Elephant patrol in Sumatra 
Introduction The Indonesian island of Sumatra is home to some unique wildlife, whose natural habitat is shrinking under the increasing threat from illegal logging and oil palm plantations. Photo journalist Stuart Coles went to Gunung Leuser National Park, where Indonesia's first elephant patrol unit was set up. He tells of the unit's battle to preserve Sumatra's dwindling forests, its rich ecosystem and endangered wildlife.
Ideal transport Conservationists in Sumatra have found just the heavyweight solution to protect local rainforests - the elephant patrol. With much of the terrain of the 2.6m hectare rainforest impenetrable to motorbikes and 4x4 vehicles, Sumatran elephants are ideal transport. The unit's tusked members have been likened to "living armoured personnel carriers". Elephants have been used to trample loggers' huts, rip up illegal oil palm plantations and even chase away wild elephants.
The team Tanti, Aini, Gion and Rio were themselves rescued by conservationists who saved them from being either shot or destined for a life in a circus. Now they are trusted and loved members of the unit. Their mahouts [elephant keepers] have claimed success in wrecking numerous logging operations and saving more than 400,000 acres of forest from being turned into oil palm plantations.
'Natural bulldozers' The lumbering elephants are not fast, walking on average just 15km (10 miles) a day. But their impact has been widely felt and similar units have popped up across Indonesia. Even the toughest, most heavily-armed loggers fear these gigantic "natural bulldozers". "They don't fear us but they are scared of the elephants," a mahout said.
Dangerous work Protecting the world's only natural habitat to Sumatran rhinos, orangutans and tigers is no easy task. Many of the elephant patrol unit's members work far away from their families in the front line of a sometimes dangerous battle. The patrol often finds itself confronted by aggressive loggers or charging wild elephants.
Difficult training The mahouts have built a close bond with the elephants. "They are part of our daily lives. They are our true friends," said one member of the unit. They steer the elephants by pushing their feet behind their ears, and if necessary by prodding them using a "thotti" stick. Training can take time and is not easy - one mahout admitted he had been kicked 4m (12ft) away by an elephant with a mind of its own.
Challenges ahead A decade of fierce fighting between government forces and rebels in Aceh has allowed some of the forest to recover. But the recent peace agreement has seen the return of illegal logging and a boom in palm oil plantations. Conservationists say that the success of the elephant patrols is only a small part in the ongoing war to save Indonesia's rapidly vanishing rainforests. Words and pictures: Stuart Coles | 
