India's Leopard Population Sees Growth; Madhya Pradesh Tops List With Most Wild Cats

India's estimated leopard population rose from 12,852 in 2018 to 13,874 in 2022, but their number declined slightly in the Shivalik hills and the Indo-Gangetic Plains, a government report said on Thursday.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav released the report 'Status of Leopards in India' in New Delhi.

The fifth cycle leopard population estimation was carried out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, in collaboration with State Forest Departments, as part of the quadrennial “Monitoring of Tiger, Co-predators, prey and their habitat” exercise in tiger range States.

This exercise has proved invaluable to the conservation efforts of the country, a statement from the environment ministry said.

Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of leopards in the country at 3,907 (up from 3,421 in 2018).

The number of felines grew from 1,690 in 2018 to 1,985 in 2022 in Maharashtra, from 1,783 to 1,879 in Karnataka, and from 868 to 1,070 in Tamil Nadu.

Tiger Reserves or sites with highest leopard population are, Nagarajunasagar Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), followed by Panna (Madhya Pradesh), and  Satpura (Madhya Pradesh).

"Central India shows a stable or slightly growing leopard population (8,820 in 2022 against 8,071 in 2018), the Shivalik hills and the Indo-Gangetic Plains experienced a decline (from 1,253 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2022)," the ministry said in a statement.

"If we look at the area which was sampled both in 2018 and 2022 across India, there is a 1.08% annum growth. In the Shivalik hills and the Gangetic plains, there is a 3.4% decline per annum, while the largest growth rate was in central India and the Eastern Ghats of 1.5%," it said.

The fifth cycle of leopard population estimation (2022) in India focused on forested habitats within 18 tiger states, covering four major tiger conservation landscapes. Non-forested habitats, arid areas and the high Himalayas above 2,000 mean sea level (around 30% of the area) were not sampled for this exercise, the ministry said.

This included a foot survey spanning 6,41,449 km to estimate carnivore signs and prey abundance. Camera traps were strategically placed at 32,803 locations, resulting in 85,488 photo-captures of leopards.

The findings underscore the critical role of protected areas in conserving leopard populations. While tiger reserves serve as important strongholds, addressing conservation gaps outside protected areas is equally vital, the ministry said.