"As per the Central government guidelines, the census will be taken up between June 1 and 3 in Jharkhand and three other states, having contiguous habitat," Conservator of Forest (Palamau Tiger Project, Betla Core Area in Palamau) Premjit Anand, told PTI.
Stating that the last elephant census was taken up five years ago, he said members of the counting units would take up positions at selected spots from 5.30 am to 4 pm for three days.
"Fixed points have been identified to observe elephants at water holes, towers, hideouts and in other places where visibility of elephants are frequent.
"Details will be noted down, like whether the elephant is an adult or a juvenile or a calf and whether the elephant is a tusker. Then the compilation work will be taken up," Anand said.
Asked what mechanism has been taken to avoid duplication of the pachyderms, he said forest guards were trained how to write down timings of spotting the elephants and other ways to avoid repetitions.
"Suppose a team spots a herd of four elephants at one spot at 3 pm and another team sees the same number at 4 PM then they would be the same elephants," he said, pointing out to distance as a factor how much an elephant could cover within a certain time.
