[ti:Study Finds 182 Tigers Left in World's Biggest Natural Habitat]
[ar:Johnathan Evans]
[al:Science In The News]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Tigers are the most powerful cats on the planet. Tigers are also endangered. 
[00:07.51]A new study shows that the animals are far more 
[00:11.53]at risk of extinction than wildlife experts believed.
[00:15.95]The new census found that only about 100 tigers are left 
[00:21.71]in the Sundarbans forest of Bangladesh. 
[00:24.82]The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. 
[00:30.33]It is also one of the last remaining habitats -- or natural homes -- for tigers.
[00:37.14]The Sundarbans spread across a 10,000-square-kilometer area 
[00:43.40]in southern Bangladesh and the eastern part of India. 
[00:47.40]A number of rivers flow through the area. 
[00:51.20]The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. 
[00:56.85]About 60 percent of the mangrove forest is in Bangladesh.
[01:02.15]In 2004, a separate population count found 440 tigers 
[01:09.45]in the Bangladeshi part of the Sundarbans forest. 
[01:13.14]The finding was based on the study of tiger paw prints, also called "pug marks."
[01:20.89]The latest census used infrared cameras to arrive 
[01:26.26]at what wildlife experts believe is a more exact number. 
[01:30.93]The cameras took pictures when they observed something with body heat.
[01:36.13]Mohammad Jahidul Kabir helped to organize the camera trapping project. 
[01:42.78]He is with the Bangladeshi Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division.
[01:47.83]He says, "We are sure that the pugmark-based previous census yielded an incorrect figure. 
[01:55.35]The number of tigers in the Bangladeshi part of Sundarbans 
[01:59.70]in 2004 was surely not as high as 440."
[02:04.81]Now, after using camera trapping methods used in both countries, 
[02:10.40]the entire forest is believed to hold about 182 tigers.
[02:16.76]Indian wildlife scientist Yadvendradev Jhala studied the recent tiger censuses. 
[02:24.00]He noted that more than three-fourths of the world's tiger population 
[02:29.44]lives in India and Bangladesh. 
[02:32.45]He said the new numbers show that the species is threatened. 
[02:36.90]He blamed both illegal hunting and a new coal-fired power plant that, 
[02:42.60]he says, will separate some tiger populations from each other.
[02:47.18]He said, "The majority of coal needed for the power plant 
[02:51.16]will be brought by barges plying in the water channel from the Bay of Bengal up the Sundarbans. 
[02:56.97]"This continuous traffic of commercial boats will form a barrier to tigers dispersing east-west, 
[03:04.83]effectively dividing the Sundarbans population into two halves. 
[03:09.34]Small populations have a high probability of becoming extinct."
[03:14.53]Monirul Khan is a tiger activist and a member 
[03:18.97]of Bangladesh's National Coordination Committee for Tiger Conservation. 
[03:23.74]He said government officials who oversee wildlife are unable to protect the falling number of tigers.
[03:31.86]He said, "Many areas of the vast Sundarbans remain unprotected 
[03:38.19]due to insufficient patrol posts and forest guards of the forest department, 
[03:42.95]giving the criminals the opportunity to poach the lucrative tiger."
[03:47.21]The tigers mainly eat spotted deer. 
[03:50.87]The deer also are heavily poached for meat and skin, further threatening the tigers.
[03:58.22]Mohammad Jahidul Kabir said the government has taken the latest tiger census report very seriously. 
[04:06.43]He also said the government plans to declare the entire Sundarbans a protected area, 
[04:13.31]restricting activities that threatened the tigers.
[04:17.30]Some estimates say there are only around 3,200 tigers left 
[04:23.96]in the wild in the world -- down from 100,000 in 1900.
[04:29.86]I'm Johnathan Evans.
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