Odisha home to 2,098 elephants

Bhubaneswar: Odishais home to a total of 2,098 elephants and 27 tigers, the State Assembly was informed on Tuesday.Odisha Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia said this while replying to a question from BJD MLA Dhruba Charan Sahoo.

According to the census conducted in 2024, the State has 2,098 wild elephants and 27 tigers. Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park is also home to 1,850 saltwater crocodiles, while the Mahanadi river system has 257 mugger crocodiles and 14 gharial crocodiles.

The mugger crocodiles are found in Satkosia (97), river systems of Similipal Tiger Reserve (76) and Ghodahada reservoir, Digapahandi, Ganjam (84), the minister said.

The Odisha government has also estimated that 3.01 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles were in Gahirmatha during the last nesting season.Besides, 743 dolphins are found in the entire coastal Odisha, including the Chilika lagoon. The government has counted more than 15.92 lakh migratory birds of different species in Chilika lagoon, Bhitarkanika Mangrove Wetland and Hirakud reservoir, Khuntia told the State Assembly.

Khuntia said the government does not carry out a head count of all animals, including birds. However, gharial, mugger and saltwater crocodiles, deer and elephants have been counted and the estimation of Olive Ridley turtles, dolphins, tigers and foreign birds is carried out at regular intervals by the Forest department, he said.