Perched 10 feet off the ground on the back of Asian elephants, workers traverse Nepal’s dense jungles and grasslands to complete wildlife counts, rescue distressed animals and manage species including Bengal tigers and greater one-horned rhinoceros. 

 

Working elephants have long played an important role in the conservation of Nepal’s wildlife and wildlands. Their height and sharp sense of their surroundings keep researchers safe from tigers and other predators. But dwindling captive elephant populations and opposition to using the highly intelligent animals as beasts of burden are changing the long-term outlook for working elephants and the men – known as mahouts – who work with them.