With the growing discussion about climate change and saving wildlife, preserving the number of tigers has also been one of the major issues bothering India. However, the latest figures have revealed that the numbers are slowly increasing. And India is slowly becoming one of the biggest and most secure tiger habitats in the world.
Tiger population marking a growth
The latest census on the tiger population confers a pleasant increase in the number of tigers in the country. The report said that India is now home to approximately 3,000 tigers, more than it had four years ago.
The country filled with varieties of habitats is now estimated to be home to around 70% of the world’s tigers. India now has as many as 2,967 tigers in the forest, with more than half of them in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
A 33% rise in the numbers
The numbers have grown by almost 33% since the last count in 2014 when the total assessment was 2,226. India calculates its tigers once every four years – it’s a long, severe task that involves forest officials and scientists trekking across half a million square kilometers looking for a sign of the tiger population.
The highest rise of the Tiger population so far has been reported in the broad Terai region of the Uttarakhand’s Western Circle. The population increased from 79 in 2014, to at the shortest 119 adults in 2018 alone. Marking a total of 442 tigers in its region.
The two states, Madhya Pradesh(526) and Karnataka(524) have the highest population of the carnivore. The population has also expanded in Maharashtra (312) and Tamil Nadu (264).
An image that made everyone cheerful
An image was shared on Twitter by Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan, with the caption, ‘This is a magical picture. Count the #cubs with #tigress. I know for a reason how few people will be elated after seeing this. Efforts are helping in making this species bounce back from the verge of extinction. PC Siddharth Singh. Magical Terai’.
This is magical picture. Count the #cubs with #tigress. I know for a reason how few people will be elated after seeing this. Efforts are helping in making this species bounce back from verge of extinction. PC Siddharth Singh. Magical Terai. pic.twitter.com/ZIaMlUAxBj
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) January 6, 2020
The tiger occupying habitats were classified into five landscape regions—Shivalik-Gangetic plains, Central India and the Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, North Eastern Hills, and Brahmaputra Flood Plains and the Sundarbans.
So that it is easy to count those cubs. The sights which will make conservationists elated. A happy #tiger family on a walk. Received via Whatsapp. pic.twitter.com/hr1yBd7aZz
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) January 9, 2020
This is a major conservation success. By one survey, between 1875 and 1925 alone, some 80,000 tigers were killed in India. By the 1960s the number of tigers had decreased very steeply. But several government actions to conserve tigers – including a prohibition on hunting and awareness drives in villages -are said to be the reason behind the increase of the population. After all the efforts, India is now known to be one of the biggest and most secure tiger habitats in the world.
