The population of leopards has increased by 60% from 2014 to 2018
Bengaluru: The Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar released a Status of Leopards in India 2018 report which points to the fact that the leopard population in India has seen a huge rise in the recent years, reports Times of India.
It is heartening to note that between 2014 and 2018, the leopard population jumped up from around 8,000 to 12,852, marking an increase of about 60 per cent in just four years.
The rise in the leopard population was noted by using camera trapping methodology.
Note on the distribution:
The highest number of the leopards are concentrated in Madhya Pradesh (MP) which is home to 3,421 leopards, followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra that have 1,783 and 1,690 leopards respectively.
Meanwhile, in terms of region-wise distribution, the highest number of 8.071 leopards were found in Central India and Eastern Ghats which include the states of MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The Western Ghats comprising Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala are home to 3,387 leopards. The Shivalik and Gangetic Plains comprising Uttar Pradesh (UP), Uttarakhand and Bihar are home to 1,253 leopards. Meanwhile, in the Northeast hills, there are just 141 leopards.
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