Tarsh Thekaekara, researcher and conservationist and one of the co-founders of the Real Elephant Collective, wanted to spread awareness about man-animal conflict. In this mission, he is being helped by the 100 ‘Lantana elephants’ that have been placed in different parts of the city. These elephants are modelled on a real wild elephant from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and made out of Lantana camara, an invasive weed species. The installations will be on display across Bengaluru till March 3.
“It’s been great to see the effort being put in towards the conservation and subsequent awareness that it has been generating. Everybody has their own narrative about what the project is about. Many call the installations wooden elephants without understanding the whole concept of Lantana yet. But the good part is there is a discussion around it,” says Thekaekara.
All the 100 Lantana elephants are placed in major parts of the city with 60 of them in Lalbagh. The other spots are the Infosys Science Foundation, Bengaluru Science Gallery, Max Mueller Bhavan, and Metro stations.
Coming up with a Herculean task of installing 100 elephants was no joke, but Thekaekara reveals these 100 Lantana elephants are travelling to the USA to spread the same awareness. “We have partnered with an organisation called Elephant Family and we are going to send around 150 Lantanas to the US; it will start in New York and travel through different parts for two years. The tour ends in Los Angeles in middle of 2026,” says Thekaekara, adding that since there were already 100 elephants ready, they planned to do a big exhibition in Bengaluru.
These ‘Lantana Elephants’ have been made by The Real Elephant Collective in India, in partnership with the UK Charity Elephant Family. Close to 150 indigenous people in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka are involved in the making of the Lantana elephants and other crafts.
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Thekaekara emphasises that people have a lot of misinformation about the definition of conservation. “It does not mean taking care of the elephants and forgetting the rest. It is also about conserving the forest and saving the livelihood of indigenous people,” explains Thekaekara.
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