Published 17:33 IST, July 11th 2020
India’s tiger census sets world record for being 'largest camera trap wildlife survey'
India’s tiger estimation for the year 2018 has been awarded the Guinness World Record on July 11 for being the largest camera-trap wildlife survey.
India’s tiger estimation for the year 2018 has been awarded the Guinness World Record on July 11 for being the largest camera-trap wildlife survey. According to the Guinness Book of World Record, the fourth edition of the census was the ‘most comprehensive’ to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed. While sharing the news of the ‘great moment’ on Twitter, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the country fulfilled its aim to double the tiger numbers four years before the target.
While speaking to ANI, the environment minister said that India’s census of tigers entered Guinness World Records because the officials installed more cameras to monitor them as compared to other countries. He further said that the tiger population is nearly 70 per cent of the world’s tiger population.
As per the government press note, “The fourth iteration of the survey – conducted in 2018-19 - was the most comprehensive to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed. Camera traps were placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres. In total, the camera traps captured 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife”.
Tiger population increased by one-third
Since 2006, the government has been conducting the census every four years led by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) with cooperation from various state forest departments and conservation NGOs. The survey aims at arriving at a nationwide assessment into the county’s population and habitat of tigers. With an ‘unprecedented camera trap usage’, back in 2018, the ‘Status of Tigers in India’ assessment also conducted foot surveys.
While the assessment of the foot survey was carried out over three phases, the government noted that the positive outcome of the survey was that it concluded that India’s tiger population had increased by roughly one-third, which is from 2,226 in 2014, to 2,927 in 2018. The officials also noted that even with an increase in tiger population, the officials still need to improve ‘corridors’ between isolated pockets of tiger territory, reduce poaching, and build up prey numbers through habitat restoration.
Updated 17:33 IST, July 11th 2020