IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library
   

 

View printer friendly
Harihar, A.; Prasad, D.L.; Ri, C.; Pandav, P.; Goyal, S.P.
Losing ground: tiger _Panthera tigris _in the north-western Shivalik landscape of India
2009  Oryx (43): 35-43

Rajaji National Park, which forms the northwestern limit of the range of tiger Panthera tigris in India, is bisected into western and eastern sectors by development activities along the banks of the river Ganga. Following a voluntary pastoral Gujjar resettlement programme initiated in the Park by the Uttarakhand Forest Department, we assessed the status of the tiger and its prey. We used sign surveys for tiger, leopard _Panthera pardus_ and their prey, estimated prey densities using line transects and distance sampling, and estimated the density of tiger using photographic capture-recapture analysis. Our results indicate that the use of the area by tiger differed significantly between the two sectors of the Park, with pug mark encounter rates per 250 m segment from sign surveys of 0.07 - SE 0.04 in the west and 1.6 - SE 0.3 in the east. Although the high estimated prey densities (.80 km-2) in the Park have the potential to support high densities of tiger, we photo-captured only one tigress in the western sector and five adult tiger and two cubs in the east (the latter with a mean density of 5.12 - SE 0.7 per 100 km2). Whereas recovery of the tiger population in the eastern sector following the resettlement of Gujjars is evident, the lack of connectivity to source populations (Corbett Tiger Reserve and eastern Rajaji National Park) and increased anthropogenic pressures appear to have inhibited the recovery of tiger populations in the western sector. Restoration, therefore, of the Chilla-Motichur corridor to facilitate the dispersal of tiger from the eastern to the western sector of the Park is of critical importance.

PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here

 

(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union)