Centre notifies India’s 31st elephant reserve in Tamil Nadu

Tags: National News

The Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced notification of one more elephant reserve (ER) in the country in Tamil Nadu on 12 August 2022.  

Important facts

• The new reserve will be spread over an area of 1,197 sq km at Agasthyamalai.

• This will be the 31st ER of the country after the Singphan Elephant Reserve (ER) in Nagaland was notified in 2018.

• Agasthiyamalai is Tamil Nadu’s 5th Elephant Reserve and also a Bioshphere Reserve.

• The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus) is found in the central and southern Western Ghats, northeast India, eastern India and parts of northern India and southern peninsular India.

• It is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).

• According to the 2017 Census the population of elephants in India has reached up to about 27,312.

• Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,049), followed by Assam (5,719) and Kerala (3,054).