Mumbai: What does one look for when counting India’s tigers? India’s tiger census, formally known as the All India Tiger Estimation ( AITE ), is a nationwide exercise carried out roughly every four years to assess not just how many tigers exist, but where they are found and what condition their habitats are in. The last tiger census—which credited 60 research biologists, 41 technical assistants, 35 interns and volunteers in addition to the officials—found a minimum estimate of 3,167 tigers across India. According to the All India Tiger Estimation Field Guide 2021 , the process unfolds in two stages. In the second stage, tiger numbers are estimated in selected areas through camera-trap based capture–recapture methods, where individual tigers are identified using stripe patterns and analysed through statistical models, as described in the Status of Tigers in India reports.