come.

ETHs aim isnt to teach elephants how to live with humans.

They must learn to live with each other,

and ultimately with other wild elephants.

In fact, the further these orphans stay away from humans, the better.

Last year, people killed 228 elephants in Sri Lanka.

Thats whats brought the orphans here in the first place.

If theyre to return to the wild, its best to steer clear of people.

I cant help thinking about the challenges these animals face.

The gang are unperturbed.

Thats the wonderful thing about childhood.

The future always seems a long way off.

Change is coming.

I can sense something different in the air.

The monsoon is about to begin.

Cool air from the Himalayas sweeps down Indias eastern coast,

warming and picking up water as it goes.

Eventually, these warm wet winds reach Sri Lanka.

Rain lashes the land.