RAS question
According to the SAIEE 2021-25, which landscape holds the largest elephant population in India?
Correct answer: (C) Western Ghats.
According to SAIEE 2021-25, the Western Ghats hold India's largest elephant population, with an estimated 11,934 elephants, or 53.17% of the national total.
Explanation
SAIEE 2021-25 estimates 11,934 elephants in the Western Ghats, making it India's largest elephant landscape. This is 53.17% of the national estimated population of 22,446. The population is reported mainly across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala; Karnataka has the highest state population, with 6,013 elephants. This was not a simple headcount: SAIEE 2021-25 conducted a DNA-based, synchronous all-India estimation using genetic mark-recapture. It collected 21,056 dung samples at 37 sites. A subset of these samples was analysed to identify individual elephants and estimate the population. The answer therefore concerns a landscape-level estimate, not the count of a single reserve or state.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) SAIEE estimates 6,559 elephants in the North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood Plains landscape. This is below the Western Ghats' 11,934, so North-East India is not the largest elephant landscape.
- (B) SAIEE combines Central India and the Eastern Ghats into one landscape and estimates 1,891 elephants there, far fewer than in the Western Ghats.
- (D) The Eastern Ghats are included in the combined Central India and Eastern Ghats landscape, which has an estimated 1,891 elephants and therefore does not hold the largest population.
Concept
This question tests environment and ecology through wildlife census methods, landscape-level population distribution, conservation assessment, and the interpretation of official wildlife estimates. Such themes recur in RAS because elephant conservation connects biodiversity data with protected-area governance, conservation policy, and human-wildlife conflict policy.