印度14歲女孩能與大象交流，被稱為“泰山夫人”

14歲的Nirmala Toppo是印度奧利薩邦一個工業城市Rourkela家喻戶曉的女英雄，她勇敢地跟闖入村落的大象交流並「說服」它們重新回到森林。

這位來自Jharkland的信奉天主教的女孩稱，在媽媽被幾隻大象踩死後她就開始試著跟大象說話。Nirmala說：「自那之後我決定學習一些能 驅趕大象的技巧。」她所說的技巧涉及到祈禱、和大象真誠有耐心地講話。「我先祈禱，然後跟大象說話，它們聽得懂我說什麼。」通過使用這些簡單的「技巧」， 女孩曾幫助Rourkela當局趕走了一群遷入住宅區安頓的大象。「大象群進入城市裡後，我們盡自己最大的努力去控制它們，我們成功地把它們引進了當地的 足球場，但是不知道怎麼使它們再回到森林裡，這個任務真的非常艱難。」管理森林的官員 P. K. Dhola說。他們既無計可施又不能干耗下去，之後他們想起來有一個人也許可以幫忙。「我們聽說過有一個住在Jharkhand的部落女孩能夠和大象說話 並說服大象返回森林。我們打電話給她父親，然後她和一些部落村民就過來了。」

Nirmala果然沒讓大家失望：她跟大象們邊走邊說，直到到達數英里外的森林。女孩的腳磨起了水泡，但是她說「沒什麼大礙，傷口快結疤了 」。儘管Nirmala所做的非常酷，但還是有些人懷疑她的方法。比如，社會活動家Rabi Pradhan就指出沒有任何科學研究證明大象聽得懂人類語言。確實，但也沒有科學證明大象不懂人類語言，也許大象能通曉多種語言呢。Nirmala稱她 是用她們部落的語言和大象交流的，大象聽得懂。

也有人相信大象能夠理解人類，因為它們和人類共同居住在一個地方。這個說法聽起來也很熟悉，對吧？正如Jharkhand邦Simdega縣自治會 的一個會員說：「我們稱Nirmala為『泰山夫人』。每當有大象進入村子或毀壞莊稼時，當地林業部從來不露面，然後村民就會請Nirmala幫忙。她總 是能成功地跟大象交流並把它們趕回森林。」

大約有3000頭大象生活在印度容易發生人像衝突的三個邦的森林裡，主要是因為採礦破壞了大象的生存環境。據印度環境和森林部門的一項報告，在過去10年中估計有80餘人和200餘頭大象死於人象矛盾。

【妙眼看世界】

2013/11/18人間福報

野象衝進村14歲女孩勸退

印度十四歲女孩塔波（Toppo）聲稱可以和大象溝通，被部落當作英雄。無論是野象衝進村裡、還是毀壞農作 物，塔波都可以和大象「商量」。塔波生活在一個小城，自從母親被大象殺害後，開始學習和大象溝通，以保護周邊的親友，而且離奇的是，她的努力似乎有了成 效，塔波可以和大象交流的事很快就四處流傳，只要有象群衝進村裡或農地，村民就會找她幫忙。

面對體型龐大的野象，連林務部門工作人員都沒轍，只見塔波毫無懼色，先禱告，接著使用部落語言與大象溝通，她 便領著大象走回森林中；但對於塔波的特殊能力，外界還是存著許多疑問，社會學家認為，目前沒有研究證實大象可以聽懂人類語言，可能是大象跟著部落成員長時 間生活，才會聽懂部落語言。

Indian “Lady Tarzan” Talks to Elephants and They Listen

14-year-old Nirmala Toppo is the heroine of Rourkela, an industrial city located in the Indian state of Odisha, after she talked the elephants that had invaded the settlement into returning to the forest.

The Catholic girl from Jharkland claims she began talking to elephants after her mother was killed by some pachyderms. “I then decided to learn the techniques to drive them away”. The technique Nirmala refers to involves praying and literally talking to the elephants. “First I pray and then talk to the herd. They understand what I say”. By using these simple “tricks”, the girl helped the authorities of Rourkela deal with a herd of elephants that had settled in a residential area of the city. “When the herd entered the city, we tried our best to contain its movement. We managed to make the herd go into the local football stadium, but we were not sure how we could drive them back to the forest. It was a difficult task,” forest official P. K. Dhola said. Out of options and pressed for time, they remembered that there was someone who could help them. “We knew of a tribal girl who lived in Jharkhand, who talked to elephants and was able to drive them back. We called up her father and she arrived along with some other tribal people from her village”.

