Over the past 25 years the Malenad camera traps have captured 8,843 images of 888 individual tigers. Credits: Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth
Camera Trap Photographs Capture India's Wild Tigers
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Every tiger has a unique coat pattern, which makes it possible to identify individuals from photographs and count them. Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth
Karanth has set up camera traps in forests of southwestern India's hill country, known as Malenad, to monitor the tiger populations there. Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth
The camera traps sample only a subset of the tigers in a population. But sophisticated statistical methods allow one to estimate population size from that subset. Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth
Over the past 25 years the Malenad camera traps have captured 8,843 images of 888 individual tigers. Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth
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The Malenad landscape now harbors some 400 to 450 tigers, perhaps the largest tiger population in the world. Courtesy of K. Ullas Karanth