Wild elephant Chinna Thambi, which was captured from Udumalpet and lodged in a kraal at Varagaliar near Top Slip on January 16, is being taught 48 basic commands and their combinations during training. The commands are in a mixture of Assamese and Urdu, said authentic sources. The elephant will be trained by mahouts from the Malasar community.
“The mahouts neither speak Assamese nor Urdu. But they have inherited the commands from mahouts within the community. Though there are 48 basic commands, their combinations can go up to 90.
The use of these commands have their origin in Assam and Bangladesh where elephants were first used in wars,” said a veterinary officer of the Forest Department.
The officer said that 90 % of the 48 basic commands would be 'positive reinforcement' techniques wherein the elephant would be conditioned to an action using soft commands.
The remaining 10 % would be negative reinforcement techniques wherein the elephant would be instructed to not do something with loud commands.
“The animal will not be hurt at any period of the training. There is no denial of food and water. The mahouts will always attempt to create a bond with the elephant,” said the officer.
While kraal is used for taming wild elephant in southern States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, open method is used in the rest of the country (north and north-east States) and in south-east Asian countries like Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia.
In the open method, the movement of the elephant would be constricted for training by tying its legs.
Forest Department officials in the know of the training added that the 25-year-old wild elephant, which was habituated to crop raiding, took food from the hands of one of the trainers on the first day.
“In normal cases, a wild elephant put in kraal will start accepting hand-fed food only after three weeks. However, Chinna Thambi started taking camp food on the first day itself,” said an official.
The Department had earlier said that the elephant would not be turned to a kumki after the training.