A study is in progress to assess dispersal of tigers in the corridors and outside protected areas. It will focus on their movement on a more holistic landscape level rather than restricting itself to the tiger habitat area to find more tangible solutions to rising man-animal conflicts in the country.
The study is being undertaken in Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra, where tigers are now breeding and the movement of young tigers can be tracked.
Further, the region provides crucial connectivity with the Central Indian tiger landscapes. This five-year study would be a joint effort by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), along with the State Forest department.
“We will try to examine how the areas outside the reserve’s core and buffer zones are being used by tigers, their co-predators and their prey,” said Dr Bilal Habib, wildlife scientist from WII, who is leading the research.
The field work for the project has already commenced. By studying the dispersal of tigers and their movements in the surrounding landscape, researchers hope to identify areas to be prioritised for mitigation measures, he added.
The area under study covers a stretch of 7,000 sq kms outside TATR. It has been divided into grids of 13kms by 13kms - an area believed to be the ideal home range for a tiger. “We are mapping these grids based on various parameters including the number of villages, density of human population, livestock kept by villagers, prey density, type of forest the presence of waterholes etc,” said Habib.
Based on this mapping the specific areas vulnerable to man animal conflict can be prioritized. A grid with cent percent forest cover and no human intervention will for instance not require conflict mitigation measures, But simultaneously a grid with high human pressures and accompanying livestock would require more attention, explained a researcher. In the present circumstances, such areas are more broad based but the study can help in pinpointing the trouble areas, he added.
During the next phase of the project about 12 cubs around the age of two will be fitted with radio collars. “This is the age when they normally leave their mother’s home range.
The study will follow these tigers as they scout for new territories in the process monitor their dispersal through areas of human habitation. The process will be carried out from season to season and the data compared over the years. This will enable the researchers to determine on how long a tiger remains in a particular area. The tigers will be radio collared around December.