Sundarbans has 125 tigers: Survey

The Sundarbans tiger population has increased to 125 in the latest government tiger survey in 2023-24. The number of tigers was 114 in the 2018 survey.
The tiger density is 2.64 per 100 square-kilometres. Compared to 2018, the tiger population has increased by 11, reflecting a growth rate of 9.65 per cent, and a 17.92 per cent rise since 2015.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, shared the survey details at a news conference at the secretariat on Tuesday.
In 2015, the Sundarbans had 106 tigers with a density of 2.17. By 2018, the number had risen to 114, with a density of 2.55, marking an 8.0 per cent increase.
The advisor further mentioned that 21 tiger cubs were photographed in the 2023-24 survey, although they were not included in the count due to the high mortality rate among cubs. In comparison, only five cubs were captured on camera in the 2015 and 2018 surveys.
The tiger count was determined through the analysis of photos and data, with input from experts from India, New Zealand and the United States.
The survey, which began in January 2023 and concluded in March 2024, deployed 1,210 cameras in 605 grids across the Sundarbans for 318 days. Tigers were spotted in 368 grids, and from over 1.0 million photos and videos, 7,297 tiger images were obtained-an unprecedented number.

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