MOTHER NATURE Mother Nature September 2017 | Page 29

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Mother Nature Aug /Sep 2017
Elephant population at 27, 312 across 23 states.
He also launched a nationwide campaign, “Gaj Yatra”, to
protect elephants, which will cover 12 elephant range states.
India started Project Elephant in 1992 to protect the Asian
elephant, its habitat and corridors and address the man-
elephant conflict. Since then, the government has been
counting the elephant population every four to five years.
At present, there are 29 elephant reserves across India,
covering over 65,000 sq. km. But loss and degradation of
wildlife habitats, including the elephant corridors, are
increasing the human-elephant conflict.
The population of India’s national heritage animal— the
elephant—has dipped in the country in the last five years.
The union environment ministry released the result of
the Elephant Census 2017, which pegged their
population at 27, 312 across 23 states.
This means the population has decreased by about 3,000,
compared to last census in 2012. In 2012, the popula-
tion of Asian elephant, an endangered and protected
species in India, was estimated at around 30,000 (29,391-
30,711) and in 2007 it was estimated at about 27,670
(27,657-27,682).
As per the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN), there are 400000 African Elephants
and the population of Asian elephants was abou t
41,410 to 52,345 and of that India alone accounts
for nearly 60%.
The population was recorded in the following geographi-
cal regions: northern, east-central, northeast, and
southern.
Among the states, the highest population was re-
corded in Karnataka (6,049), followed by Assam
(5,719) and Kerala (3,054). As far as regions are
concerned, the highest population was in south-
ern region (11,960)
followed by the northeast
region (10,139), east-central region (3,128) and
northern region (2,085).
The census was released by union minister for envi-
ronment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), Dr
Harsh Vardhan, on the occasion of World Elephant
Day (12 August).
Telangana girl Sravya participating in the Miss
World Canada-2017 has now entered into final
round of the competition.
Sravya Kalyanapu, a native of Khamma, has
been selected for the competition in the
beginning of July after winning her title for Miss
Nothern Alberta World 2017. The 21-old-year
model is pursuing BTech third year in chemical
engineering at University of Alberta. Sravya's fam-
ily had moved to Fort McMurray, Canada in 2005
when she was 10-year-old. She has done her
schooling in St. Joseph's Convent School in
Adilabad.
Two girls from Telangana have been selected for
the climbing of Mount Elbrus competition in
Russia. The girls are heading to Russia from
Hyderabad via Delhi on Thursday.
Bolleddu Srividya, a native of Perindevi Village,
Kattanguru mandal in Nalgonda district is doing
her intermediate second-year in Telangana So-
cial Welfare Gurukulam Girls College in Aleru.
Another girl Malavath Poorna from Nizamabad
district is studying a degree in Tadvayi Gurukulam
College has also been selected.
Both the girls have been selected for the
mountaineering competition at Elbrus Mountain
in Russia, which is at 5,642 meters height from
sea level. The mountaineering competition will
be held from July 23 to 28 in Russia.