Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 | Page 5

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
NATION-WIDE JUMBO CENSUS TO BEGIN
NEXT MONTH
T
he 7th all-India synchronised elephant census that
will begin next month is expected to throw light on
the migration patterns of the pachyderms as wildlife
biologists have identified at least half a dozen new
places across the country where the animals have started
moving. Four weeks before the census in the wild, a workshop
for wildlife managers and foot soldiers of the forest
department will be conducted by a Project Elephant
team. Management of elephants in the wild is be coming
more and more difficult, says Sukumar.
In April, it will cover east-central India, comprising
Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and south Bengal.
The northern region, comprising Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand, and the southern region, comprising Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, will be covered in May , he
said. “Jharkhand to south Bengal; Jharkhand to Chhattisgarh;
Odisha to Chhattisgarh; Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh
and northern Karnataka to Maharashtra: These are some
of the new areas to which they are moving. Even within
Karnataka, elephants are entering newer areas,” he said.
Union ministry of environment, forests and climate
The census will cover 1.10 lakh sq-km, dividing the change has allocated a meagre 27.50 crores in the
country into four regions - northeast, east central India, current budget for Project Elephant. In the previous
northern India and southern India.
budget it was 25 crores. “This fund is not sufficient
to address the big, complex challenges in wild elephant
Project Elephant Steering Committee member and management.”he adds.
Indian Institute of Science professor Raman Sukumar
announced that the three-month population estimation On the migration of elephants, Sukumar said at least half
will begin in the north-east region comprising Assam, a dozen new jumbo sites have been identified by wildlife
east Bengal and the north-eastern states.
biologists.
A significant feature of the census is that it will
adopt both direct and indirect sighting of animals.
Indirect sightings are made through elephant dung. In
the south, this method was introduced 15 years ago and
in the rest of the country it will be introduced this year.
The census will help determine accurate
distribution of elephants. With this, its population
structure can be studied. It will also help in better
understanding the demography of elephants in the wild.
Whether elephant habitats undergo changes due to
human intervention, the male-female ratio and other
related information will be obtained through the census.
“This is a countrywide population estimation of
elephants, which is done using a common approach. The
census of jumbos is conducted once in five years. In the
last census conducted in 2012, the population in the
country was close to 30,000.This included adult males,
females, calves and sub-adult animals,” he said.
Vol 1|Issue 5-6|Nov 16 - Jan 17
5