4 crore photos, 1.18 lakh kilometer walk and risk of life; This is how 3167 tigers were counted

The number of tigers in the country has increased to 3,167. This figure seems very small, but to achieve it, survey teams have to risk their lives to enter the den of the king of the jungle. To identify a tiger one has to travel miles and millions of camera traps have to be searched.

This time, to find out the number of tigers, 4.70 crore photos taken from more than 32 thousand cameras in forests across the country were checked. Apart from this, the teams also had to measure 1,18,453 km more walking distance than the previous calculation for manual survey. In the 2018 count, the teams covered a distance of around 5.22 lakh kms.

The figures of the number of tigers in the country are released after every four years. The figures for 2022 were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. While the team tagged 3,080 tigers with cameras, 87 tigers were found manually through footprints, faeces etc. According to the report released on the website of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), 4 crore 70 lakh 81 thousand 881 photographs were taken from 32,588 cameras installed across the country. Of the 97,399 photographs, 3,080 tigers were fully captured.

This time the cameras were more successful. In the 2018 census, 2,967 tigers were marked across the country. Then about 82 percent (2,461 tigers) could be identified through camera traps. Whereas, this time out of 3,167 tigers, 3,080 (about 97 per cent) have been traced with camera traps. In such a situation, the calculation of cameras was more successful.

This is how monitoring is done

Where there is more movement of tiger in the forest, it is considered as its corridor. These are identified by tiger faeces, urine or marks made on trees. Tigers decide their territory only through marks on trees. Camera traps are placed at such places.

identification with stripes

The same tiger can be seen at different places during the census. To differentiate it, the stripes made on the body of the tiger are used. The stripes on the body of every tiger are different. Software is also used to identify the pattern of stripes. It is with their help that it is ascertained whether the tiger seen in different cameras is the same or not.