TIGER
POPULATION - ENVIRONMENT
News: Sharp skew in national big cat map:
20% of tiger area has less than 1% of tiger population
What's
in the news?
●
One-fifth of India’s tiger area spanning
16 tiger reserves harbours only 25 — or less than one percent — of India’s 3,682 tigers, show figures in
the latest All-India Tiger Estimate (AITE) report released by the Environment
Ministry.
Key
takeaways:
●
None of these 16 “bottom reserves,” — the
lowest 16 by number of tigers per 100 sq km — has more than five tigers.
●
Seven have one tiger each, and five
reported none.
Number
of Tiger Reserves:
●
In all, there are 53 tiger reserves covering a combined area of 75,797 sq km.
Findings:
●
The latest Tiger Census report, released
shows that the big cat’s population has increased to 3,682 from 2,967 in 2018.
●
The national count shows the shrinking
range of the big cat since 45% of India’s tigers are concentrated in another
set of 16 reserves that also account for roughly one-fifth of India’s tiger
area.
●
The abysmal tiger density in the 16
reserves can be attributed to lax management, poor protection, habitat
degradation and loss of prey base.
Further
Reference - Tiger Census