25-05-2025
Elephant census concludes in South Karnataka; incessant rains affect final day exercise
The three-day elephant census as a mandate prescribed by the Interstate Coordination Committee (ICC) charter concluded on Sunday, and the results are expected to indicate the elephant population trends in South Karnataka region.
The census commenced on May 23 with block sampling or direct count exercise followed by line transect exercise on Saturday. On Sunday, it was waterhole count exercise to assess sex distribution and age. However, incessant rains across the region affected the exercise on the final day.
As rains pounded the forests, waterhole was not the only source for elephants. A senior official in Nagarahole who visited multiple sites said not a single elephant had visited the waterhole as rain had ensured water availability everywhere. However, this will not drastically affect the robustness of data collected on the first two days which will help in assessing population estimation and density, the official added.
Ramesh Kumar, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve said as the elephant census are being held regularly from three years, the sex-ratio will not be drastically different. The data collected on the first-two days are more important, he added.
The census was part of a synchronised exercised carried out across south India. In Karnataka, it was held simultaneously in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, BRT Tiger Reserve, Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Cauvery Wildlife, M.M. Hills, Madikeri Territorial, Madikeri Wildlife, Virajpet, Bannerghatta National Park, Kolar, Chikkamagalur and Shivamogga Wildlife Divisions.
The census exercise was mandated by the ICC charter to generate and share the database of elephant population in a bid to resolve human-elephant conflicts that are on an upward trend, especially in forests bordering the three south Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
In addition, parts of south interior Karnataka – as in Hassan and Chikkamagalur – too experience conflict resulting in deaths of both humans and elephants. Kolar, which shares border with both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, has also been witnessing a rise in conflict.
Incidentally, a larger nation-wide synchronised census used to be conducted once in five years to estimate elephant population trends. But it has not been taken up since 2017.
Besides, south India harbours the most number of elephants – 11,960 out of 27,312 in the entire country – as per the Synchronised Elephant Population Estimation India 2017 Report - and a majority of them are in a contiguous landscape.
Hence, the officials of these States took the initiative to conduct the census on a landscape basis and maintain a database for their conservation and study the population dynamics.
In 2022, the Centre had decided to conduct a joint census entailing both tigers and elephants but sources said it was not prudent as elephants will also be found in areas where tigers will not be found.
Even within Karnataka, which reported 6,395 elephants in the 2023 enumeration, more than 95% are in southern parts of the State. Hence the population trends in Dandeli Elephant Reserve, was not part of the just-concluded census exercise.
