Hyderabad: The Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Telangana has reported a significant increase in its tiger population, with female tigers outnumbering males.
According to findings released by the forest department after Phase-IV monitoring, the reserve now hosts a total of 36 tigers: 20 are females, 13 are males, and the remainder are cubs or individuals whose gender could not be confirmed.
Habitat protection, strict anti-poaching measures
The census, which covered the period from December 20, 2024, to May 15, 2025, marks a growth of three tigers from the previous year. ATR recorded 33 tigers in 2023-24, rising to 36 in 2024-25. Officials attribute this positive trend to ongoing efforts in habitat protection and strict anti-poaching measures.
“The increase in tiger numbers is a direct outcome of protecting tiger habitats and preventing poaching,” said one forest official. “Intensive monitoring and collaboration with local communities have yielded encouraging results.”
The recent monitoring program utilised an extensive setup of 1,594 camera traps, strategically deployed throughout 10 forest ranges of the reserve. The core methodology divided the reserve into 797 grid units, with each grid covering 2 square kilometers.
Within these grids, field staff collected and analysed direct and indirect evidence, including tiger pugmarks, scat, urine markings, and photographic data from the camera traps.
This large-scale monitoring effort is part of Phase-IV of the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s protocol, which involves dividing protected areas into grids, collecting physical evidence, and identifying individual tigers through advanced software that analyzes their unique stripe patterns.
Data was collected and cross-matched with previous records to ensure accurate population estimates and sex ratios.
The data indicates a healthy prey base in the reserve, with surveys recording plentiful populations of sambar deer, spotted deer, nilgai, wild pigs, and other herbivores, providing essential food sources for the tigers.
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