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The signifier III of the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) began astatine the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) successful Thekkady connected Wednesday ( February 25). According to officials, a full of 470 grids has been established crossed the reserve, with 353 grids falling wrong the PTR East Division and 117 wrong the PTR West Division.
According to officials, to guarantee broad and intensive sampling, 940 camera traps person been deployed passim the tiger-bearing areas. Before deployment, each frontline unit and associated unit underwent structured grooming connected February 10, 2026. The camera-trapping workout is scheduled for a continuous 30-day period, ending connected March 27, 2026. This duration follows nationalist protocols to guarantee capable photographic captures and recaptures of idiosyncratic tigers, strengthening the reliability of colonisation estimates.
Officials noted that signifier I of the estimation was completed earlier. Based connected tiger beingness recorded during that phase, circumstantial habitats were selected for this intensive monitoring. PTR has been systematically divided into two-square-kilometre grids, each equipped with 2 camera traps to seizure photographs of some flanks of passing tigers. This dual-camera setup is important for identifying unsocial stripe patterns, which allows for precise idiosyncratic identification.
Officials said that PTR serves arsenic a captious root colonisation for tigers wrong the Periyar-Agasthyamalai landscape, sharing contiguous situation connectivity with the Srivilliputhur-Meghamalai and Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserves successful Tamil Nadu.
To support information quality, each camera traps are inspected each 4 days to cheque artillery levels, representation capacity, alignment, and imaginable harm from wildlife oregon the environment. Once the sampling play concludes, the photographic information volition beryllium compiled and analysed for stripe signifier matching earlier being submitted to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The advancement of signifier III is being supervised by the AITE Kerala Nodal Office and tract manager Pramod P.P. Division-level coordination is being led by Saju P.U. (deputy director, Periyar East), Sandeep S. (deputy director, Periyar West), and Lekshmi R. (assistant tract director, PTR).
