Short read: Indian elephants lost genetic vigour as they moved north to south, 5 distinct populations exist: Study

Did you know that India’s elephants – all of whom originate in north India – now have five distinct populations? These and other fascinating findings are the result of a study conducted by a team of researchers from the Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Their research shows: “…that the Indian elephant migrated from the north to the south over many millennia and lost their genetic diversity progressively with each southward migration.

Published in the latest issue of Current Biology, the study analysed whole genome sequences from captive and wild elephant blood samples collected across India to identify five genetically distinct populations — one along the Himalayan foothills from the northwest to northeast, one in central India, and three in the south.

According to the last national census conducted in 2017, India is home to more than 29,000 elephants. While the three southern populations added up to 14,500 elephants, the central population was estimated at over 3,000. The northern population accounted for the remaining 12,000 — around 2,000 in the northwest and 10,000 in the northeast…

…the study…found that the northern elephant population diverged from all other Indian populations more than 70,000 years ago.

Indicating further southward dispersals over time, the central Indian elephants diverged from the rest more than 50,000 years ago and the divergence among the three southern populations dated back to only around 20,000 years.”

Now, however, as south India rapidly industrialises, the elephant populations in that part of India are getting cut off from each other thereby creating a high risk of inbreeding and the adverse consequences of the same. Small elephant colonies in Kerala – cut off from each other – are already causing alarm: “… the study underlined that India’s southernmost population, found south of the Shencottah Gap that connects Tamil Nadu and Kerala, has the lowest genetic diversity. “This small isolated population of fewer than 150 elephants is potentially the most vulnerable to risks of extinction,” said Professor Uma Ramakrishnan, one of the authors of the study from the NCBS, Bangalore.

Until now, the southern elephant population was believed to be divided by the Palghat Gap which acted as a natural barrier to elephant dispersal along the Western Ghats. Offering new insights, the study has revealed that the Shencottah Gap further south also acted as an impediment to elephant movement, resulting in three genetically distinct southern populations — one north of Palghat, a second between Palghat and Shencottah, and a third south of Shencottah.”

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