CHITWAN: A royal Bengal tiger census in the Chitwan National Park has begun from today with the use of camera trapping technology.

The technology is a globally preferred method in wildlife management for tracking down the movement of animals by installing cameras deep inside their habitat and the areas where they roam around.

The National Park has used the high-tech cameras for monitoring the movement of the endangered wild cats to measure their population, shared Ramchandra Kandel, Chief Conservation Officer at the Chitwan National Park.

"The camera trapping technology is so reliable that it takes picture of the tigers automatically once these animals come across the place where the cameras are installed. Also, there is slimmest chance of capturing the same tiger in another camera as the experts later examine and assess the footstep of the tigers," added another conversationalist Prakash Shrestha.

"The formulation of a special strategy aiming to contribute in conserving tigers is also in the offing," informed Phadindra Raj Kharel, Director General of the Wildlife Department in the National Park.

Various wildlife-related organisations have also mobilised technicians in several places in the Park to monitor tigers and their habitats.

As per the last tiger census in 2013, there were altogether 198 royal Bengal tigers in Nepal, of which Chitwan National Park alone houses 120 such tigers.

A statistics shows that there are altogether 3,200 royal Bengal tigers in the world.