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Jumbo Drop in Estimates of India Elephant Population

India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, like this herd bathing in Assam - AFP
India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, like this herd bathing in Assam - AFP
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Jumbo Drop in Estimates of India Elephant Population

India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, like this herd bathing in Assam - AFP
India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, like this herd bathing in Assam - AFP

India's wild elephant population estimates have dropped sharply by a quarter, a government survey incorporating a new DNA system has found, marking the most accurate but sobering count yet.

India is home to the majority of the world's remaining wild Asian elephants, a species listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and increasingly threatened by shrinking habitat, AFP reported.

The Wildlife Institute of India's new All-India Elephant Estimation report released this week puts the wild elephant population at 22,446 -- down from nearly 29,964 estimated in 2017, a fall of 25 percent.

The survey drew on genetic analysis of more than 21,000 dung samples, alongside a vast network of camera traps and 667,000 kilometres (414,400 miles) of foot surveys.

But researchers said the methodological overhaul meant the results were "not comparable to past figures and may be treated as a new monitoring baseline".

 

- 'Gentle giants' -

 

But the report also warned that the figures reflect deepening pressures on one of India's most iconic animals.

"The present distribution of elephants in India represents a mere fraction of their historical range," it said, estimating they now occupy only about 3.5 percent of the area they once roamed.

Habitat loss, fragmentation, and increasing human-elephant conflict are driving the decline.

"Electrocution and railway collisions cause a significant number of elephant fatalities, while mining and highway construction disrupt habitats, intensifying man-wildlife conflicts," the report added.

The Western Ghats, lush southern highlands stretching through Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, remain a key stronghold with nearly 12,00 elephants.

But even there, populations are increasingly cut off from one another by commercial plantations, farmland fencing, and human encroachment.

Another major population centre lies in India's northeast, including Assam and the Brahmaputra floodplains, which host more than 6,500 elephants.

"Strengthening corridors and connectivity, restoring habitat, improving protection, and mitigating the impact of development projects are the need of the hour to ensure the well-being of these gentle giants," the report said.

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Varieties

Iceland Resumes Whale Hunt Amid Protest

FILED - 23 August 2019, Iceland, Reykjavik: FILE PHOTO - The whaling ships Hvalur 9 (L) and Hvalur 8 are docked in the harbor. Photo: Steffen Trumpf/dpa
FILED - 23 August 2019, Iceland, Reykjavik: FILE PHOTO - The whaling ships Hvalur 9 (L) and Hvalur 8 are docked in the harbor. Photo: Steffen Trumpf/dpa
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Iceland Resumes Whale Hunt Amid Protest

FILED - 23 August 2019, Iceland, Reykjavik: FILE PHOTO - The whaling ships Hvalur 9 (L) and Hvalur 8 are docked in the harbor. Photo: Steffen Trumpf/dpa
FILED - 23 August 2019, Iceland, Reykjavik: FILE PHOTO - The whaling ships Hvalur 9 (L) and Hvalur 8 are docked in the harbor. Photo: Steffen Trumpf/dpa

One of Iceland's two remaining whaling ships set out this week to hunt the giant mammals after a two-year hiatus, local media and campaigners reported on Saturday.

Iceland is one of only three countries that still openly permit whaling, alongside Norway and Japan -- despite international opprobrium from the public and animal welfare organizations.

A protester chained himself to the mast of the vessel before it left the port of Reykjavik on Friday. He climbed down in the evening and was escorted away by police, RUV media said.

"It is so disheartening to see Iceland's whaling boat leave port to begin another season of whale slaughter despite overwhelming evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale," Joanna Swabe of the Humane World for Animals NGO said after the second vessel headed out to sea.

"These ocean giants will very likely endure an agonizing death for meat that virtually no one in Iceland wants to eat," she told AFP.

Iceland cancelled its whale hunt in 2024 and 2025, partly because economic woes had cut demand and the industry was not deemed sufficiently profitable.

The International Whaling Commission banned the commercial killing of whales in 1986 amid alarm at the declining stock of the marine mammals.

Iceland and Norway are the only two countries still openly practicing commercial whaling in defiance of the moratorium.

Japan hunts the ocean giants for what it claims is "scientific" purposes, even if most of the meat ends up on the market for consumption.

Iceland's Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has recommended a reduction in the number of whales harpooned this season, which runs from mid-June to mid-September.

The 2026 annual number of fin whales killed should not exceed 150 animals, a 28-percent drop on the recommended annual catch for the period 2018-2025, it said.

The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whale.

The Institute set an annual quota of 168 animals for the minke whale hunt this year, a 23-percent drop.

