WhenIreturnedtoThailandlastyear,thefirstgoaloftheresearchwastodocumentwhichplantsmahoutswereusingtotreatsickelephants.Iwantedtorecordhowtheyusedtheseplantsandforwhathealthcomplaints.IsetouttovisitfourKarencommunitiesscatteredacrossnorthernThailand.Ateachone,Iworkedwithaninterpretertoexplaintovillageleaders,elephantcampowners,andmahoutswhyIwasinterestedintheirknowledgeandhowIwouldusetheinformationtheyprovidedforme.Theyagreedtohelp.So,wesetupinterviewswiththemostknowledgeablemahouts.Weaskedthemtodescribewhatplantstheyusedforelephant medicine. 

OneofthegreatestchallengesIfacedintheresearchwasthelanguage.IspeakEnglishandamjuststartingtolearnThai.TheKarenpeoplespeaktheirownlanguage,Pakinyaw.ManyalsospeakThai,whichtheylearnforschoolandbusiness.Thereweremanytimeswhenmyquestionshadtobetranslatedtwice!Thiscanbeadifficultwaytowork.Luckily,Ihadgreatinterpreterstohelp.Withpatience,lotsofrepetition,andthewillingnesstorephrasedifficultquestions,wemade progress.

Afteraseriesofinterviews,Iwouldaskthemostknowledgeablemahoutstobringmeintotheforest.There,Icollectedsamplesofkeyplantsandcarefullydriedtheminaplantpress.Later,thesesampleswouldbepreparedasbotanicalspecimens.Thentheywouldbeidentifiedanddepositedatalocalherbarium,whichisakindoflibraryforplant specimens.

Afterseveralmonthsofwork,wehadlearnedabout34plantspeciesusedbytheKarentocarefortheirelephants.Together,theseplantswereusedinmorethan
40different treatments. 

Themostcommonusewasasatonic.Itkeepstheelephantshealthy,increasestheirenergy,andhelpswithdigestion.Manykindsofroots,barks,leaves,andstemsaremashedtogethertomake
this tonic.

Raworcookedriceisaddedtothetonic,aswellastamarindfruitsandbananas.Themahoutsmakeballsorpelletsofthismixture.Theyfeedoneormoretotheelephantseachday.Ifanelephantisold,sick,orpregnant,itisgivenmoredosesofthe tonic. 

Otherplantswereusedtotreatwounds,eyeproblems,indigestion,brokenbones,skinproblems,fatigue,snakebites,andtohelpelephantmothersproducemoremilkfortheirbabies.Themedicinesaregiventotheelephantsindifferentways.Forinstance,theplantsthathelpamotherproducemoremilk—bananaflowerandgingerroot—arefeddirectlytoamotherelephant.Plantstohelpeyeproblemsaregroundupandplaceddirectlyintheeye.Other plantsareboiledinwaterforalongtime(justliketea!)andthengiventotheelephantstodrinkorrubbedonto
their skin.

Numberofplantsusedformedicaltreatmentsof elephants:

Theseplantpartsarethemostcommonlyusedforelephant medicine: