Interestingly, sources said, the survey that started in January 2016 has recorded the presence of leopards in nearly 60% of 51 locations mapped in five districts — Gurgaon, Mewat, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendargarh.

On the other hand, presence of hyenas, nilgais and porcupines is about 68%, 76% and 87% of the mapped areas, respectively. While jackal is found to be the highest occurring carnivore species in the landscape, nilgai is recorded to be the highest occurring ungulate in the areas, sources said.

According to the survey, the most sensitive areas are Raisina, Manesar, Nuh, MohamadpurAhir, Bhondsi, Damdama, Mangarbani and Mandawar. "We will submit the final report to the district wildlife department in a couple of days. It is a fact that wildlife is flourishing in the area and there is an urgent need to protect it," sources said.

"Even though the WII report is awaited, there is definitely an overall increase in the wildlife population in these areas. We have conducted four successful leopard rescues in the past five months. There is an urgent need to implement a long-term wildlife management plan as wildlife is continuously increasing in the Aravalis," MD Sinha, conservator of forests (Gurgaon circle), told TOI on Wednesday.

This is the first time that the department is coming out with a comprehensive survey of wildlife in the Aravalis.

WII has been conducting the survey with the help of camera traps, and by studying pugmarks and droppings, and vegetation in the areas. The survey analysed the land cover utilisation pattern that indicated that the wildlife density estimates are higher in the areas where the habitat covariates, such as shrub cover and tree cover are the highest.

The wildlife department had conducted a survey in 2008-09 when the presence of eight families of leopard, 129 jackals and 46 jungle cats was confirmed at different locations in Gurgaon district.