NEWS – India Releases Report on Leopard Population Status 2023-24

HIGHLIGHTS

• Conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India
• Carried out as part of the quadrennial survey to monitor tigers, co-predators, prey and their habitats in tiger range states
• Estimated leopard population of 13,874(12,852 counted in 2018)
• Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of leopards — 3,907
• Leopard population has shown an increase in AP, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, a decline has been observed in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana
• The most significant growth rate of 1.5 per cent has been recorded in Central India and the Eastern Ghats
• The report attributes much of the success in the Eastern Ghats landscape to protective steps under the umbrella of tiger conservation
• The majority of the leopard population (69 per cent) is concentrated in Protected Areas, while 31 per cent inhabit territorial forests
• Rising human-leopard conflicts pose serious conservation and social challenges. Leopards fare better in protected areas but survival in unsecured habitats is critical to long-term viability of populations
• Habitat fragmentation, poaching, prey depletion, retaliatory killings over livestock depredation, traffic accidents and illegal wildlife trade are all key threats. Climate change impacts may exacerbate resource pressures going ahead
• The number of felines grew from 1,690 in 2018 to 1,985 in 2022 in Maharashtra, from 1,783 to 1,879 in Karnataka, and from 868 to 1,070 in Tamil Nadu