India has nearly 14,000 leopards; Madhya Pradesh tops list

The number of leopards in MP jumped from 3,421 in 2018 to 3,907, as per a report released in New Delhi on Thursday by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav.

New Delhi: India houses nearly 14,000 leopards, according to the Union Environment Ministry's latest estimate, signalling an increase of about 1,000 individuals in the last four years.

The scientists have estimated the leopard count to be 13,874, representing a stable population in comparison to the similar areas being sampled in 2018 with 12,852 individuals. The estimate represents the population of 70 per cent of leopard habitat, the Himalayas and semi arid zones.

Madhya Pradesh houses the largest population of leopards (3,907), followed by Maharashtra (1,985), Karnataka (1,879) and Tamil Nadu (1,070). The tiger reserve with the highest leopard population is Nagarjunasagar Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), followed by Panna (Madhya Pradesh), and Satpura (Madhya Pradesh).

Incidentally, the leopard census report was released on a day when the Union Cabinet approved the establishment of International Big Cat Alliance with a one-time budgetary support of Rs 150 crore for a period of five years.

“The Project Tiger's conservation legacy expands beyond tigers, as evident in the leopard status report, showcasing broader species protection efforts. The report emphasizes conservation commitment beyond protected areas,” Bhupender Yadav, Union Environment Minister, said while releasing the report here on Thursday.

While extending the tiger counting methodology to leopards, the fifth cycle of leopard population estimation (2022) focused on forested habitats within 18 tiger states, covering four major tiger conservation landscapes. Non-forested habitats, arid, and high Himalayas were not sampled for leopards.

The central India landscape shows a stable or slightly growing population of leopards (2018: 8071, 2022: 8820), while Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains experienced a decline (2018: 1253, 2022: 1109). In Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains, there is a 3.4 per cent decline per annum, while the largest growth rate was in Central India and Eastern Ghats of 1.5 per cent.

The same zone has witnessed a steep growth in tiger population in the last four years. With 65 per cent of the leopard population remaining outside the protected areas, the Shivalik landscape has been witnessing an increasing number of conflicts involving large carnivores and mega-herbivores.

Independent wildlife biologists, however, questioned the findings, citing flaws in the methods.

"The report offers a limited perspective on the status of Panthera pardus (leopard) populations in India, focusing only on tiger habitats. This approach overlooks the broader distribution of leopards throughout the Indian subcontinent,” ecologist Arjun Gopalaswamy from Carnassials Global told DH.

Gopalaswamy noted that the inherent flaws in the tiger census methodologies were also extended to leopard population estimates.

“For example, the report suggests leopards avoid tigers in the Shivalik-Gangetic plains but not in the Central Indian landscape and the Western Ghats, indicating an inconsistently variable impact of tigers on leopard distribution,” he said.

A thorough re-evaluation of these findings, according to him, is advised to ensure reliable inferences about leopard populations in India.

Another senior wildlife biologist said it would be unwise to put so much of emphasis on numbers without a real understanding of the ecology in the face of untrammeled destruction of the forest cover.  

Additionally, experts note, the leopard counting exercise also flags the need to plug the conservation gaps outside the protected areas.