Tiger Reserves in India

[Shardul]

The total tiger population of Uttarakhand is about 360, of which 200 odd are in Corbett tiger reserve. Ramnagar, lansdowne forest divisions, nandhaur valley are not included in CTR but also have tigers. Corbett's tiger density is comparable to kaziranga, whereas the herbivore density there doesn't seem anywhere comparable to kazi. 

Kanha's buffer is about 1100 km2 out of 2040 km2 total area. The buffer is not agricultural land, it is reserve forest that also has natural prey. The entire kanha pench corridor has presence of wild prey like gaur and sambar.

Jim Corbett mentions in maneaters of Kumaon how wild buffaloes used to inhabit this region. The historical range of indian rhino has been described as far west as present day Pakistan and Terai has always been a big part of its range. So it stands to assume that rhinos inhabited this region centuries ago. In fact AJT Jonsingh did a study on re introduction of rhinos in corbett's dhikala grasslands. You must remember that wildlife in our country has been hunted for centuries and species were wiped out of much of their range even before we had natural history books being made. To think that rhinos/buffaloes always only lived in assam and gangetic floodplains, would limit their potential re introduction sites. We need more areas that can accommodate these animals. As @Jimmy mentioned earlier, Nepalese government is trying to introduce wild buffaloes in Chitwan and I think it would be nice if we also did the same. Afterall, corbett and chitwan are both part of the terai, even if at opposite ends.

The Indian government has laws against introduction of alien species, not native species. Otherwise, why would they want to relocate lions to kuno? Rhinos have come tback to Dudhwa, then why not Corbett? It is one of the best managed reserves in the country and it would be fantastic for the rhinos.

PS: Please don't use caps or too many smileys or exclamation marks in your sentences. Makes it difficult to read. Reply