The final result of the Elephant Survey 2011 has revealed that there are 5879 elephants living in Sri Lanka. Among them 1107 are calves. "Through the survey not only we counted the number of elephants but information such as their health conditions, population structure were also collected in order provide a long term solution to elephant conservation while mitigating the human-elephant conflict," Wildlife and Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena said.
The large number of calves present in the Sri Lankan elephant population is a positive sign of its health as well as its long term survival, Wildlife authorities said. Among the elephants, 122 were found to be tuskers.
The highest number of elephants is recorded from the Mahaweli wildlife region which is 1751. The lowest number is recorded from the Central wildlife region which is 47. The Northern region reported 233 elephants and 1573 are recorded from the Eastern region. North Western wildlife region records 1189 elephants and the Southern region recorded 1086. DY
