India’s tiger census creates Guinness record

The All India Tiger Estimation is now in the Guinness World Records... a shining example of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat. PRAKASH JAVADEKAR, Environment minister

NEWDELHI: INDIA’S 2018 tiger census has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey. For the survey, camera traps were placed at 26,838 locations across 141 different sites.

Following the citation, a Union environment ministry statement on Saturday called India’s tiger conservation efforts a “gold standard” for the world.

Environment minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted, “The All India Tiger Estimation is now in the Guinness World Records for being the largest camera trap wildlife survey, a great moment indeed and a shining example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.” He added that India fulfilled its target of doubling tiger numbers four years in advance of its promised 2022 deadline.

The 2018 All India Tiger estimation had found 2967 tigers in the country, compared to 2,226 in 2014.

The minister also shared an image of the World Record citation on his official Twitter handle. “The fourth iteration of the survey – conducted in 2018-19 - was the most comprehensive to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed. Camera traps (outdoor photographic devices fitted with motion sensors that start recording when an animal passes by) were placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres (46,848 square miles). In total, the camera traps captured 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife (76,651 of which were tigers and 51,777 were leopards)...,” the citation read.

The estimation methodology, however, was criticised by academics for being misleading.

A scientific paper titled “How sampling-based overdispersion reveals India’s tiger monitoring orthodoxy” in the Journal Conservation Science and Practice on November 4, 2019 flagged photographic manipulation and mathematical flaws with the survey.