Bengaluru, Aug 9 (IANS): Karnataka Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology Eshwar B. Khandre on Wednesday said that the number of elephants in the state has gone up by 350.

A census was conducted as a part of the Synchronized Elephant Population estimation -- conducted once in five years, and being held across the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to reporters after releasing the elephant census report at his office in Bengaluru, Khandre said that in 2017, there were 6,049 elephants in the state. According to the latest census on elephants, the number has increased to 6,395.

Khandre said that to ascertain the decrease or increase in the number of elephants, the census is undertaken every five years.

Such a census was undertaken in 2017. An attempt was made to carry out the census of elephants along with the census of tigers in 2022.

The latest census will help towards categorisation of elephants as per gender and age.

The elephant census was carried out between May 17 and May 19 simultaneously by Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

A similar exercise was also taken up by Andhra Pradesh on the same dates, Khandre said.

He said Karnataka has got first place in terms of numbers of elephants. It was in second place in terms of the number of tigers in the country.