BHUBANESWAR: A male tiger that is believed to have traversed 2,000 km to reach Odisha in search of a safe territory and a mate, has brought fresh hopes for the revival of big cat population in states having least count of the striped predator in the Central India and Eastern Ghats tiger landscape. The big cat that embarked on its journey from Brahmapuri area of Maharashtra was first sighted moving between Manyam division of Andhra Pradesh and Rayagada division of Odisha in August. Later it was found entering the Parlakhemundi forest division of Gajapati district in Odisha where it was camera-trapped by the forest officials in October.
Surprised to find a big cat in a landscape that hadn’t recorded tiger sighting for the last three decades, the Odisha forest department sent the images to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun for mapping and got a confirmation that it was the same tiger that was previously photographed in the Brahmapuri forest division of Maharashtra. While the big cat managed to traverse such a long distance crossing a number of hurdles including human settlements, roads and agricultural fields, such a long dispersal, usually uncommon among the big cats, has left the wildlife conservationists ecstatic.
Why are such dispersals uncommon?
According to one study ‘Long-distance dispersal by a male sub-adult tiger in a human-dominated landscape’ published in Wiley Ecology and Evolution journal last year, the long-distance dispersal, that hasn’t been documented much, occurs in both male and female tigers. However, males cover more distance primarily due to factors such as intrasexual competition for mates, inbreeding avoidance and resource competition.
The study, carried out by researchers Zehidul Hussain, Pallavi Ghaskadbi, Pramod Panchbhai, Ravikiran Govekar, Parag Nigam and Bilal Habib, also found that dispersal event that started during the monsoon, lasted until winter. “During the period of monsoon, vegetation cover, availability of water, and productivity in dry deciduous habitat increases, making dispersal more permeable through a human-dominated landscape. Moreover, the agricultural fields with growing crops act as a cover for dispersal. Additionally, the availability of livestock increases as they are left to graze in the forested areas and form easy prey for dispersing tigers,”
it stated.
However, wildlife conservationists and biologists opined that such long-distance movement of the big cats is not very common, though its frequency in recent times has increased marginally in Central India tiger landscape, Madhya Pradesh in particular, where there has been a significant growth of tiger population due to effective wildlife management.
“These are a very few and rare incidents of dispersal of large predators. Tigers usually disperse but not this large distance,” said wildlife biologist Kapil Singh Chauhan working in the field of tiger conservation in central India landscape.
Chauhan said once the tiger population increases in a particular area and exceeds its carrying capacity, tigers have an instinct to disperse out of that area to avoid territorial fight and competition for space and resources. As they move they start looking for a safe habitat on the way. However, moving thousands of kilometres for the same is usually rare.
Advantage states with low tiger count
As per the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) 2022, states like Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha in the Central India and Eastern Ghats landscape, despite possessing good forest cover, have a combined tiger population of just 63. Chauhan said these states where the tiger population is very low, have a huge opportunity to revive the big cat population facilitating such long dispersals. To ensure it happens, he said connectivity needs to be secured with nearby states or protected areas that have a good number of tigers.
Besides, these states are also required to focus on capacity building of forest staff, adequate prey base and community involvement in the conservation process to offer a safe habitat to the dispersing tigers, Chauhan said.
“This also has some indirect benefit for the local community as growth in tiger population will improve the habitat, livelihood and tourism in those areas,” Chauhan added.
“The arrival of these tigers from Central India is an excellent indicator of the health and viability of our tiger corridors. It is now upon us to capitalise on that and revive multiple breeding tiger populations of our own through active management,” said wildlife conservationist and honorary wildlife warden for Angul in Odisha Aditya Chandra Panda.
Panda underlined that availability of breeding females is extremely important to capitalise on these males. In Odisha, he said, the forest department has to re-establish tigresses in the prime habitats like Debrigarh, Satkosia and Sunabeda through reintroduction. “That is the only way,” he said.
Former NTCA member secretary Anup Nayak said if utilised well, such long dispersals may also help in revival of tiger population where it is difficult to take up tiger-translocation projects. The retired IFS officer, however, stressed that local communities need to be taken into confidence to secure a safe territory for these dispersing tigers. “Forest field officers and staff have a crucial role to play in it,” he said.