BHUBANESWAR: The number of elephants in Odisha has gone up by 122, from 1,976 in 2017 to 2,098 now.
Releasing the All Odisha Elephant Census 2024 report of the Forest and Environment department on Wednesday, PCCF (Wildlife) Susanta Nanda said the elephants spread over 38 forest divisions include 313 adult tuskers, 12 adult makhnas, 748 adult females, 148 sub-adult males, 282 sub-adult females, 209 juveniles and 385 calves.
As per the latest census, the ratio of male, female and young is 1:3.2:1.5 compared to 1:2.17:1.25 in 2017. The change is due to increase in the number of males in comparison to females.
Similarly, there has been a substantial increase in the population of tuskers, from 344 in 2017 to 474 in 2024 (around 40 per cent). This has resulted in a healthy ratio of adult male to female and also a significant number of young ones in the entire population.
According to the report, the three elephant reserves in the state - Mahanadi, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur - have 584 elephants, around 28 per cent of the total jumbo population in Odisha. Dhenkanal division has the highest 239 elephants, followed by Athagarh (178), Satkosia Wildlife (138), Keonjhar (135), Bonai (121), Angul (119), Baripada (105), Similipal North (103) and Similipal South (101).
The PCCF said a significant increase in number of elephants has been recorded in the divisions of Angul, Athagarh, Dhenkanal, Baripada, Chandaka, Khurda, Bonai and Keonjhar. However, there has been a decline in the jumbo count in Similipal North and South besides Balasore Wildlife, Rairangpur, Balangir, Paralakhemundi and a few other divisions. This may be due to the overall change in movement patterns of elephants in the state for their foraging habitat and change in land use pattern.
Significant changes in movement patterns of elephants were noticed during the head count exercise in Angul, Rourkela, Baripada as well as north of Mahanadi in comparison to the south of the river. The census report further said Odisha has a large, well-established elephant population with a stable age distribution and growth rate of about 3 per cent.
The 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 number of 66 jumbo deaths were reported in 2023-24 financial year.
The census also estimated that about 2,100 to 2,200 elephants are using the forests of Odisha during a year as there is inter-state migration of jumbos from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
Forest officials said to know the exact population using the Odisha landscape, an estimation has been proposed on November 14 and 16 coinciding with the migration from adjoining states during the kharif harvesting.
The three-day All Odisha Elephant Census held in May this year followed traditional methods of count by directing sighting. A total of 1,214 machans were constructed in 1,905 census units across the state. More than 5,700 personnel were engaged in the exercise.