India’s tiger count tops 3,600 Tigers in India constitute more than 70% of the global population of tigers. Tiger is officially adopted as the National Animal of India.
India recorded a 23.5% increase in tiger population between 2018 and 2022, taking the number of big cats in the wild to 3,682, more than the initi
ally estimated 3,167 and accounting for 75% of the tigers in the world. In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released an interim estimation of 3,167 tigers. India had 2,197 tigers in 2018, up from 1,411 tigers in 2006.
The increase shows the success of the country’s 20-year-old science- based tiger conservation programme, experts said. Around 80% of the tigers (2,885) now reside in eight of the 18 tiger states, including Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu and Assam. MP has the highest tiger population of 785, followed by 563 in Karnataka and 444 in Maharashtra.
The central Indian and Western Ghats landscapes have contributed 2,526 tigers to the total number, making them the most dense tiger regions in the world, according to state-wise estimation reported
On the individual score, Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and Kaziranga National Park in Assam continue to be most densely populated tiger reserves,
with 260 and 104 tiger, respectively, with Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh and Bandipur in Karnataka
in close pursuit.
Globally, the number of tigers increased from 3,890 in 2016 to 5,575 in 2023, with India and Nepal doubling the numbers, said a statement from the Global Tiger
Forum on Saturday. The GTF counts vary slightly for the
overall global figure, due to which India’s share according to this total does not amount to the share
released by the government.
In Madhya Pradesh, 137 of the 785 tigers were found outside the sixreserves. In Maharashtra, of the 444 tigers, at least 80 were found to be outside the six notified tiger habitats. In Karnataka, 136 of the 563 tigers were found outside the five tiger reserves.
Methodology : “India is the only country in the world with such a scheme. This has lessened human intervention and man-tiger conflicts in the core areas,” said Jhala, who is credited with introducing the modern tiger estimation methodology.
