First-ever Census on India’s Leopard presented

Lead scientist of the tiger census Yadvendradev V Jhala in first week of September 2015 presented first ever data on India’s leopard. The team shows availability of around 7910 of leopards across India, except the northeastern region of India.

Based on the data covered, the team estimates leopard population to be around 12000 to 14000.

The very first leopard count of India was presented by Jhala at Wildlife Institute of India's annual research seminar in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Process undertaken to count India’s Leopard population
The leopards of India were counted in the similar manner as the tigers were counted. They were counted alongside the 2014 tiger census. In the process, the team counted the pictures of leopards which were captured using camera-trapping and other evidences of their presence.

The exercise covered 350000 square kilometer of forested habitat across the Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains along with central India and landscape in Western Ghats.

The lead Scientist Jhala says that the species is well distributed across India, which means that the animal is quite healthy. Their population according to the study
• Madhya Pradesh – an estimated population of 1817
• Karnataka - an estimated population of 1129
• Maharashtra - an estimated population of 905
• Chhattisgarh - an estimated population of 846
• Tamil Nadu - an estimated population of 815
• Uttarakhand - an estimated population of 703
• Kerala - an estimated population of 472
• Odisha - an estimated population of 345
• Andhra Pradesh - an estimated population of 343
• Uttar Pradesh - an estimated population of 194
• Rajasthan - an estimated population of 171
• Goa - an estimated population of 71
• Bihar - an estimated population of 32
• Jharkhand - an estimated population of 29

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