The Bengal tiger or Royal Bengal Tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the India,Bangladesh,Bhutan,Nepal.Tigers are the most charismatic and well known largest of all the Asian big cats.They are mostly found in deep forests of Bhutan,India,Nepal,Myanmar,Bangladesh.They live in swamp lands and deep forests.

They are species who are solitary,territorial and nocturnal in nature.They are powerful hunters and are primarily known to hunt for prey as a daily activity.In most of the cases,they approach their prey from side or behind and attack their neck.

POPULATION

It ha been classified as endangered speciesby IUCN.Its population is estimated to be fewer than 2500 individuals.Tiger population are under threat from prey depletion,tiger poaching and habitat degradation and fragmentation.Tigers are facing  a seripous danger of becoming extinct in the wild.There were once 9 subspecies of tigers: Bengal,Siberian,Malaysia,Caspian,Javan and Bali.Out of the 9 subspecies,the last three have already been extinct  and the rest are endangered.

TIGER CONSERVATION EFFORTS

The first tiger conservation initiative could be traced back to 1972 ,when the government of Nepal,WWF-US and the Smithsonian Institute jointly launched the Tiger Ecology Project in Chitwan. This project raised the issue of  the importance of tiger conservation along with the need to secure its prey base and natural habitat.This issue eventually found its place on the National agenda.

Nepals commitment to tiger conservation is eventually yielding results.The tiger count conducted in 2018 has recorded  235 tigers in the wild.The  earlier  census of 2009 had recorded 121 individuals.The result shows the country is close to doubling its tiger population  and achieving the global commitment made in the 2010 St.Petersburg Summit in Russia.