Odisha Elephant Census finds marginal rise in jumbo population in state

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Odisha has witnessed a marginal increase in the population of elephants during the last seven years, as per the All Odisha Elephant Census-2024 report released on Wednesday.

"Total 2,098 numbers of elephants were counted in 38 Forest Divisions. This includes 313 adult tuskers, 13 adult makhna, 748 adult females, 148 sub-adult males, 282 sub-adult females, 209 juveniles and 385 calves. There was no presence of elephants in 13 Divisions," the report, by the State Wildlife Organisation, which comes under the Odisha Forest Department, said.

It said that as many as 1,976 elephants including 212 adult tuskers, 10 adult makhna, 816 adult cows, 122 sub-adult males, 276 sub-adult females, 38 of unknown sex, 203 juveniles and 299 calves were tracked in the Odisha forests during the last elephant census carried out in 2017.

The Dhenkanal Forest Division, with 239 jumbos, reported the maximum number of elephants in the state. Similarly, as many as 178 and 138 elephants have been tracked in the Athagarh and Satkosia Wildlife Divisions, respectively.

As per the census report, though a marginal increase in the overall elephant population has been reported during the statewide census, yet a few Forest Divisions such as Angul, Athgarh, Dhenkanal, Baripada, Chandaka, Khordha, Bonai, and Keonjhar witnessed a significant rise in the jumbo population.

However, it found a significant decrease in the elephant population in Similipal North, Similipal South, Balasore WL, Rairangpur, Balangir, Parlakhemundi and a few other Divisions across the state.

"This may be due to overall change in movement patterns of the elephants in the state for their foraging and change in land use patterns," the report claims.

The Forest Department noticed a substantial increase (around 40 per cent) in the population of tuskers during the last seven years. It also claims that Odisha has a large, well-established elephant population with a stable age distribution and a growth rate of around 3 per cent. "Elephant deaths during the last five years have been within the range of 3 per cent to 4.5 per cent of the total population, the least being during the last financial year of 2023-24," the census report said.

The Forest Department carried out the three-day census exercise areas reporting elephant movements throughout the state from May 22 to 24 in 48 divisions across 28 districts of the state. More than 5,700 Forest Department staff and several NGOs, research scholars, and academicians participated in the exercise.

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