Bengaluru: India’s wild elephant population has actually seen a distressing decrease, with the most recent estimate for 2021– 25 revealing a sharp drop from previous counts. Professionals associate the fall to environment loss, fragmentation of forest passages, mining and infringement, to name a few pressures on the nation’s forests.
According to the DNA-based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE), entitled Status of Elephants in India (2021– 25), the across the country elephant population is approximated at 22,446, compared to 27,694 taped in the 2017 evaluation. Earlier studies had actually revealed a constant increase– from 19,558 elephants throughout 1978– 83 to 30,051 in 2012– before the very first decrease appeared in 2017, marking the start of a down pattern.
In spite of the general fall, Karnataka continues to lead the nation in elephant numbers, hosting 6,103 elephants out of the overall 22,446. The state’s herds, focused in safeguarded systems of the Western Ghats, are thought about fairly safe from the risks impacting the elephant populations in other places.
The SAIEE workout, which covered more than 400,000 sq km of forested locations divided into 100-sq-km cells, covered 4 broad areas: the Shivalik– Gangetic Plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, the Western Ghats and the North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains.
A historic evaluation of the information reveals constant development till the last years: 25,569 elephants were counted in 1993, 25,842 in 1995, 26,373 in 2002, 27,694 in 2007 and 30,051 in 2012. The population slipped partially to 29,964 in 2017, followed by a considerable fall to 22,446 in 2021– 25. Amongst the states, after Karnataka, Assam ranks 2nd with 4,159 elephants, followed by Tamil Nadu (3,136), Kerala (2,785), Uttarakhand (1,792) and Odisha (912 ).
The report highlights that elephants in various areas deal with differing hazards. Those in the Western Ghats, Shivalik– Gangetic Plains and North Eastern Hills are impacted by environment loss, land fragmentation, infringement and direct facilities such as roadways and trains that crossed conventional migratory passages. In Central India, the main risk occurs from extensive mining activity that disrupts forest environments and elephant motion paths.
Professionals state the findings function as a wake-up call to reinforce preservation procedures and protected landscape connection before India’s elephant population– when a preservation success story– deals with permanent decrease.