CONSERVATION// Tigers have made a little comeback with the total number of tigers in the world increasing for the first time in 100 years. A new tiger count has shown that 3890 tigers roam the wild, which is much higher than the 3200 tigers counted in 2010. The new data was published in a report prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Global Tiger Forum (GTF), an organization that works for the protection of the tiger. More than half of the world’s tigers are found in India where 2226 out of the 3890 were counted. After India, comes Russia (433 tigers), Indonesia (371), Malaysia (250) and Nepal (198).

These numbers are tiny compared by the 100,000 tigers that roamed Asia one hundred years ago. Hunting and loss of jungle areas killed many tigers. After hunting was banned, poaching became a serious problem. Poachers are people who kill tigers illegally — they kill them for their body parts that are used in Chinese medicine. More than 1500 tigers have been killed by poachers between 2010 and 2014, according to data collected by TRAFFIC, a group that studies illegal wildlife trade. Therefore, in spite of the increase in numbers, tigers remain an endangered species. The number of tigers worldwide may be higher than 3890 and closer to 4000 as Myanmar has yet to announce its numbers.