India now has 70% of the world's tigers, according to the latest tiger census. A countrywide head count of the big cat conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in 2014 found that the number of tigers has risen 30% from 1,706 in 2010 to 2,226 in 2014.
The number of tigers fell to a low of 1,411 in 2006 from more than 3,000 six years earlier, triggering off national alarm. This increase is being seen as a huge conservation and management success, even as it gives rise to more conflicts between tigers and humans living in and around tiger habitats.
The 2014 tiger estimation was done across 18 states and covered 370, 000 square kilometres within and outside tiger reserves. Where wildlife officials earlier studied pugmarks to identify tigers, this census has used camera traps to identify tigers by their unique stripes along with physical verification and studying tiger scat DNA.
Here are three of India's tigers snapped by camera traps set up by Wildlife Conservation Trust, which partnered with the government to conduct the census. Even though tiger numbers in India are rising, poaching of the animals for their skin, meat and bones remains rampant, which is why WCT has withheld information on the location where these photographs were taken.
Photo courtesy: Wildlife Conservation Trust
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
The number of tigers fell to a low of 1,411 in 2006 from more than 3,000 six years earlier, triggering off national alarm. This increase is being seen as a huge conservation and management success, even as it gives rise to more conflicts between tigers and humans living in and around tiger habitats.
The 2014 tiger estimation was done across 18 states and covered 370, 000 square kilometres within and outside tiger reserves. Where wildlife officials earlier studied pugmarks to identify tigers, this census has used camera traps to identify tigers by their unique stripes along with physical verification and studying tiger scat DNA.
Here are three of India's tigers snapped by camera traps set up by Wildlife Conservation Trust, which partnered with the government to conduct the census. Even though tiger numbers in India are rising, poaching of the animals for their skin, meat and bones remains rampant, which is why WCT has withheld information on the location where these photographs were taken.
Photo courtesy: Wildlife Conservation Trust