Lal Bagh's lush green canvas comes alive with Lantana elephants

Scores of majestic Lantana elephants filled the lush green landscape at Lal Bagh on Saturday as curious kids swarmed all over the place, even as adults were full of adulation for the novel enterprise.

The 60 life-size elephants on display are part of the month-long exhibition — Coexistence: The Great Elephant Migration — that was inaugurated on Saturday. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity for citizens to immerse themselves in a wild-life-type atmosphere and will conclude on March 3.

The highlight of the venture, which aims to emphasise human-animal coexistence, is elephants being carved out of Lantana Camara - an invasive weed. The models have been built by 150 artisans from different tribes like Jenu Kuruba, Betta Kuruba, Paniya and so on. 

Ketan, a Jenu Kuruba artisan involved in the venture, described the arduous process involved.

“We collect the plants, remove the flowers and boil them in hot water for 2 hours. Then we skin off the outer layer,” he said. 

Another team will weld a drawing of the elephant on a metal frame, he said and added that the wet Lantana is then fitted on it and nailed. “The process takes roughly 1.5 months for a team of five to build a full-size model,” Ketan added. Forty such large and small elephants will be displayed at prominent places, such as metro junctions, lakes and so on.

“After the exhibition, the models will be taken to the USA. Once they return, they will be auctioned off,” said a senior official.

Earlier, former MP Rajeev Gowda and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Subhash Malkhede spoke during the inauguration. Gowda said there was an imminent need to find long-term, lasting solutions to the man-elephant conflict. Just the way we aim for a “Sarvajanangada Shantiya Thota”, we should also strive to build a ‘Sarva Pranigala shantiya thota, he added.

Malkhede said the essence of man-animal coexistence is unconditional love from both ends. He praised the efforts by tribals toward coexistence.

Speaking to DH on the sidelines, the PCCF said the exhibition was welcome as it creates a miniature forest of sorts for people to get acquainted with wildlife.

“The idea of using Lantana productively is impressive as it would otherwise have to be eradicated,” he added.