Forest officials will fan out across tiger habitats in the State, starting September 2, for the quadrennial estimation of tiger population.
The field directors of Parambikulam and Periyar tiger reserves will serve as nodal officers of the exercise.
The estimation is expected to be completed by January 2022, and data will be submitted to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), officials said.
This year, data on wild elephant population will also be generated. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, will be partnering with the NTCA for the programme.
In Kerala, focus will be on the tiger reserves of Periyar and Parambikulam and Wayanad, Aralam and Kottiyoor wildlife sanctuaries, Wayanad North and South, Kannur forest divisions, Silent Valley, Malayattoor, Periyar Tiger Reserve, and Ranni landscapes where the presence of the big cat has been reported.
Dung of mega-herbivores and scat (droppings of carnivores) samples will be collected for DNA extraction for estimation of the population of mega-herbivores. The last survey, conducted in 2018-19 across the country, had witnessed camera traps being placed in 26,838 locations across 141 sites, and an effective area of 121,337 sq.km being covered. The programme generated 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife of which 76,651 were those of tigers and 51,777 of leopards. As many as 2,461 individual tigers were identified in the process, according to officials.
