Trip to Kuala Gandah National Elephants Conservation Centre for field trip of Fauna class

1. Trip to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre
11th November 2017, PAHANG – A trip to Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation
Centre, Temerloh an elephant sanctuary to accomplish our Malaysian Fauna (SIX 1007)
assignment. It was established as National Elephant Conservation Centre in 1989 by the
Department of Wildlife and National Parks. As scheduled, students should gathered at UM
Central at 8.00 a.m. Then we started our journey at 8.20 a.m. by bus. There are 39 of students.
It took almost 2 hours journey. Before went to the conservation centre, we go to Deerland Park
as it is situated about 2 km outside the conservation centre.
The park is essentially in a rainforest with narrow and uneven footpaths lead into the park. To
get in, we bought tickets and were given stickers and coupons to exchange for deer food. As we entered
the gate, we could see colourful birds in a cage. Then, we continued walking deeper and found a hut.
There were two person in charge to give the deer food with exchange of the coupon we got earlier.
Baskets of deer food contains many type of potatoes that were cut into strips.
Then, we continued walking. We could see many cages containing various type of birds such
as Pavo cristatus, Acrylliumvulturinumand Gallus gallus domesticus.A cage containing P.cristatus
got my attention as the male, known as peacock is a large bird with a length from bill to tail of 100 to
115 cm have eye-catching colour of feathers. While the female, or peahens are smaller at around 95 cm
in length. They are omnivorous love to eat seeds, insects, fruits, small mammals and reptiles. Birds
from species of Acryllium vulturinum is a large bird with a round body and small head. The adult have
bare blue face and black neck. Next is the cage of Gallus gallus domesticcus. Also known as silky
chicken and an omnivores. In the wild, they often scratch at soil to search for seeds, insects and even
larger animal such as lizard or young mice.
There are also cages of snakes. The species of snakes found are Python reticulatus and Python
bivittatus. The P.reticulatus just sleep on the bark of wood showing the great pattern on its body. Their
habitat are in rain forest, woodlands and nearby grasslands. It is also associated with rivers and is found
in areas with nearby streams and lakes. Their natural diet includes mammals and occasionally birds.
While, we could not find P.bivittatus (albino) in its cage. It is one of the largest snakes in the world.
Both snakes are excellent swimmer and needs permanent source of water. This is the reason why there
are small lake in their cages.
After that, we saw a cage with cats. It was a cage of Bengal cats. The Bengal is a domestic cat
breed develop to look like exotic jungle cats. The name “Bengal cat” was derived from the taxonomic
name of the Asian leopard cat. They have “wild=looking” markings such as large spots, rosettes and

2. light belly and a body structure reminiscent of the leopard cat. Bengal cat are generally a bright orange
to light brown colour although pale or off-white “snow”. Bengals also exist and are popular among
owners. Its scientific name is Felis catus x Prionallurus bengalensis.
Further along the trail, we saw small fury animals. It was prairie dog. We could probably spent
much time looking at the antics of these rodents. They stood on their hind legs, looking at the sky. They
stayed in the same position for quite long. It is so funny. But, there is precaution sign saying that the
cute animals can bite.
Later on, we went to the conservation centre. As we arrived, we had lunch and watched
video show on documentary of translocation activity. There, we were guided by Pak Ngah. The
team is dedicated to locate, subdue and translocate the problem elephant where their habitats
being encroached by development. These elephants are then relocated to safer habitats such as
national parks and away from human settlements. This team has helped to resolve human-
elephants conflicts and minimised the economic losses caused by such conflicts. Besides, they
also help to increase awareness among public about this endangered species. There, we
watched video about the elephant translocation activity.
A number of elephant were trained for translocation of wild elephant. The ‘Elephant
Relocation Unit’ was started with four elephants which were imported from Assam, India
named Ganesh, Paul Bahadur, Lokimala and Bahadur. The centre also looked after orphaned
elephant. Besides that, we could see a lame elephant. She got name Miss Tripod. She was
accidently hit trap causing her left front leg had to be cut. It is so amazing to look at her
struggling to stand. Near to the elephant cages, there were a stall selling fruits such as bananas
and bamboos to the visitors that would like to feed the elephants. The elephants eat them
cotinuously, as there is a fact the animals does not digest food effectively. As only 44% of the
food they eat will be digest and absorbed as nutrient.
At the conservation centre, we could always saw the elephants roaming around a river
or water. This is because, they cannot survive without water for more than 24 hours .The
elephants need to drink 100 to 150 litres of water daily. That’s why we can see elephant enjoyed
during bathing time. Activity of bathing and cleaning of elephants was conducted by mahout.
The visitors could watch the elephant bathing. The elephant even eats while bathing as what
we watched that day. They eat around 150 to 200 kg per day.
After the elephant bathing session, we listened to a talk at the interpretive stage. We
were introduced to each of the elephants which include their background and ability. One of

3. the elephant showed the way they lied down. When the talk ended, all the visitors were given
opportunity to feed the elephants with the fruits they provided around the stage. For example,
watermelons and papayas. The elephants were rode by the mahout. The mahout ensure that the
elephants keep behave when threatened to the visitors. We also took pictures at the stage as
memory.
At the end of trip, we walked to a museum of elephant. In the museum, we could look
through the equipments they used to train the elephants, history of the conservation centre and
there also prosthetic leg used by Miss Tripod. Lastly, a group of us give presentation on our
today trip. Then, we walked out of the place to get home.