A pioneering DNA-based elephant population assessment, meticulously compiled by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) through extensive field research, has sounded a critical alarm: habitat fragmentation and widespread disturbance pose monumental challenges to elephant conservation efforts in Karnataka.
The comprehensive all-India report estimates the nation’s total elephant population at 22,446, with Karnataka proudly hosting the largest share—a remarkable 6,013 elephants.
While Karnataka’s elephant numbers appear consistent with the 2017 estimates (which recorded 6,049 elephants), the WII emphasizes that this new DNA-based genetic mark-recapture method should be recognized as the definitive baseline for all future monitoring, research, and population estimations.
The WII report highlights a worrying trend: the once interconnected elephant populations within the Western Ghats are rapidly becoming isolated. This disconnection is attributed to shifting land-use patterns, the expansion of commercial plantations (such as tea and coffee), the spread of invasive plant species, agricultural fencing, human encroachment, and the proliferation of developmental projects.
“This fragmentation severely compromises habitat contiguity,” the report states emphatically, underscoring the vital need to protect landscape connectivity. This is crucial for enabling elephants to move freely without an increase in conflicts. While these observations are relevant across the Western Ghats, including elephant-populated regions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, they hold particular weight for Karnataka, given its status as home to the highest number of wild elephants.
Further threats identified by the WII report include the disruption of traditional elephant corridors by linear infrastructure, illegal encroachments, and changes in land use.
Despite Karnataka boasting the largest wild elephant population in India, with the Mysore Elephant Reserve being a key stronghold, the report also identifies the state as a major hotspot for human-elephant conflict. “The elephant-human interface is intensely high, as vast agricultural fields, plantations, and numerous human settlements exist both within and beyond the elephants’ natural ecological range,” the report elaborates.
Beyond direct conflicts, the report notes that many elephant habitats in Karnataka are struggling with rising human populations and increasing encroachment. “Reserves like Kali, Bhadra, and the habitats on the Mysuru plateau are experiencing significant forest fragmentation pressures from an expanding human footprint,” the report cautions.
Other long-standing challenges, frequently highlighted by wildlife conservationists and in media reports over the years, are also addressed in the WII document. These include the substantial cattle population outside forest reserves, which intensifies competition for fodder and other resources, and linear infrastructure projects that traverse habitats, leading to wildlife fatalities, including those of elephants.
The invasive spread of weeds like Lantana is also contributing to habitat degradation. The report warns that the vital contiguous forests of Nagarahole-Bandipur and the BRT Hills are under severe threat from invasive species, frequent forest fires, and the persistent pressure from new development projects.