Guwahati, June 13 -- Reported by Roopak Goswami

Guwahati: A nationwide tiger census has led to an unexpected conservation breakthrough in Assam, with camera-trap data revealing that Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve harbors a significant population of the elusive Greater Hog Badger, one of Asia's least-studied carnivorous mammals.

The first scientific assessment of the species in Kaziranga estimates a minimum population of 55 Greater Hog Badgers, positioning the UNESCO World Heritage Site among the most important known habitats for the globally vulnerable animal in South Asia.

The study utilised thousands of camera-trap photographs originally collected during the All India Tiger Estimation exercise. Researchers from Kaziranga's...