ELEPHANTS IN INDIA (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: The number of elephants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have seen a slight increase, but have almost halved for Kerala, according to the recently released Elephant Population Estimates jointly conducted by the southern India states.

• Karnataka’s elephants increased from 6,049 in 2017 to 6,395 in 2023.

• In Tamil Nadu, there was a rise to 2,961 in 2023 from 2,761 in 2017.
• In Kerala, the population has dropped from 9,026 to 4,306 in the same period.

Status of Elephants in India

• India has about 27,000 Asian Elephants, which is the world’s largest population of the species.
• As per Elephant Census (2017), Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,049), followed by Assam (5,719) and Kerala (3,054)
• More than 60% of the world’s elephant population is in India.
• The elephant is the Natural Heritage Animal of India.

• India has the largest number of wild Asian Elephants, estimated at 29,964 according to 2017 census by Project Elephant, i.e., about 60% of the species’ global population.

• Conservation Status:

• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species:

• African Forest Elephant- Critically Endangered
• African Savanna Elephant- Endangered
• Asian Elephant- Endangered

• Convention of the Migratory species (CMS): Appendix I

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I