Nirmala didn’t disappoint her people: she walked many miles with the elephants, until she got them back to the forests. This caused her infectious blisters on her feet, but as she states, “the infection is now gone and my wound has almost dried up”. Although what Nirvala did worked as a charm, there are skeptical voices that doubt her methods. For example, the social activist Rabi Pradhan points out that there are no scientific studies demonstrating that elephants understand human vocabulary. Indeed, if there was a study asserting that, elephants would have to be polyglots. However, Nirmala claims that she speaks her tribal language when she addresses the elephants and that this is why they understand her.

Photo: Wikipedia

There are people who believe that elephants understand people as a result of their cohabitation. This sure sounds familiar, doesn’t it? As a member of the Jharkhand’s Simdega district council states, “we call Nirmala a lady Tarzan. Whenever marauding elephants enter a village or destroy crops, the local forest department officials never turn up. It is then that the villagers approach Nirmala for help. And she is able to successfully drive away the herd after talking to them”.

Photo: BBC

Almost 3000 elephants live in the forests of 3 Indian states, areas that witnessed many conflicts between humans and animals, especially because of the mining industry. A report of the ministry of environments and forests estimates that more than 80 people and 200 elephants were killed in the last 10 years.

Source: Matters India

India's elephant girl takes on the herds

By Salman Ravi 
30 October 2013

Fourteen-year old Nirmala Toppo has become something of a minor celebrity in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

In June, panic gripped the industrial city of Rourkela one night when a herd of wild elephants entered residential areas from dense forests nearby.

Nirmala, forest department officials say, acted as a real-life "pied-piper" when she managed to drive the herd back to the forest, much to the relief of the residents.

She walked many miles with the herd, guiding it out of town, in the process getting blisters on her legs which later turned septic.

"The infection is now gone and my wound has almost dried up," she told BBC Hindi from her hospital bed where her treatment was organised by the local Red Cross Society.

Pitch invasion

State forest department officials sought help from Nirmala, who is originally from the neighbouring state of Jharkhand, when they could not get the elephants to leave the city.

Forest official PK Dhola says: "When the herd entered the city, we tried our best to contain its movement. There were 11 of them, including two calves. We managed to make the herd go into the local football stadium, but we were not sure how we could drive them back to the forest. It was a difficult task."

Mr Dhola says that was when the department decided to seek Nirmala's help.

"We knew of a tribal girl who lived in Jharkhand, who talked to elephants and was able to drive them back. We called up her father and she arrived along with some other tribal people from her village."

The herd was made to go into the local football stadium in Rourkela

The state government paid the girl for her services, he added.

Nirmala says she talks to the herd in her local tribal dialect - Mundaari - and persuades the animals to "return to where they belong".

"First I pray and then talk to the herd. They understand what I say. I tell them this is not your home. You should return where you belong," says Nirmala who is a Roman Catholic.

Her mother, she says, was killed by wild elephants and that was when she decided to learn the technique to drive them away.

In her work, she is assisted by her father and a group of boys from her village.

"We surround the herd. Then I go near them and pray and talk to them."

'Lady Tarzan'

But some are not convinced by Nirmala's methods.

Orissa-based social activist Rabi Pradhan says there is no scientific evidence that wild elephants can understand what a human says. Mr Pradhan says the girl claims to talk to the herd in her own tribal language, but there is no basis for the elephants to follow what she says.

Nirmala is helped by family and local villagers

However, others explain such behaviour by saying that tribal people and elephants - or for that matter, other wild animals - have been cohabiting in the forests for ages.

Niel Justin Beck, a member of the district council in Jharkhand's Simdega area, where Nirmala comes from, says due to their co-existence with the wild animals, the tribal people know how to deal with them.

"In Jharkhand, we call Nirmala a lady Tarzan. Whenever marauding elephants enter a village or destroys crops, the local forest department officials never turn up.

"It is then that the villagers approach Nirmala for help. And she is able to successfully drive away the herd after talking to them."

Growing industrialisation

More than 3,000 elephants roam the forests of the three states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, stretching across central and eastern India, but over the past decade the region has become the epicentre of man-animal conflict.

According to the ministry of environment and forests, more than 200 elephants and some 800 people have been killed in the last 10 years.

The region is rich in mineral resources and encroachment of their habitat due to increased mining and industrial activity have caused problems for the movement of wild elephants.

A violent Maoist insurgency in the region has also added to the problem.

Forests provide easy shelter for the armed insurgents and large parts of the forests are heavily mined. Frequent encounters between the security forces and rebels have also disturbed the wildlife habitat, experts say.