Calcutta: An operation to track the real-time location and movement of elephant herds in south Bengal, which could go a long way in reducing human-animal conflict, has started from Wednesday.

A team of experts tasked with tagging matriarchs of two elephant herds with radio collars left Calcutta in Bengal for a West Midnapore forest on Wednesday morning.

Matriarchs rule the elephant kingdom and using a radio collar on the female leader will enable forest officials to monitor the movement of the herd.

Herds from Jharkhand's Dalma range stray into villages in the south Bengal districts of Bankura, West Midnapore and Jhargram every year, destroying crop and occasionally killing humans.

"According to reports from our men on the ground, there are around 30 elephants in south Bengal at the moment, split into two herds. There may be one or two stray male elephants other than that. One of the herds is in the Lalgarh forest in West Midnapore and the other in Jhargram's Jamboni forest," said Sakti Sankar Dey, chief conservator of forest, western circle, who will monitor the operation from Calcutta.

The GPS-enabled radio collars will provide real-time updates about the location of a herd and help track them within the state as well as during migration. A tool embedded in the collar will send signals 24X7. "This is the first time jumbos will be radio collared in south Bengal," Dey said. Elephants in the Dooars in north Bengal have been radio-collared in the past.

The Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, which functions out of the campus of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, is partnering the Bengal forest department in the project.

Apart from two scientists from Bangalore, the team will have tranquilising experts, vets and local forest guards, led by the additional divisional forest officer, who are familiar with the terrain. The team will use three kumki (captive and trained) elephants.

The team's first job will be to reach the location of the herd and observe the female leader - usually the largest and the strongest in the group.

"As of Tuesday, the Lalgarh herd is in a core forest area. But if it strays into a place in the vicinity of a human settlement, the team along with hula parties (teams comprising forest workers and villagers deployed to chase away elephants using torches and by making noise) will drive the elephants back into the forest," a local forest department official said.

The kumkis will infiltrate the herd and scatter the elephants. When the female leader is isolated, experts perched on the nearest kumki will shoot her with darts loaded with a tranquillising drug called xylazine.

"The effect of the drug will last for 30 minutes. After being hit, the elephant will walk like it is intoxicated for 10 minutes and then it will fall asleep. So, our men have a 20-minute window to put the collar on the elephant," said Dey.

After the matriarch in West Midnapore is radio collared, the team will move to Jhargram.

"The project will be delayed if there is heavy rain or the herd changes its location overnight," said Dey.