Stories1 min(s) read
Published 22:56 31 Jul 2020 GMT
It's no secret that tigers are an endangered species, but there's hope for these animals as their numbers in India have almost doubled in the last 12 years.
This is excellent news for the species as a whole, with Business Insider reporting that India is home to 70% of the world's tiger population.
These motorcyclists narrowly escaped death after a tiger emerged from the woods:
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The good news was revealed ahead of Global Tigers Day by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar while releasing a report about the status of the animals in India.
"In 1973, there were just nine tiger reserves which have now increased to 50. It is important to know that none of these reserves are of poor quality. Either they are good or the best," Javadekar said.
He added, "Despite India's constraint of 2.5% of global land, 4% of rainfall and 16% of world's human population, India is home to 8% of [the] world's biodiversity, which includes 70% of the world's tiger population."
The report revealed that the tiger population within the reserves stands at 1,923, which equates to 65% of India's tiger population.
Out of India's 50 tiger reserves, three reserves - Mizoram's Dampa reserve, West Bengal's Buxa reserve and Jharkhand's Palamau reserve - had no tigers left, according to the Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India report for 2018.
The population estimation of tigers in reserves for 2018-19 found that Corbett has 231 tigers and Nagarhole and Bandipore reserves in Karnataka have 127 and 126 tigers respectively.
Javadekar said that India is now ready to pave the way for other counties to manage their reserves and conservation of big cats.
As it stands, there are 13 tiger range countries in the world - India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi released India's four-yearly tiger census report which revealed that the country's tiger population has grown from 1,400 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2019.
