Gopal Prakash Bhattarai of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation said that the latest tiger count showed there were 235 tigers in the jungles — almost twice as many as the 121 that were found in 2009.

The young tiger was the smallest female cub born as part of a litter of four to the zoo's Amur tiger, Anya, on May 11. 

At first, the numbers seem impressive: India's tiger population has gone up 30 per cent in just four years. But independent scientists say such an increase -- to 2,226 big cats -- in so short a time doesn't make sense.