Leopard numbers show 8% rise from 2018 to 2022

Forest surveyors cover nearly 6.5 lakh km looking for carnivore signs across 20 States; human-wildlife conflict likely reason for decline in the big cat population by 22% in Uttarakhand, says report

The highest number of leopards were reported in Madhya Pradesh and only three other States — Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — reported over a 1,000 animals each. | Photo Credit: PTI

India’s leopard numbers rose by 8% from 12,852 in 2018 to 13,874 in 2022, according to a report made public by the Environment Ministry on Thursday.

While the highest number of leopards were reported in Madhya Pradesh (3,907), only three other States reported over a 1,000 animals each — Maharashtra (1,985), Karnataka (1,879) and Tamil Nadu (1,070). While Uttarakhand reported a 22% decline in the big cat numbers — reportedly due to poaching and man-animal conflict, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal saw a collective 150% rise to 349 animals.

The survey covered 20 States of India, and focussed on about 70% of the animals’ expected habitat, which are India’s tiger reserves and protected forest areas. Unlike tigers, which are largely confined to forest reserves, leopards are far more adaptable and tend to be found in significant numbers, in villages and, sometimes, even in cities. They are also known to prey on cattle and thus be involved in conflict, resulting in higher mortality.

Habitat conservation

“About a third of the leopards are within protected areas. When we conserve tiger reserves, we also conserve leopard habitat,” said Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India and one of the authors of the report.

The analysis – coordinated by the Wildlife Institute of India – only looked at forest areas where a similar survey was done in 2018. The Shivalik hills and the Gangetic plains recorded 3.4% yearly decline, while Central India and the Eastern Ghats, the Western Ghats and the hills of the northeast, and the Brahmaputra flood plains recorded growth of 1.5%, 1% and 1.3% per annum respectively. “The population in the last four years is stable, which also indicates the growth is minimal and in comparison to tigers, leopard population is likely getting impacted by people in multiple use areas,” the report added.

Leopard numbers have declined in Ramnagar forest division (Uttarakhand), where tiger numbers have shown a very steep growth in the past four years. About 65% of the leopard population is present outside protected areas in the Shivalik landscape. In Uttar Pradesh, both leopard and tiger numbers have increased, the report noted.

Forest surveyors travel 6,41,449 km for carnivore signs and prey abundance estimation. Camera traps were deployed at 32,803 locations, resulting in 4,70,81,881 photographs.

The sharp rise in leopard numbers reported out of the northeastern States were the result of a “sampling artefact”, said Dr. Qureshi, meaning that previous years saw very little of a systematic survey and fewer cameras installed.