With a resolve to remove the Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) from the endangered status, the Tamil Nadu government will execute a synchronised survey of the State animal from April 29.
The three-day exercise is being done to estimate the population of the Tahrs, which once roamed the length and breadth of the Anamalai and Nilgiris landscape. The animal is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
At present, there are around 3,000 Tahrs in the Western Ghats, according to a report released by the World Wildlife Fund India in 2015, and a sizeable portion is concentrated in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). In 2020, the Nature Conservation Foundation found around 510 individuals in the ATR, which houses the second largest population of the species after the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala.
