GOOD news for India - tigers are making a big comeback! According to a new study in the journal Science, in just over ten years, India has doubled its number oftigers. Now there are more than 3,600 tigers living there. This means three out of every four wild tigers in the world live in India. What makes this really special? These tigers live in an area that’s just half the size of Britain, and they share this space with 60 million people. That’s a lot of humans and tigers living near each other! The research team found that this special area coversabout1,38,200square kilometresof land, where tigers roam freely through forests,grasslands,andevenareasclose to villages.

 

Thestudycredits fourcore areas that helped India achieve this India was able to stop people from hunting tigers by having strict laws and forest guards. India protected the places where tigers live by making special areas called reserves. The country made sure tigershadenoughfoodtoeat by protecting deer and other animals that tigers hunt. Indiahelpedthepeoplewholivenear tigers by giving them support and money if and when they faced problems. YadvendradevVikramsinhJhala,the study’s lead author, told the BBC, “We think human densities are detrimental to conservation of large carnivores. But more thandensity, it is the attitude ofpeoplethatmatters.”Hepointedout that despite having a lower population density, Malaysia has not successfully revived its tiger population due to different socio-economic and conservation approaches. In some parts of India, like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka,tigersandpeople live quite close to eachother.

 

 

● Local people earn money from tourists who come to see tigers in the wild

● The Government helps people ifthey lose animals or crops because oftigers ●Communitiesunderstandwhysavingtigers is importantandwork to protect them

●Local schools teach childrenaboutwildlife, helping them grow up caringabout tigers But it’s not perfect everywhere. Insome ofIndia’s poorest areas, there areno tigers left. This is usually in placeswhere people used to hunt wild animals for food. The study found thishappening in places like Odisha,Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and parts ofnortheast India. These areas also faceproblems like poverty and lack of education, which make it harder to savewildlife. What about safety? In an interview with the BBC, Dr.Jhala explains it simply, “About35 people die from tigerattacks each year. Butmany more people diefrom road accidents. Ifyou visita tigerreserve,you’re actually more likely to have acaraccident than meet an angry tiger.”

 

India still has room formore tigers He also mentions that about 150peoplediefromleopardattacksandwildpig incidents each year, showing thatliving with wildlife always needs careful planning and awareness. TheresearcherscheckonIndia’stigersevery four years, visiting 20 differentstatestocounttigersandseehowthey’redoing.This regular checking helps the munderstand what works and what doesn’t in saving tigers. Since 2006, they’veseen tiger areas grow by about 2,929squarekilometreseveryyear-that’sbigger than many cities! The researchers found that Indias till has room for more tigers. There are about 1,57,000 squarekilometreswheretigerscouldliveagain.India has shown the world somethingimportant:ifpeoplework togetherandcare aboutwildlife, we cansave endangered animals, even in densely populated places.