Bigcats News

[Apollo]

Nagzira's Prince travels 80km to Pench


They're hemmed into small pockets. Even there they face threats. Yet, the region's tigers defy all obstacles like canals and dangers like roads, rail lines, and open wells to migrate great distances.

Two such instances have been recorded in the latest report on ?Tiger dispersal in Maharashtra' based on camera trap results in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) and Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) submitted to the Maharashtra forest department by Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), Mumbai.

A young tiger nicknamed ?Prince' was photographed by Pratik Puranik, a nature enthusiast from Gondia in Nagzira wildlife sanctuary in May 2010. Four years later, on March 26, 2014, the tiger was photographed in West Pench by WCT staff and was coded PTR-T8. It was also captured on camera traps in Pench, Madhya Pradesh. Most likely, the home range of this adult male tiger is spread over the two reserves.

The study highlights the fact that the tiger dispersed from Navegaon-Nagzira to Pench through a human-dominated and heavily fragmented landscape. "It is important to note that PTR-T8 dispersed over a minimum straight line distance of approximately 80km passing through the forests of Mogarkasa-Bawanthadi in addition to human-dominated areas including NH-7 to reach Pench," says Anish Andheria, President of WCT.

"In Bor, we photographed a tiger in January-February 2014. Officially listed as ?BNB T2' and nicknamed ?Bajirao' by local staff. This tiger is the dominant male in Bor & New Bor. He was caught on camera traps in both sanctuaries. We came across two photographs of the same tiger in Kalmeshwar range of Nagpur division taken by the forest department in 2012 and 2013," Andheria said.

The distance between Kalmeshwar and Bor is approximately 20km. This tiger may have been born in Kalmeshwar range and dispersed and settled down in Bor making it a case of tiger dispersal from ?sink' to ?source' population, he said.

The surveys were conducted in Pench, Umred, Bor & Navegaon-Nagzira as part of the Phase III of the ?All India Tiger Monitoring Exercise' by WCT to assist the forest department. The WCT team consisting of Aditya Joshi, Ankur Kali, Milind Pariwakam and Vishal Bansod compared photographs of tigers from Nagzira, Bor, Umred and Pench.

"While assisting the staff of Nagzira sanctuary with camera trapping, we wanted to compare the photos of tigers captured this year with those of previous years. To do so, we collected photos taken before 2014 and added them to the database. Such systematic databases help identify the time period that a tiger is dominant before being dislodged by a competitor and also helps identify dispersing tigers," says Andheria.

These two new evidences of tiger dispersal, along with the old records once again stress on importance of preserving corridors to maintain genetic diversity of tiger populations.

The report says all the small tiger populations of Maharashtra fall short of the recommended 20 breeding females limit stipulated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). Therefore, these populations are highly dependent on immigration and emigration of young dispersing tigers such as BNB-T2 and PTR-T8 for genetic viability.

"These cases reiterate the wisdom behind declaring new wildlife sanctuaries in the state. Simultaneously, they also highlight the threats faced by young dispersing tigers and lays emphasis on the need for immediate mitigation measures to be incorporated in the implementation plans of canals and highways," said senior wildlife officials.

POPULAR TIGER MIGRATIONS

1) BAJIRAO: The tiger titled BNB-T2 was captured in a camera trap in Bor & New Bor (Wardha) on January 21, 2014. The same tiger was captured in Kalmeshwar (Nagpur) on December 11, 2012. The possible path taken by this tiger was Khapa, Kawadimet, Ghubadi, Malakapur, Umari, Adegaon and Deoli beats in Nagpur.

2) PRINCE: The tiger PTR-T8 was photographed as a cub in May 2010. Prince was camera trapped in West Pench on March 26, 2014 during estimation exercise. It travelled 80km via Lendezari, Nakadongari and Tumsar ranges of Bhandara division. Ironically, these areas are leased out to FDCM.

3) PREVIOUS MIGRATIONS:

A) Jai: A young male from Nagzira travelled 120km to reach Paoni range of Umred-Karhandla sanctuary in September 2013. It travelled through New Nagzira, Kisanpur, Kardi, Kesalwada and Koka and later crossed NH6 between Bhandara & Sakoli followed by Wainganga river to reach Umred-Karhandla.

B) T4: In its preliminary report on genetic connectivity of tigers, WCT pointed out case of a tiger (BRM/T4) from Brahmapuri, which was photo-captured by tourists inside Tadoba. The dispersal route covered Mindhala, Dongargaon, Govindpur, Navargaon and Neri rounds of Bramhapuri. It is the same corridor which will be fragmented by Human dam.

C) MP Pench: On April 23, 2011 a radio-collared tiger that went missing from MP Pench was traced in Mansinghdeo. The tiger was resident of Pivarthadi. It covered 45km through Pivarthadi, Bodhalzira, Bakhari, Kirangisarra & Mansinghdeo.

D) Kanha: In Jan-Feb 2008, a radio-collared tigress from Kanha traversed 250km in 4 months to reach Pench (Maharashtra).

F) Kanha-Nagarjunasagar: In 2013, Aditya Joshi's paper showed genetic evidence of tiger dispersal from Kanha to Nagarjunasagar (AP), a distance of over 650km making it one of the longest distances recorded.

G) Dudhwa: In 2012, a young tiger travelled more than 250km from South Kheri to end up hardly 25km from Lucknow in Rahmankhera forest. It was translocated to the wild.


 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/...642473.cms Reply