Book Review

[Dr Panthera]

Book Review: "Tigers In The Mangroves" M.M.H.Khan
I love collecting scientific books about big cats particularly tigers so I was thrilled to get this book since it is devoted in its entirety about the Sundarban tigers particularly the Bangladesh tigers.
Dr. Khan received his Ph.D. in Tiger Ecology from Cambridge University in the UK in 2004 and has been working in the conservation and research of the Sundarban tigers ever since then.
The book is an excellent compilation of our knowledge of the Sundarban tigers as well as the findings of Dr.Khan's research.
Some points of interest:
* The book explains how the Sundarban is more than just a mangrove forest there are also meadows, beach-front forests and transitional areas with different prey concentration in each.
* The Bangladesh part of the Sundarban ( 6017 square kms) seems to be almost free from human intrusion and habitat destruction, the Indian part ( 4000 square kms) has more human disturbance but it is less than elsewhere in southern Asia.
* The Sundarban tigers provide a great example of "insular dwarfism" as they are about 65% of the mass of their conspecifics in northern India and Nepal, Sundarban males weigh less than 120 kg and females less than 100 kg since their diet is composed of chital and wild boar, Dr.Khan states that the Sundarban had Javan rhinos, water buffalo, swamp deer, and hog deer that all went extinct in the past 100 years and the edge of the Sundarban had some gaur and muntjac , the former is extinct now and the latter is very rare, the extinction of large prey favored smaller sized tigers similar to the situation in South East Asia and the Sunda islands.
* Dr.Khan provides an accurate estimate of the Sundarban tigers density of 4.8 tigers/100 km, he refutes both Karanth 's low estimate at 0.17 tigers/100 km and Barlow's optimistic estimate of 18 tigers/100 km, ( a very recent study in the Indian part by Qureshi and Jhala shows very similar results). Therefore the entire eco-system contains around 500 tigers and the possibility of doubling that number is feasible making this tiger conservation unit a very important one and a safe haven where tigers could persist for centuries t come.
* The Chital population is very healthy in the area, the wild boar is also common but increasing it will impact the tigers positively ( around 97% of the available biomass comes from chital and 2% from wild boar)
* As expected feeding ecology studies whether from scat analysis or kills shows dependence on chital and wild boar as a secondary prey ( rare items include macaques, porcupines, leopard cat, Ganges dolphin, lesser adjutant, jungle fowl, crab, fish, and water monitor.)
* Prey selectivity analysis shows a preference for wild boar, and for adults and healthy individuals.
* Khan states that Sundarban tigers mate year round with a peak in winter ( October-March ) and that their litter size is small, most litters have one cub (61%) two cubs (34%) and three cubs (5% only).
*An excellent chapter about human-tiger conflict concludes the book and it is indeed puzzling why these smaller tigers that have plenty of wild prey available  are habitual man-eaters, most man-eaters here are males (73%) and most are prime-aged healthy individuals ( 68%), attacks peak in winter when tigers are mating and are most territorial and aggressive.
* The reported number of human deaths ( 30 in each country ) is much less likely than the actual number as many victims are illegal intruders, and the habit of the Sundarban tigers of dragging their human victims deep into the forest ( about 1370 meters) before feeding.
*Khan believe that the phenomenon of man-eating in the Sundarban is a behavioural character and it is taught mother to cubs over generations: Man-eating culture!! Reply