GUWAHATI (ASSAM), October 14 — The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) alongside the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Wednesday published the comprehensive tiger population assessment for Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, revealing that tiger density has surged to 15.2 individuals per 100 square kilometres.
According to the official ecological audit conducted using double-observer camera-trapping grids and genetic scat profiling, the Kaziranga floodplains host an estimated minimum population of 132 adult Royal Bengal Tigers. This density cements Kaziranga alongside Corbett and Nagarhole as one of the world's most concentrated tiger habitats. Biologists highlighted that an exceptionally robust prey base—comprising Greater One-horned Rhinoceroses, Asian Elephants, Hog Deer, Sambar, and the world's largest population of Wild Water Buffalo—sustains the apex predator biomass.
Assam forest conservationists noted that institutional anti-poaching measures, rapid wireless patrolling units, and structural protection of nine critical wildlife corridors linking Kaziranga to the southern Karbi Anglong highlands have dramatically mitigated monsoon flood mortality.
The conservation history of Kaziranga National Park (declared a Reserve Forest in 1905, National Park in 1974, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and Tiger Reserve in 2007), statutory powers of the NTCA under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, five decades of Project Tiger (launched in 1973), and floodplain ecology of the Brahmaputra River are high-frequency topics across UPSC Civil Services (GS-III: Biodiversity & Wildlife Conservation) and Assam PSC examinations.