TNPSC Thervupettagam

55 percent of countries elephants in Southern region

August 17 , 2017 2656 days 1477 0
  • The environment ministry recently released an elephant census report, titled ‘Synchronized Elephant Population Estimation India 2017’.
  • The total figure of elephants in the country stands at 27312 in 23 states. The last year census (2016) revealed that there were 29, 391 to 30,711 elephants in India. A total of 27,312 elephants have been reported in Indian forests in present census (2017).
  • Karnataka with 6049 elephants tops the list among 23 census states followed by Assam having 5,719, Kerala with 3054 and Tamil Nadu having 2761 pachyderms. The population of Asian elephant was estimated at around 30000 in 2012 and at 27,670 in 2007 census
  • The southern region, which includes Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, has the highest number of elephants (11,960) among the four regions in India. North Eastern states have the second highest elephant population with 10,139 elephants.
  • The number of elephants in Tamil Nadu has declined significantly. According to the 2012 census, Tamil Nadu had 3, 500 elephants.
Reason for fall in elephant population The number of elephants has fallen drastically in the last five years in Tamil Nadu due to fragmentation of forest lands and anthropological activities in elephant corridors. The elephant corridors have been identified and reported to the government before 25 years. Due to habitat fragmentation, elephants are moving out to agricultural landscapes leading to an increase in the man-elephant conflict. After rapid urbanisation, areas in forest land have been fragmented due to plantations in forest area. Tourist resorts and hotels constructed inside forest area cut across elephant corridors and exacerbate the man- animal conflict. the elephant habitat has shrunk due to increase in human population, expansion of agriculture, commercial plantations, hydroelectric and irrigation dams. These factors cause migration of elephats from palce to place, further increasing conflict with human habitats. According to Environmental activists, Man- Elephant conflict is primarily due to depression of elephants caused by habitat destruction.

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