"The 40 tigers include 13 males, 24 females and three cubs. Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), is considered as the only habitat in the world to have dark-striped melanistic tigers," said Forest and Environment Department Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.
The state government's estimation report, which was released today, also found 318 leopards in Odisha, he said.
The report said Similipal region housed 29 Royal Bengal Tigers with 26 of those in Similipal Wildlife Division and three others in Karanjia Division. Of the 26 Royal Bengal Tigers in Similipal, 14 are females, nine males and three cubs, the report said.
Earlier, the state government had rejected the NTCA's claim of only 28 tigers in the state in 2014.
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A total of 20,174 PIPs (Pug Impression Pads) were laid and 448 trap cameras including 315 cameras in Similipal, were installed to reaffirm the estimated tiger population in the Similipal Tiger Reserve, they said.
A five-member technical committee headed by Anup Kumar Nayak, the then Regional Chief Conservator of Forest cum Field Director Satkosia Tiger Reserve, analysed and scrutinised the data obtained during field survey.
In 2010, NTCA had put the number of Royal Bengal Tigers in Odisha at 32 and 45 in 2006.