Tigers of Central India

[Rishi]

(07-16-2019, 01:42 PM)Ashutosh Wrote:

(07-11-2019, 01:29 PM)Rishi Wrote: A video recorded by travellers going in a car from Paoni to Ramtek via 4-lane national highway NH-7, shows a tiger waiting to cross the road near Chorbahuli. They had the decency to stop & they recorded the incident.

The tiger has been identified as T1 of Pench, the dominant male of the area on Pench Kanha corridor, also known as Mystery male.

After its proposal in 2008 for four-laning of NH7 between Seoni (Madhya Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra) faced scrutiny, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told a Supreme Court panel that it was ready to build a 9.3-km flyover over the Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh so that wildlife movements are not disturbed.
However, in 2014, NHAI said it could afford only a 1-km flyover. By 2015, the plan had been further downsized to building just a few ecoducts (landscaping above the carriageway for wildlife movement).

*This image is copyright of its original author

“The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, in its first report in 2012 had suggested a 2,000m underpass in that patch. However, under political pressure, it was reduced to 750m,” said wildlife conservationist Prafulla Bhamburkar.
“We had discussed with NHAI the issue of removing the crash barriers but these can’t be removed as they prevent accidents. Of the 37 km patch between Chorbahuli-Deolapar, 18 km is a dense forested patch but mitigation structures are built in 2,000m area only, leaving animals to use open patches to cross over,” said RS Govekar, CCF & field director, Pench.

The spot from where the tiger crossed the highway is 500 metres away from a 750m and 50m underpass.

Actually, recent findings have said that the tigers have become increasingly adept at navigating using these underpasses. But, not only tigers, but also other animals like dhole are seen using these passes and in one rare instance also making a kill here showing that they are kind of accepting it as part of their new environment.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/animal-underpasses-on-maharashtra-highway-a-life-saver-tigers-turning-out-to-be-regular-users-5831309/

From Ashutosh's link, T1 himself crossing via underpass...

*This image is copyright of its original author

... although despite presence of underpass, he clearly still crosses directly over the road as well. Reply