There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
(10-24-2014, 12:18 AM)'tigerluver' Wrote: M105 is Sauraha, who tragically died during the drowning accident.
Indeed, one unnecessary collaring and tranq'ing contributed to the death of that large boy.
In fact, although the dead of the Sauraha male was a tragic accident, it was not biologically significant:
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The Sauraha male had tenure of 5 years and monopolized all the females in the entire Chitwan Park. This is good for the individual tiger, but not for the genetic of the area. After all, at some time, there was a level of inbreeding there (father and daughters), and as no male was able to defeat him, through several fights in his entire life, we can suggest that indirectly, the accidental death of the Sauraha male was an opportunity for new arrivals.
After the death of Sauraha, there were several months of chaos and instability among the tiger population, but that ended with the arrival of new strong males from other regions and this gives new blood to the population. The genetic of the Sauraha male is still living in Chitwan, by the way.
This could sound as a cold description, but is the correct way of how we can interpret the situation. By the way, it was not an unnecessary capture, they were to change its radiocollar. Fortunately, this never happened again in the rest of the study.
The saurah male will eventually loose its territory, survival of the fittest. While we like to make the argument that a dominant male will not change the gene pool, tigers always go look for other territories and a dominant male will produce other strong dominant males that will travel to other territories to spread their genes, same with dominant males from other lands. Unless of course we block of their mode of travel, then there can be a problem. But that is a unnatural occurence, just like the death of 105. Which is why its unnecessary and would of never happened if they would of just observed from a distance, but to be fair, at the time, camera traps where not as prevelent as they are now, and the technology wasn't as good.