Moti, the infamous elephant, residing at Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya keeps losing his temper. City zoo authorities worried by the aggressive behaviour of the elephant are now trying to calm him with music therapy.
Recently, Moti demolished the wall of his enclosure. To enclosure that he does not break another wall, music therapy is being used. Luckily, Moti seems interested in the music as shared by authorities and is calmer.
Among previous aggression episodes of Moti, his anger strike to elephant Laxmi is among the scariest ones. Laxmi, who was his partner for some years, became victim to his anger last year. Moti had slammed and dragged her on the ground that eventually led to her death.
Light music travels to Moti’s enclosure.
City zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said that many experiments have been done to calm Moti's anger. “Right now the tires of JCB, tractors, trucks and buses are kept in his enclosure, which keeps him engaged,” he said.
He added that staying busy keeps Moti’s anger in control. “We have just installed a music system in elephant enclosure to play flute and other types of instrumental music that will keep Moti calm,” Yadav said.
There have been citations on use of music therapy to keep elephants calm.
“In 1902 the great scientist Jagdish Chand Basu had used music on the plant, whose results were very good,” Yadav said. He added that music can not only help humans, but animals and plants as well.
“There have been many incidents and researches showing the positive effect of music on animals,” Yadav said.
He cited dairy farms where music helps in boosting milk giving capacity of cows.
“Bothered by the behaviour of Moti, we have arranged light music in its enclosure. We hope that he will keep calm by listening to music. Apart from this, we have made a swimming pool, mud bath in his enclosure. All these arrangements have been made to keep him calm and control his anger,” Yadav said.
Moti has been living in the zoo of Indore for more than 40 years. He has celebrated people for years. He was brought here as a child.