NEW DELHI: Meghalaya’s pachyderm population has decreased more than 3 per cent in the last nine years, according to a latest survey.
The report of the survey, which was released last week, shows the hill state has 1,754 elephants as against 1,811 in 2008. The census pegs the total number of elephants in India at 27,312.
The northeastern region, including North Bengal, which has a common elephant corridor, has 10,139 elephants – the second highest density next to the southern region – the latest census report of the Environment Ministry says.
Much of the elephant habitat in Meghalaya is under community forest. A total of 232 blocks were sampled in the state and the same ranged from 2.6 sq km to 8.8 sq km sampled. This translated to an overall density of 0.16 elephants per sq km.
The elephant distribution area for Meghalaya is estimated by the forest department to be 11,185 sq km and the population estimate is 1,754 elephants, the report added.
Karnataka houses the maximum number of wild elephants in India at 6,049 followed by Assam (5,719) and Kerala (3,054). The protected forests of Nagarhole, Bhadra and Bandipur have the maximum elephant density.
The highest density was seen in the southern zone (11,960) followed by the North East (10,139). The numbers are far less in the northwest and central India.
The report, however, cautions against trend analysis with 2012 figures as two different counting methods were used in the two censuses. The 2012 census came up with an estimation of 29,391-30,711 jumbos, which the experts now feel was erroneous.
Other major elephants bearing states are Tamil Nadu (2,761), Odisha (1,976), Uttarakhand (1,839), Meghalaya (1,754), Arunachal Pradesh (1,614), West Bengal (682) and Jharkhand (679), the report said.
The results show an overall density of 0.67 elephants per sq km, which extrapolated to an area of 8976 sq km where these jumbos are distributed, led to an estimated count of 6,049 elephants – the highest in the country.
India has 101 documented elephant corridors, the number of which went up in the last seven years since the 2010 Elephant Task Force report came out.
The 2010 report identified 88 corridors (27 priority-1 and 61 priority-2), out of which seven corridors became dysfunctional and 18-20 new corridors are now being used by the animals.
Within Meghalaya, Balpakram National Park has the highest density of elephants.
