Bengal tigers are rebounding

In the early 1900s, there were up to 100,000 tigers living throughout Asia as a species. However, their population thereafter experienced a dramatic and protracted drop, mostly as a result of habitat degradation and unsustainable hunting. According to estimates, 80,000 tigers were reportedly killed in India alone between 1875 and 1925, and by the 1960s, the tiger population in that nation was in danger.

This led to several initiatives to prevent Bengal tigers from going extinct. India declared the Bengal tiger its national animal in 1972, made it illegal to kill or capture wild tigers in 1971, and began its Project Tiger conservation effort in 1973, which led to an increase in tiger sanctuaries around the nation that is still on the rise. India's entire tiger population increased to 2,200 in 2014 and around 3,000 in 2018 from a low of fewer than 2,000 tigers (the country conducts a census every four years).