Move to count Bengal tigers

India and Bangladesh have proposed a joint plan to count the number of tigers in the Sunderbans, a stretch of mangrove forest which crosses their borders.

Wildlife officials say that previous, separate counts were probably inaccurate, because some tigers were missed out and others counted twice as they crossed borders.

The new project would be funded by the United Nations Development Programme, and wildlife officials hope that survey data will assist officials to take appropriate steps to help save the Royal Bengal Tiger from extinction.

India has the world's largest tiger population but the number of big cats is in decline due to poaching and intrusion into their habitat.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service