By virtue of being the top predator, the tiger functions as an umbrella species for the conservation of biodiversity in forest systems of Asia. The “Project Tiger”, a pioneering conservation initiative of the Government of India, aims to harness this role of the tiger along with the tiger’s charisma to garner resources and public support for conserving representative ecosystems.

Being at the top of the food chain and found at low densities, the conservation of large carnivores is a challenge to biodiversity conservation (Chapron G. et al. 2014). With their requirement of large home ranges, carnivores occupy vast areas to harbor viable populations (Purvis et al. 2000).

Madhya Pradesh harbors more than 45 species of mammalian fauna (Wroughton 1913, Harshey and Chandra, 2001) which is about 10% of the India’s wild mammals (Menon 2014). It broadly lies in Deccan Plateau, the largest biogeographic zone of India.

Sundarban is the only exclusive mangrove habitat where the tiger exists giving it the status of Level I Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) (Wikramanayake et al. 1998). Sundarban tigers differ morphologically from the mainland tigers (Barlow 2009) and are also genetically one of the most divergent groups amongst Bengal tigers (Singh et al 2015).

This report synthesizes the results of the second countrywide assessment of the status of tigers, co-predators and their prey in India. The first assessment was done in 2006 and its results subsequently helped shape the current policy and management of tiger landscapes in India.

This procedure involves rigorous statistical analyses “of ground data on animal signs, human impacts, habitat attributes and absolute density; it is far more accurate than earlier methods. It is conducted in three phases and involves ground surveys, analyses of remotely sensed data and camera traps.