India and Nepal begin Royal Bengal tiger census

Forest and nature protection officials from Nepal and India have started their first ever joint survey of tigers.

The survey will take place in a dozen or more wildlife preserves and forests spread across the Terai Arc region that the two South Asian nations share.

The project aims to identify the exact number of Royal Bengal tigers residing in this zone.

It will also study the availability of prey to assist with conservation strategies.

The Terai Arc Landscape spreads over 950km (600 miles) across the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and into southern Nepal.

The region is estimated to be home to 500 tigers at present - one of the world's densest concentrations of tigers, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).