7 months ago
2
India's chaotic elephant colonisation has been estimated astatine 22,446, little than the 2017 fig of 27,312, according to the country's first-ever DNA-based count.
The All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025 puts India's elephant colonisation betwixt 18,255 and 26,645, with an mean of 22,446.
The authorities released the long-delayed study connected Tuesday (October 14, 2025), astir 4 years aft the survey began successful 2021.
Officials said the hold was owed to the analyzable familial investigation and information validation progressive successful the exercise.
Scientists collected 21,056 dung samples from crossed elephant landscapes and utilized DNA fingerprinting to place idiosyncratic animals, overmuch similar identifying humans done their familial code. The full tract effort covered astir 6.7 lakh km of wood trails and included implicit 3.1 lakh dung plots.
Region-wise, the Western Ghats stay the biggest stronghold with 11,934 elephants, followed by the North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains with 6,559.
The Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains enactment 2,062 elephants, portion Central India and the Eastern Ghats unneurotic person 1,891.
Karnataka continues to big the largest fig of elephants astatine 6,013, followed by Assam (4,159), Tamil Nadu (3,136), Kerala (2,785) and Uttarakhand (1,792).
Odisha has 912 elephants, portion Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand unneurotic relationship for implicit 650. Smaller populations past successful northeastern states specified arsenic Arunachal Pradesh (617), Meghalaya (677), Nagaland (252) and Tripura (153).
In parts of cardinal and eastbound India, states similar Madhya Pradesh (97) and Maharashtra (63) person tiny, fragmented herds.
The 2025 exercise, carried retired jointly by the Environment Ministry, Project Elephant and the Wildlife Institute of India, establishes a caller technological baseline for aboriginal monitoring and conservation planning.
The caller number utilized a three-phase process combining crushed surveys, satellite-based mapping and familial analysis.
In the archetypal phase, wood teams utilized the M-Stripes app to grounds elephant beingness during extended ft surveys.
The 2nd signifier assessed situation prime and quality footprint utilizing outer data. The 3rd signifier progressive DNA extraction from dung to place 4,065 unsocial elephants, with scientists utilizing the mark-recapture exemplary to estimation the wide population.
India is location to much than 60% of the world's remaining Asian elephants, but their habitats proceed to shrink owed to encroachment, infrastructure projects and human-elephant conflict.
