The number of Royal Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, has increased slightly, according to a new survey. A survey by the Forest Department in 2015 said there were only 106 tigers in Bangladesh at the time however the new survey found existence of around 114 found in the Bangladeshi part in 2018.
The survey, conducted using camera traps, found a tiger density of 2.17 for every 100 sq km of the Sundarbans. The total number of tigers increased by eight in 2018, according to the report released on Wednesday, titled “Second Phase: Status of Tigers in Bangladesh Sundarbans - 2018”. Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin said the Forest Department made the finding after carrying out the survey in the Sundarbans’ Khulna, Satkhira and Sharankhola ranges between Dec 1, 2016 and Apr 24, 2018.
The forest department special camera traps at three blocks in these ranges, spanning 1656 sq km and collected 2466 photos over 249 days. After analysing the photos, they later determined the figure based on the 63 adult, four juvenile and five minor tigers pictured during the survey. Funded by USAID, the survey was conducted under the Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity Project.