ELEPHANT SURVEYS

TAG: GS-3: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Ministry of Environment released the Status of Elephant in India 2022-23 report, citing incomplete census data from the Northeast.

EXPLANATION:

The Status of Elephants in India 2022-23 report:

Elephant Population Decline:

• Data from the unreleased report indicates sharp declines in elephant populations in the east-central and southern landscapes.
• Major declines were observed in:
  • Southern West Bengal (84%)
  • Jharkhand (64%)
  • Odisha (54%)
  • Kerala (51%)

• The report identifies “mushrooming developmental projects,” including unregulated mining and linear infrastructure construction, as major threats to elephant habitats.
• The 2022-23 census employed refined methodologies, such as genetic mark-recapture (DNA profiling), for more accurate population estimation.
• Despite these refinements, the drop in population is unlikely to be solely due to methodological changes, as stable figures were observed in the Northern landscape.
• Earlier methods like “total direct count” (simple headcount) and the “indirect dung count” (introduced in 2002) have been replaced with more sophisticated techniques, but these earlier counts still provided crucial data for comparisons.
• For the first time, the elephant survey harmonised with the tiger population estimation method, employing a combination of block and dung count techniques.

Elephant Census in India

• • Conducted every 5 Years.
  • Conducted by: Wildlife Institute of India (Autonomous body under MoEFCC)
  • Methodology Used: DNA Profiling & Camera Traps

About African Elephants	About Asian Elephants
Conservation Status African Savanna (or bush) elephant IUCN Red List: Endangered African Forest Elephants IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered Note: Previously, IUCN listed both African elephants as “vulnerable”.But now it has opted to list them separately. It is after genetic evidence has proved that both are different species.	The Asian elephant is the largest land mammal on the Asian continent. They inhabit dry to wet forest and grassland habitats in 13 range countries spanning South and Southeast Asia. IUCN Red List: Endangered  CITES: Appendix I. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-elephants-are-counted-why-methods-need-a-rethink-9604229/