Tiger covers 1,500-km
JUNE TO DECEMBER
MUMBAI: The three-year-old male sub-adult tiger (T1C1), which travelled 1,300 km across six districts and four wildlife sanctuaries in Maharashtra and Telangana over 150 days in search of new t erritory t i l l December 2, has covered an additional 200 km within Maharashtra in less than a month.
Thi s i s t he l o nge s t e v e r recorded movement of a tiger in India monitored using a radiocollar, said Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forest, Maharashtra f orest department.
Hindustan Times reported on December 2, that Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun and the Maharashtra forest department have been tracking t he t i ger’s movement f rom Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal district since June as the animal made his way into the Dnyanganga Sanctuary in Buldhana.
“Now T1 C1 h a s f u r t h e r moved from Dnyanganga to Ajanta hilly regions spread across Aurangabad in Jalna district covering over 1,500 km since he began his journey from Tipeshwar in June. In fact, the tiger has also begun moving southwards from Ajanta as well, further moving to newer areas,” said Kakodkar. “The exact reason for this fast paced movement by the animal is still unclear. We are constantly monitoring this and once the animal sets up his territory, we will have more answers.”
Using this study, WII and forest department, under their research — Studying dispersal of tigers across the Eastern Vidarbha Landscape, Maharashtra — identified and validated the presence of tiger corri
HOW WAS THE TIGER RADIO COLLARED?
When the animal was captured for radio collaring, it had a wire snare around the abdomen which was hindering movement and normal growth. The forest department and WII researchers removed the snare and treated his injuries, and also radio collared him. The animal recovered within a month and regained health after which he began his dispersal to find new territory.
FUTURE PLANNING UNDER TIGER DISPERSAL STUDY
The tiger will be continuously monitored using satellite telemetry as is being done currently.
Monitoring will be done passively and the animal should not be driven out of areas which would lead to panic situation.
The information will not be shared to the public or non-authorized people unnecessarily as this may cause panic/conflict. dors inside and outside protected forest areas.
Independent experts said there could be five reasons as to why the tiger has moved this fast over 180 days — in search of territory, if a dominant male is chasing them, looking for a mate, in search of water, and to find a new prey base.
“The most probable reason is to find a new territory for this tiger across these pockets of forests in the central Indian landscape as he is moving very fast. The animal is travelling only
Since the tiger is surrounded by extensive agricultural landscape, it may be necessary to capture and relocate it to the nearest forested area to avoid any untoward accident.
On the technical front, the radio collar of the animal has been active since February 2019. Over 5,500 locations have been recorded, over 10 months of continuous monitoring and hourly satellite GPS communication.
From this data, we can presume