Haldwani, July 26 -- The state forest department has launched a field survey in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) to determine why elephants are increasingly abandoning traditional movement corridors and adopting new routes, in collaboration with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), officials said. As part of the study, research teams are patrolling key elephant corridors in the reserve extensively to document evidence of elephant movement, including footprints, dung, tree rub marks, broken branches and feeding signs, to map the current routes preferred by herds, said officials, adding that other factors taken into account included availability of food and water and quality of vegetation. Corbett Tiger Reserve director Dr Saket Badola said elephants have traditionally used three major corridors - Malani-Kota, Chilkiya-Kota and South Patli Dun - to move between the Corbett landscape and forests extending into Nepal. "These corridors have historically served as vital ecological linkages, enabling elephants to move between habitats in search of food, water and breeding grounds while maintaining genetic connectivity between populations," he said.However, officials have observed a noticeable shift in recent years, with elephant herds increasingly using alternative routes. "The objective of the study is to understand why elephants are changing their traditional movement patterns. Researchers are collecting scientific evidence from the field to analyse the factors responsible for this behavioural shift," Badola said. The study will examine several possible reasons for the changing movement patterns, including the availability of food and water within the corridors, vegetation suitability, the safety of elephant calves during movement, increasing human disturbance inside and around forests, and barriers created by roads and other infrastructure....