Tigers of the High Himalayas

[Rishi]

Bit old, bit still stands true...

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Wildlife Experts Doubt Bhutan’s Claim On Tiger Routes

Wildlife experts in the North East had disagreed with Bhutan’s claim that tigers from that country could move frequently to Kaziranga National Park and Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh.
A national tiger survey was conducted in between 2013 and 2015, pegging their tiger numbers between 103-110.

The report ‘National Tiger Survey of Bhutan 2014 - 2015’ had inferred that on a regional scale, Bhutan serves as an important tiger source area with the potential to generate populations.
The report said that tigers from Bhutan could move towards the Manas tiger reserve in Assam through the Royal Manas National Park and the Zhemgang division; the Kaziranga National Park in Assam and the Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh through the Sakteng wildlife sanctuary, the Jhomotshangkha wildlife sanctuary and the Samdrup Jongkhar division. Other areas from where a tiger in the neighbouring country are known to move to within India are the Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal and the Kanchenjunga conservation area in Sikkim & recently Neora Valley.

"Given our understanding of the landscape, it is a distant possibility that tigers could move from Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan to Kaziranga and Namdapha," Anupam Sarmah, head of Assam Landscape, WWF-India North Bank Landscape Project

But another expert at the Department of Environmental Science in Gauhati University said, “Going by the geographical characteristics of the North East, it is a very remote possibility that tigers could move from the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan to Kaziranga and Namdapha.”
He said the tigers could come once in a lifetime but moving frequently looks difficult. Wildlife biologist Firoz Ahmed, who was involved in a number of tiger camera-trapping studies, said although a tiger can travel long distances in search of potential habitat, given the least cost pathway theory, a tiger from Kaziranga has more potential to move to Nameri-Pakke across fordable Brahmaputra, than from Bhutan.

“It is not that easy for the movement of a tiger from one landscape to another. Many hurdles such as human settlements, land-use change and habitat change come in the way of such movement,” adding that future study using GPS collars may throw more light on a tiger’s travel routes.

Sources:
https://www.sentinelassam.com/news/wildl...outes/amp/
https://m.telegraphindia.com/india/wildl...id/1480612 Reply