2022-06-09 20:58:08
#ENVIRONMENT
■ Joint count of elephant and big cats- For the first time this year presents a unified count of the tiger, leopard and elephant populations of the country.
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Countings: The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years.
According to the most recent 2018-19 survey, there are 2,967 tigers in India. According to the last count in 2017, there are 29,964 elephants.
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Methods Used: Elephant numbers would be estimated by States based on DNA analysis of their dung droppings and statistical techniques.
Tigers are counted by deploying camera traps, identifying individuals based on stripes, as well as statistical analysis.
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Obsolete methods: Tiger scat and its DNA analysis is usually used only when camera traps are impractical to deploy.
Since elephants number more than tigers and are hard to tell apart from camera-trap images alone, it is more economical and feasible to use their dung for identification.
The ‘head count’ method, or one currently deployed to count elephants, was “obsolete” and frequently led to double-counting.
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Significance: Resources, time and energy will be saved from having a common estimate.
This is the first time that a robust scientific method based on statistical techniques will be implemented.
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Prelim Take Away: Project Tiger
Project elephant
Major Elephant corridors
NTCA
SOURCE - THE HINDU
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