What’s the news?

• According to the Union Environment ministry, the Central government will for the first time this year present a unified count of the tiger, leopard and elephant populations of the country.

News in detail

• The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years. 
• According to the most recent 2018-19 survey, there were 2,967 tigers in India and according to the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India.
• Elephant numbers would be estimated by States based on DNA analysis of their dung droppings and statistical techniques while Tigers are counted by deploying camera traps, identifying individuals based on stripes, as well as statistical analysis.
• Resources, time and energy will be saved from having a common estimate as 80% of the area occupied by both animals is similar.
• This is the first time that a robust scientific method based on statistical techniques will be implemented.

Additional details

Tiger Census

• The Tiger census is carried out quadrennially (once in 4 years) by the National Tiger Conservation Authority with technical backstopping from the Wildlife Institute of India and implemented by State Forest Departments and partners.

Reference

https://vikaspedia.in/energy/environment/biodiversity-1/fauna-of-india/tiger-census-in-india