AHMEDABAD:
The number of herbivorous animals in the Gir wildlife sanctuary
increased by 6.48% in the last one year. This was revealed during the
herbivore count conducted by the forest department recently in the Gir
sanctuary. If the figures for the last five years are considered, the
number of herbivores in Gir has almost doubled, said officials
The count had revealed that there are 79,289 herbivores in the sanctuary
including Chital, Sambhar, Nilgai, Chausingha, Wildboar and Chinkara.
Officials said Chausinha and Chinkara numbers had not increased as
expected. In the year 2009-10, there were only 38,953 herbivorous
animals in Gir. Forest department officials said that the density of the
prey base for Asiatic lions was around 79 animals per sq km in the
sanctuary where lions were found over 1000 sq km out of the total 1412
sq km area of the sanctuary.
Officials said that the growth in
number of herbivores in the last one year was around 6.48%, which is
lower than the growth in 2012-13. In 2012-13, the number of herbivores
had increased by 38%. Their number in 2011-12 was 53,873 which had
jumped to 74,455 animals in 2012-13.
According to officials,
the herbivore count just completed had revealed that there were 23,326
langoors. This was contrary to the claim made by the Madhya Pradesh in
the Supreme Court. The expert group had submitted in the apex court that
that there were no langoors or peafowl in the Gir Sanctuary. According
to forest officials, the number of chitals has increased from 32,155 in
the year 2009-10 to 63,306 in the year 2013-14.
The growth in
the number of Chausingha was not satisfactory, said officials. In fact,
except for the year 2012-13, their number had been falling steadily over
the last five years. Chausingha numbers had fallen from 1165 in 2009-10
to 756 this year.
Official said this was the first time that
the herbivore count had been conducted over 22,000 sq km area where
lions were found. Scat analysis had revealed that lions were present
over around 10,000 sq km in 2010 and had not spread over an area of
22,000 sq km. Officials said that the herbivore count for Gir sanctuary
had been completed while it was still being conducted in other areas.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Herbivore-numbers-in-Gir-up-6-48/articleshow/35624208.cms
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