Leopard population in India increased by 63% in just 4 years

Ground Report | New Delhi: Leopard population in India; A new report released by the Government of India on July 29, 2021 – World Tiger Day, India's official leopard population has increased by 63 percent since 2014-2018. The Status of Leopards, Co-predators, and Megaherbivores-2018 released by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav.

Forest officials had estimated the number of leopards in India's tiger range states in 2018. There were 12,852 leopards in the country at that time (standard error range 12,172-13,535), the statement said. According to the statement, the number of leopards counted in 2014 was an increase from 7,910 (standard error range 6,566-9,181).

Yadav said the report "is a testament to the fact that conservation of tigers leads to the preservation of the entire ecosystem."

Leopard population in India

A new report released by the Government of India on July 29, 2021 – World Tiger Day, India's official leopard population has increased by 63 percent since 2014-2018. The Status of Leopards, Co-predators, and Megaherbivores-2018 released by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav.

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Forest officials had estimated the number of leopards in India's tiger range states in 2018. There were 12,852 leopards in the country at that time (standard error range 12,172-13,535), the statement said. According to the statement, the number of leopards counted in 2014 was an increase from 7,910 (standard error range 6,566-9,181).

Yadav said the report "is a testament to the fact that conservation of tigers leads to the preservation of the entire ecosystem."

India's world record tiger survey also estimated the population of leopards and the tiger range was found a home to 12,852 (12,172-13,535) leopards. They occur in prey-rich protected areas as well as multi-use forests. A total of 5,240 adult individual leopards were identified in a total of 51,337 leopard photographs using pattern recognition software. The statistical analysis estimates the leopard population at - 12,800 leopards within the tiger's range.

1,253 (1,158-1348) leopards in Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains (Bihar 98, Uttarakhand 839, and Uttar Pradesh 316), 8,071 (7,654-8,488) in Central India and the Eastern Ghats (Andhra Pradesh 492, Telangana 334, Chhattisgarh 853) Huh. Jharkhand 46, Madhya Pradesh 3,421, Maharashtra 1,690, Odisha 760 and Rajasthan 476), the Western Ghats 3,387 (Goa 86, Karnataka 1,783, Kerala 650 and Tamil Nadu 868).

There are a total of 141 (Arunachal Pradesh 11, Assam 47, and West Bengal 83) in the northeastern hills and Brahmaputra floodplains, the report said.

Higher elevations in the Himalayas

The leopard was estimated across forested habitats in tiger range areas of the country but other leopard occupied areas such as non-forested habitats (coffee and tea plantations and other land use from where leopards are known to occur), higher elevations in the Himalayas, arid landscapes, and the majority of North East landscape were not sampled and, therefore, the population estimation should be considered as a minimum number of leopards in each of the landscapes.

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Tiger has not only served as an umbrella species but even its monitoring has helped evaluate the status of other species, like the leopard. The National Tiger Conservation Authority-Wildlife Institute of India (NTCA-WII) shall be reporting on several other species shortly.

The fourth cycle of tiger assessment was started in 2018 using the best available science, technology, and analytical tools, which, like the previous cycle, also estimated leopard abundance for each tiger conservation scenario in India. Due to their wide geographic distribution, leopard populations are considered stable and locally abundant. However, as mentioned earlier, their global range is shrinking and populations are declining and the species probably demand the same protection as the tigers in India.

The forest administration system in most parts of India is based on dividing the forest divisions of the states, divisions into ranges and ranges in a spatially hierarchical manner. The boundaries of beets are based on natural features that can be easily identified in the area.

In addition, each Forrest beat is assigned to a beat guard, who usually has intimate knowledge of his beat. The average size of a forest beet in India is about 15-16 km2. We used this spatial administrative system to systematically distribute sampling units across all forest areas within each landscape on a very fine spatial scale.

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