Tigers of South India & Western Ghats

[Rishi]

(05-28-2019, 10:45 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:

(05-28-2019, 07:50 PM)Rishi Wrote:

(05-28-2019, 07:10 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-lions-a...dia?page=6), bearing in mind that the Western Ghats start from the southeastern tip of Gujarat, the tiger had been recorded in Southeast Gujarat, including the Dangs' Forest, composed of Vansda National Park and Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, officially before 2000, and since this region borders the tiger-containing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is nevertheless a potential territory of the tiger (https://orientalbirdclub.org/wp-content/...-Purna.pdf), and sightings of tigers have been alleged in the Dangs, including by forest guards (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...in-dang-ju, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...332055.cms), though the official confirmation came in February this year, when a tiger apparently crossed from Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in central Madhya Pradesh to the area of Lunavada of Mahisagar District, which is Northeast Gujarat (https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial...NO6eL.html, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216), before sadly dying, possibly due to starvation (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...aign=cppst).

Here's a map on potential tiger territories by Karanth (https://web.archive.org/web/201203101741...ENTID=8073): 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Very meticulously done as always, but the Dangs (blue) is hardly a part of the conventional Western Ghats tiger landscape (red).

*This image is copyright of its original author

Although the location is at the northern end of Western Ghats from where Vindhyachal range begins to the east, any tigers that may be here would be of central Indian decent.

But is the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra (which is apparently the nearest reserve to Mumbai, and is split up between Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in the north, and Chandoli National Park in the south: https://web.archive.org/web/201201202324...t_2010.pdf) also treated as part of the 'conventional' western Ghats landscape, considering that Chandoli is just north of the range depicted by Karanth (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chando...73.8593072), and that few tigers are seen here, if any, with one male being seen here in June 2018, after 8 years (https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-s...rs-2629246)?

Rare camera-trap of a male at Chandoli NP, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, published in DNA India: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Yes about that.. the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve lies exactly between Mumbai & Goa (green). It's on the narrow strip of sporadic forests to the north.
Maharastra govt have been planning in 2017 to relocate surplus tigers from conflict-ridden Chandrapur area, around Tadoba (yellow) to Sahyadri... but no news made public yet.

*This image is copyright of its original author

And as tiger-numbers in the south swells some are now trickling upward to parts of Sahyadri, we don't yet know that population is sustainable, ie breeding, or not.
Right now most of the attention is towards the The Sahyadri Corridor Project, trying to ensure movement between Sahyadri & the south.

There may be some traveling tigers coming down from the north in future, but that'd be a rare journey through a thin corridor, few hundreds km long... But there's no forest block of substantial size between Dangs & Sahyadri that can sustain any tiger population, to act as stepstone for genetic transfer.

*This image is copyright of its original author

So it's likely to be treated as a transitional area between the two populations. Reply