A total of 106 tigers are living in the Bangladesh's part of the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans, in a far fewer number of the endangered animals than was previously thought. 170 tigers were located in the whole Sundarbans combining the Indian and Bangladeshi part.

A report titled, ‘Tiger density in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans’, came up with the statistics following a recent survey applying camera technique.

Some 440 tigers were recorded in the previous census conducted in 2004 in the World Heritage Sundarbans, one of the world's remaining habitats for the big cats.

But experts said better methodology was the reason for the huge drop in the numbers. Hidden cameras used this time around, rather than pug marks, gave a much more accurate figure.

The World Bank funded survey was conducted by the forest department with the technical support of the Institute of Wild Animal of India. camera footage, pug marks, were used to complete the survey. 

Professor Monirul Islam Khan of the zoology department of Jahangirnagar University conducted a tiger survey in the Sundarbans in 2006, assisted by British Zoological Society which showed the figure was no more than 200.

The recent survey shows the number of tiger has come down to half in the last nine years.