The Tamil Nadu Forest Department announced the first phase of the All-India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2026, part of the world's largest wildlife monitoring exercise conducted every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India. It assesses tigers and co-predators (leopards, wild dogs, hyenas) and the mega-herbivore prey base, using sign surveys, line transects, camera trapping, genetic sampling and the M-STrIPES system. Tamil Nadu has five tiger reserves and its tiger population rose from 264 (2018) to 306 (2022).