Elephant Survey Conducted by Sri Lanka Officials

Elephant Survey Conducted by Sri Lanka Officials

Elephant Survey. Colombo - Sri Lanka conducted its first national survey among wild elephants and surprisingly the result was more than what has been estimated. The result of the survey indicated a positive sign that the endangered species had been thriving and their healthy population has been growing tremendously in the island country located in the Indian Ocean.

5,879 elephants are found in the country’s forests and wildlife parks of which 1,107 are calves and 122 are tuskers, according to Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Minister. The survey was successfully conducted last month.

Due to civil war, previous counts and surveys did not cover the whole island of the country. But at the end of the 25-year civil war in 2009, all ends and corners of the entire island was covered in the survey and has become the first successful national survey among elephants.

H.D. Ratnayake, Director General of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Dept., said that the data gathered during the survey will be utilized to propose and implement plans in order to safeguard the elephants, already considered as endangered species. According to Ratnayake, the previous elephant population estimate was only 5,350. The numbers and statistics show that elephants in Sri Lanka are healthy and this is a good sign that their population is indeed growing, the official said.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday September 07 2011, 4:31 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0