Uttarakhand

• 04 May 2022

Monkey and Langur Census, 2021

Why In News?

• Recently, data on unplanned monkey and langur census has been released by the Uttarakhand government in December 2021.

Key Point

• The census has been conducted by the Uttarakhand Forest Department and wildlife institute of India.
• According to it, the number of monkeys in the state has decreased by 24.55 per cent in 2021 as compared to 2015, while the number of langurs has decreased by 31.14 per cent.
• In the 2021 census, the number of monkeys was recorded at 1,10,481 and the number of langurs at 37,735, compared to 1,46,432 in 2015 and the number of langurs at 54,804.
• As per the census, the distribution of number of monkeys is as under: Haridwar Forest Division > Bageshwar Forest Division > Dehradun Forest Division.
• As per the calculation, the distribution of the number of langurs is as follows: Corbett Ramnagar > Badrinath Forest Division > Corbett Kalagarh.
• The following efforts are being made by the Government to reduce the number of monkeys:
  • Programme of sterilization of monkeys
  • Building monkey enclosures
  • Construction of rescue centres, such as Mini Zoo Rescue Centre, Almora.
  • Two monkey forests will be built in the state; The first in 107 hectares in Haldwani, the second in Haridwar in 25 hectares.