Elephant census: DNA-based census is a step forward in wildlife monitoring

India’s latest elephant population estimate, the Synchronous All India Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2021-25, released last week, paints a sobering picture. It places the country’s wild Asian elephant numbers at 22,446, a notable drop from the 27,312 reported in 2017. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has clarified that the new figure marks a methodological reset — a “fresh baseline” rather than a figure directly comparable with previous counts. The Western Ghats and the Northeast remain key elephant strongholds, with Karnataka, Assam and Kerala home to some of the densest populations. But the methodological shift notwithstanding, the drop in estimated elephant population stands at 17.8 per cent, with the steepest declines recorded in the Northeast, in central India and