INDIA, February 24, 2026 (Indian Express): Fewer than 8% of India’s 22,446 elephants – spread across six states – are responsible for nearly half of all human-elephant conflict casualties nationwide. Most belong to nomadic herds displaced from shrinking forest habitats and forced into croplands. The outcome is that hundreds of elephants now depend solely or primarily on raiding agricultural fields, where they must compete with desperate farmers. Last year, the government’s elephant population report recorded that the central Indian landscape is fragmented due to “unmitigated mining and linear infrastructure construction” etc, which has pushed elephants to new areas, “resulting in escalating conflicts with humans”. Even as high-nutrient crops are boosting breeding in the crop-dependent herds, leading to a surge in numbers, the elephant population in the forests exceeds what these heavily degraded habitats can sustain.

Source: Indian Express February 28, 2026 02:24 UTC