The Indian elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant. Its population has declined by at least 50% from the 1940s, and so in 1986, it was declared an endangered species on the IUCN Red List. Efforts have been mode to conserve the elephant population of India, notably Project Elephant (1992) by the Government of India.
The data for overall elephant population trends in India has been shown below. We can see that it has been on a decline in recent years, even though the population had been rising till 2012. The total count of elephants went from 25642 (2012) to 23730 (2017) - a decrease of ~7% over 5 years.
We have also obtained the data about elephant populations for each state as follows. Clearly, trends at the state level do not necessarily replicate overall national trends. Kerala saw the biggest decrease of ~50% (6177 to 3054), while Uttarakhand saw the highest increase of ~36% (1346 to 1839). Karnataka became the most populous state with a population of 6049 living elephants.
There are 31 main elephant reserves distributed all over the country. The 31 reserves are distributed across 16 states around the country. Over the last 5 years, elephant sightings have been found in 2-3 more states.
Migration corridors are routes followed by animals, birds, or fish when travelling between winter and summer habitats. Wildlife habitats and migration corridors are necessary to maintain flourishing wildlife populations. Based on the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force, it is necessary to conserve these corridors.
We understand from the data that we collected that the possible factors influencing elephant populations are the number of corridors, the funding received by reserves and the funding used by them. The correlation between them and elephant populations per state have been shown below.