Recently, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has published a census report saying that there are 7,910 Chita tigers in India and of them Odisha houses 345.
The figures have been ascertained by the NTCA through camera trapping census to which the Odisha wild life conservation authorities beg to differ on the pretext that the method of count is not reliable. This is absolutely true. The camera trapping technique of census on tiger or any member of cat family is not natural or based on accuracy.
First thing is that, there is no Chita tiger in India. Such species is extinct in India since long, and who we are generally call Chita is a leopard or panther (Kalarapatria Bagha). There are two types of leopard; one is of rose or semi rose colour and the other is black.
Odisha is fortunate that these two types of leopards are available in its forests. The NTCA figures of the Government of India are meant to prepare a master plan for the conservation of the species. The NTCA report had established in 2004 census that there were 192 Royal tigers and 487 leopards in Odisha. Out of the figure 487 leopards 196 were male and 248 were female while the rest 43 were cubs. But at present total 345 leopards are in Odisha forests. The details of sex are not known and within the gap of 11 years, 142 leopards have perished. It is a fact that the regular poaching of tiger and panther is going on in Odisha forests, which cannot be disagreed. But the tiger and leopard cannot be sighted together in wild conditions. A leopard or panther is more cunning than a tiger. It thieves others’ prey. It is a cattle and dog lifter.
When the writer was serving in Kalahandi district one most surprising event was witnessed in a village of Jaguparta area. A village dog while on slumber was lifted by a leopard at night but the country dog per chance caught hold of the throat of the leopard. There was a long tussle between the animals to escape from the grip of one another. It was the event of 1957- 58. Finally, both the animals were killed.
A leopard always avoids encounter with tiger or lion, so it avoids dense forests, specially the territories of the tigers. The tiger commonly breaks the neck of the prey, but the leopard always jumps over the prey and breaks spinal cord of the prey and makes the prey immobilized completely. The incident of Jaapatra of Kalahandi district was like that, when the leopard jumped over the country dog. But, the stout country dog could grab the throat of the leopard. The leopard is a nasty eater, and starts eating from anus and eats every portion of the preyed animal, but tiger does not eat the intestine parts of the prey.
On September 30 last, the writer came to know from a news channel that a Chita Bagh in Udayapur of Rajasthan, while drinking water from an aluminum pot, got its head stuck in the pot’s rim and could not come out. The animal was trying hard to be freed from the pot but in vain.
The local people stood as onlookers. The writer soon contacted the TV channel and advised them to take the help of the local forest officers of Udayapur immediately to tranquillize the animal and then remove the pot.
The leopard always lurks around the villages to take the chance of preying domesticated animals. So the animal in question is not a Chita but a leopard, which is quite distinctive from its behavioral attitude. So the camera trapping census cannot be 100 per cent correct. Practical experience on the biological behavior of a particular animal is needed to conduct census.
locally leopards are called in various names like Tendua, Chitabagh, Kalarapatria, Sonachita, etc. which varies from one province to other.
Average length of a leopard or panther is 7 feet. The female is normally one foot less. The average weight of a panther is up to 70kg.
The weight of male and female varies respectively on consideration of age and climate and also on availability of prey. This animal can make its habitat right from Indian desert to Kashmir snow clad areas. This species is noticed in Burma, Sri lanka, Sind, Baluchistan, Sikkim, Nepal and the Indian peninsula. Hence, its size and colour differ on climatic pressure.
A panther can thrive in open land, rocks and scrubs; it is not like that of Royal Bengal tiger. It can hunt during day time if it fails to prey during night. It can hunt cattle, deer, monkeys and smaller beasts of rodents and porcupines etc. It can also eat birds, reptiles and crabs like the Sundervan tigers. It does not prey on big animals like Nilgai, samber, Barasinga and stags. A panther is very much calculative while overpowering its prey and finally hunting it down.
There are animals, who always encounter with panther for food like tiger, wild dogs and hyenas. This animal always lurks near human settlements and waits for a chance to prey on domestic animals like sheep, goats, calves and village dogs. It also preys the wild animals, but due to shortage of wild prey and to avoid encounter with tigers and wild dogs, panther depends on domesticated cattle for which it has to encounter with man.
Very often panther conceals itself within the tree branches, crevices, cliffs and folds of rocks and jumps over the prey. It is very fond of monkeys. The strength of panther is quite amazing as it can climb a tree carrying a full grown animal in its mouth to avoid encounter with tiger wild dogs, hyenas and even from lions. Sometimes the panther becomes a lone eater.
The panther breeds all over the year like domestic cats. The panther comes to puberty when it attains 3 to 4 years of age. Gestation period is 3 months. Normally 2 to 3 clubs are produced. There are three types of panther noticed in India. In Odisha the panther is known as Kendua because the colour of the animal looks black as rose wood. The animal is generally noticed in Korlapat, Thuamul rampur areas of Kalahandi district. The writer also encountered with a black panther in the Kurmunda areas of Karanjia subdivision of Mayarabhaj district while the animal was on prowl.
The other two types are snow leopard and clouded leopard. The snow leopards are seen in Himalayan regions i.e from Kashmir to Bhutan. But the clouded leopard is only found in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim forests. The ways of life of these two panthers are quite different from the common panthers. There are no biological differences between all these three types of panthers.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)