All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 released

July 30, 2019

As per the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 India has 2,967 tigers, a third more than in 2014. The Tiger census made public on occasion of Global Tiger Day (29 July) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Key Findings

Top 5 Performing States: Madhya Pradesh saw highest number at 526, followed by Karnataka (524), Uttarakhand (442), Maharashtra (312) and Tamil Nadu (264).

States that saw Decline in Tiger Population: Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. While all other States saw a Positive increase.

Highest Number of Tigers: found in Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Maximum Improvement in Tiger Population since 2014: recoded in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil

4^th cycle of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves (MEETR), which evaluates India’s 50 tiger sanctuaries was also released along with 4th National Tiger Estimation (Tiger census). According to it-

Pench sanctuary (MP) and Periyar sanctuary of Kerala emerged as best managed tiger reserves in country. Top performers scored 93.75%.

Dampa Reserve (Mizoram) and Rajaji reserve (Uttarakhand) with score of 42.97% and 44.53% respectively were left at bottom of ladder.

Chhattisgarh was least performing State in reserve management.

Methodology: Sanctuaries, which spanned 80 States, were divided into 5 geographic clusters and on the whole, Western Ghats cluster comprising reserves in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka scored an average of 81%. A score of 75% and above is rated ‘very good’ and score of 41% and above was marked as ‘fair’.

4th National Tiger Estimation (Tiger census)

It is 4th such tiger survey since 2006. It is a gargantuan exercise and is conducted once in 4 years. Latest survey is culmination of 15 months (1.3 year) of forest officials surveying 3,81,400 sq-km of forested habitat, installing 26,760 camera traps and wildlife biologists digging by 35 million images of wildlife- 76,523 out of which were tigers (there can be multiple images of same tiger). Nearly 83% of estimated tiger population was captured in these images.