The government is due this autumn to table a bill on banning whaling altogether.

Varieties

2 Arrested in Spain over Exotic Animal Trafficking Network

A dog drinks water in Palma de Mallorca on June 20, 2026, on the eve of the start of the first official heatwave of this summer. (Photo by Jaime REINA / AFP)
A dog drinks water in Palma de Mallorca on June 20, 2026, on the eve of the start of the first official heatwave of this summer. (Photo by Jaime REINA / AFP)
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2 Arrested in Spain over Exotic Animal Trafficking Network

A dog drinks water in Palma de Mallorca on June 20, 2026, on the eve of the start of the first official heatwave of this summer. (Photo by Jaime REINA / AFP)
A dog drinks water in Palma de Mallorca on June 20, 2026, on the eve of the start of the first official heatwave of this summer. (Photo by Jaime REINA / AFP)

Two people have been arrested and eight others placed under investigation in Spain over their alleged involvement in a network trafficking exotic animals, police said on Saturday.

According to AFP, the Guardia Civil said it launched an investigation in late 2025 after receiving information about suspected wildlife crimes in the southern province of Seville.

The probe led investigators to intercept a suitcase at Seville's San Pablo Airport containing several animals protected under international wildlife trade regulations that were allegedly being transported without the required documentation.

During searches of five homes and three industrial premises in Seville, officers seized 256 animals covered by international wildlife trade controls or other conservation measures.

Among the animals seized were savannah monitors, a large species of lizard native to sub-Saharan Africa that is commonly traded in the exotic pet market.

Officers also recovered red-eyed tree frogs found in the rainforests of Central America, spectacled caimans, a species of crocodilian native to Latin America, and an albino green iguana, a rare color variant prized by collectors.

Police also found 61 dogs and 28 cats which they believe were being bred for illegal sale.

Officers seized 56,965 euros in cash from one property, which investigators suspect was linked to the alleged trafficking operation.

Investigators suspect the group relied on employees of parcel delivery companies who facilitated the transport of live animals and falsified documentation.

Varieties

2011 Japan Quake May Have Moved Whole Country Further East

A sailboat lies among the debris in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan (Reuters)
A sailboat lies among the debris in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan (Reuters)
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2011 Japan Quake May Have Moved Whole Country Further East

A sailboat lies among the debris in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan (Reuters)
A sailboat lies among the debris in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan (Reuters)

Minutes after the massive 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people, “a previously unrecognized” phenomenon may have caused the whole country to shift further eastwards, a new study reveals, according to The Independent.

Such megaquakes are often followed by events that cause additional ground motion, which are related to aftershocks.

But exactly all the different ways in which aftershocks arise aren’t very clear, scientists say.

In a new study, researchers assessed satellite data to study the magnitude 9-Tohoku-Oki earthquake and its seismic aftereffects.

Researchers found that the devastating quake led to a sudden sliding of blocks of rock past each other along the fault line, the British newspaper reported.

It also led to seismic waves travelling through the Earth, bouncing off the planet’s core, and traveling back to the surface to reactivate the region’s tectonic plate boundaries.

These were “shear waves” that travelled through the Earth's interior and caused rock particles to vibrate in a "shear" or side-to-side motion.

Water inundates homes following the tsunami and earthquake that struck Natori city in northeastern Japan in 2011 (Reuters)

The latest findings reveal a previously unknown hazard that could potentially activate or reactivate the main area of a quake, according to the study published in the journal Science.

“We report an extraordinary observation of ground motion in Japan after the moment magnitude 9 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake attributed to a multiplate-interface slip event triggered by a shear wave that travelled to the Earth’s core and back,” researchers wrote in the study.

In the study, scientists re-examined satellite data to look for subtle movements in the minutes surrounding the 2011 quake.

They found that seismic waves travelling through the Earth and bouncing off the core shifted the whole of Japan by as much as 5-6mm.

While this may not be a lot and is a common amount of ground movement following large earthquakes, what surprised scientists was the area of land that had actually shifted.

The triggered slip “has the broadest rupture area of any single event yet documented”, researchers wrote.

“Its overall length is similar to that of mainland Japan (~3,000 km), exceeding the mainshock rupture length by 6‒7 times and more than doubling that of the 2004 great Sumatra Earthquake,” they wrote in the study.

As this ground movement was spread out over several minutes, people may not have felt it happen under their feet, researchers say.

Yet, this new type of seismic hazard needs to be further studied, researchers say.

“I think we should be aware of the fact that there could be this potential triggering of an event many minutes after [an earthquake’s] main shaking has passed,” study author Sunyoung Park told Scientific American.