Tigers on the Rebound

Study shows success of protecting the Himalayas' tigers

_alt_

WWF launched the Year of the Tiger campaign in 2010 and rallied global commitments to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. In early 2013, 120 tiger researchers fanned out across some of the wildest sections of India and Nepal to assess the status of that work. That team completed the first joint tiger and prey-base survey of the entire Terai Arc, a 600-mile-long transboundary landscape that boasts one of the highest densities of tigers in the world.

Using camera traps and lots of legwork, the surveyors identified individual tigers by their unique stripe patterns and found something amazing: Tiger numbers in Nepal have risen by an estimated 63% in four years.

That number is the result of three main factors: political momentum in the region, garnered by the Global Tiger Recovery Program launched at the tiger summit in 2010; the dedicated work of rangers, forest guards and army personnel protecting tigers and their prey; and the tigers’ robust birth rate in the productive grasslands and forests of the Terai.

By translating the study’s results into even more effective science-based efforts on behalf of these big cats, we are giving the Terai’s signature predators a fighting chance.

Learn how the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has made a big commitment to the future of tigers.

Explore More

About
World Wildlife magazine provides an inspiring, in-depth look at the connections between animals, people and our planet. Published quarterly by WWF, the magazine helps make you a part of our efforts to solve some of the most pressing issues facing the natural world.

View all issues