India’s 1st DNA-Based Elephant Census

• 18 Oct 2025

Why in News? 

India’s first-ever nationwide DNA-based census of wild elephants has revealed a 25% decline in the country’s elephant population over the past eight years, highlighting growing threats from habitat loss, fragmentation, and human-elephant conflict. 

Key Points 

• About: The report titled ‘Status of Elephants in India: DNA-based Synchronous All-India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE 2021–25)’ estimated 22,446 elephants, compared to 29,964 in 2017. 
  • The exercise was conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under Project Elephant (1992). 
  • The study marks a shift from visual and dung-based counts to a DNA mark–recapture technique, enabling more scientifically accurate population estimation. 
  • The DNA-based method, similar to that used in tiger estimation, identifies individual elephants through unique genetic markers, overcoming the limitation of elephants’ lack of distinctive physical features. 
• Data Collection: 
  • Conducted across 188,030 trails covering 6.66 lakh km. 
  • Over 3.19 lakh dung plots examined and 21,056 samples collected. 
  • DNA profiles generated for 4,065 individual elephants. 
• Estimation Technique: Used Spatially Explicit Capture–Recapture (SECR) models integrating genetic and habitat data for accurate population estimation. 
• Regional Distribution: 
  • Karnataka – 6,013 
  • Assam – 4,159 
  • Tamil Nadu – 3,136 
  • Kerala – 2,785 
  • Uttarakhand – 1,792 
  • Odisha – 912 
• Regional Trends: 
  • Western Ghats: 11,934 elephants (down from 14,587 in 2017) 
  • Northeastern Hills & Brahmaputra Plains: 6,559 (down from 10,139) 
  • Central Indian Highlands & Eastern Ghats: 1,891 (down from 3,128) 
  • Shivalik–Gangetic Plains: 2,062 (nearly unchanged from 2,085) 
• Key Insights: 
  • Habitat Fragmentation: Expansion of coffee and tea plantations, farmland fencing, and infrastructure projects are fragmenting elephant habitats, especially in the Western Ghats. 
  • Human–Elephant Conflict: Highest in Assam (Sonitpur, Golaghat) and central India (Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha). 
    • Central India, with less than 10% of elephants, accounts for 45% of human deaths caused by elephants. 
  • Positive Development: Poaching incidents have declined, but habitat degradation remains the major threat.