More than 100 volunteers including Forest Department staff, wildlife enthusiasts and members of various NGOs will be involved in the synchronized Wild Elephant Census that is to begin in Coimbatore from Wednesday (tomorrow).
Held as a part of the All India Elephant Census, which is carried out once in five years, the three days estimate would see volunteers assessing the total number of pachyderm in the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The volunteers who are to involve in the census were trained at the Tamil Nadu Forest Academy by experts.
Speaking after the training, District Forest Officer S. Ramasubramaniam said that the 690 sq.km. area of the Coimbatore Division has been split into 24 plots for accurate data collection.
"On the first day, the volunteers would involve in Direct Sighting, on the second day Scientific methods would he carried out and water holes would be monitored for elephant movement on the third day," he said.
He further added that the census would also help in understanding the behavior and family structure of elephants.