After Mhadei find, tiger expert on big cat trail in Cotigao

TNN | May 8, 2013
PANAJI: A team of experts led by noted conservation zoologist Kota Ullas Karanth has commenced work on a comprehensive tiger survey in the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary and other protected areas after the recent success of the camera trap method.

The Goa government had recently cleared the decks for an intensive survey and within a few weeks of the go-ahead the forest department had captured a tigress on camera within the limits of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.

The extensive study, which will extend for four years till 2017, will rely on refined protocols such as camera trap findings to assess the presence of the big cat and the prey base in Goa's forests.

"He (Karanth) has given a list of 45 spots in different sanctuaries to lay camera traps and line transects for the survey," said Richard D'Souza, principal chief conservator of forests. While the expert will conduct the study, the forest department will also independently do its work, especially in Mhadei.

The protected areas of Cotigao, Neturlim, Molem national park, Bondla and Mhadei form a contiguous corridor with tiger areas in Karnataka.

The tiger estimation done by the forest department in the past has shown the presence of tigers. Three had been counted in 1993, five in 1997 and 2002.

Though the forest department had been in a denial syndrome for a long time earlier, things have changed recently with significant findings.

"This vindicates the stand taken by some officials and animal lovers who have claimed the big cats' existence here for more than a decade and a half," a source said.

Referring to the work being done in the protected areas over the last few days D'Souza said, "This is the actual groundwork for the survey."

Goa's protected areas have been identified as a tiger conservation unit (TCU) along with the contiguous forest areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra in a study by international organizations.

The World Wide Fund International, US Fish and Wildlife Services and Wild Life Conservation Society, New York, in a study had categorized the Western Ghats as the second best tiger habitat in India after the Sunderbans in West Bengal.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/After-Mhadei-find-tiger-expert-on-big-cat-trail-in-Cotigao/articleshow/19942067.cms

Ten Sunderbans tigers to get collars

Krishnendu Mukherjee, TNN | Apr 1, 2013
The forest department has decided to radio-collar ten tigers in the Sunderbans where population dynamics of the big cats has al ways remained a mystery. And this time, an advanced set of radio collars, which helped scientists track tigers in Nepal and lions in Gir, will be used in the mangroves.

A team of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials, led by senior scientist Y V Jhala, is likely to visit the mangroves in April for the first leg of the exercise. However, a forest department official said the number of tigers to be collared during their first visit will only be decided after consulting the WII scientists. "The dates for their visit is yet to be finalized," said the official.

It may be noted that a total of five tigers, two adult females and three adult males, were radio-collared by the WII scientists in the Sunderbans in 2010. Satellite collars were used for this purpose. Sources said radio-collaring helps experts gauge the home range of tigers , which in the long run comes handy in establishing the density of the big cats in a forest. The study had then revealed that the tigers' home ranges hovered between 190 to 200 square kilometres.

Though large home range indicates lesser density, as a tiger's home range depends on prey base and territory of other tigers, in Sunderbans the exercise didn't yield the desired result then as several collars stopped working within a few days of its deployment.

WII's Y V Jhala said that some data on the tigers' home range and territory could not be established then. "But this time, we have made some changes in the circuitry of the satellite collars to make these robust ones. We have used these collars on lions at Gir and they have even functioned at a stretch for a year. So, this time we expect to get a more reliable data," he said, adding that they are hoping to collar all the ten tigers in a year's time.

However, the exercise then managed to establish the fact that there is tiger movement between the Indian and Bangladesh Sunderbans. "The Khatuajhuri male, which was a stray animal, had crossed the Harinbhanga river to enter the Talpati island of Bangladesh Sunderbans," revealed a WII scientist.

Tracking of the radio-collared tigers had also revealed that there was a general trend of higher movement rate by the mangroves tigers during the day time. However, soon after this study the WII scientists decided to radio collar a minimum of 10 tigers, of which 4-6 in a contagious area of 300-400 square kilometres, to understand home range overlap and territoriality. "The exercise to be conducted now will help the scientists understand whether and how Sunderbans tigers protect their territory," said an official.

Meanwhile, the camera trapping exercise, being done jointly by the forest department and WWF-India, is complete in two ranges of the mangrove's — Sajnekhali and National Park East. "The exercise is on at the Basirhat range. We will start withdrawing the cameras laid at Basirhat from April 11 and hope to give a density for the entire tiger reserve area by the end of April," said WWF-India's Sunderbans chapter head Anurag Danda. After identification, the photographs will be sent to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, so that the Sunderbans tigers can be counted in the UID-type databank.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Ten-Sunderbans-tigers-to-get-collars/articleshow/19315987.cms

Shrinking Sunderbans threat to Bengal Tiger

Royal Bengal Tiger

IANS
Fast-disappearing mangrove forests of the Sunderbans pose a question mark over the future of the Royal Bengal Tiger, an endangered species, say scientists.

Rapid deterioration in mangrove health is causing as much as 200 metres of the vegetation-rich coast to disappear annually in the Sunderbans, according to zoologists.

Nathalie Pettorelli, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and senior study author, said: “Our results indicate a rapidly retreating coastline that cannot be accounted for by the regular dynamics of the Sunderbans. Degradation is happening fast, weakening this natural shield for India and Bangladesh.”

Sunderbans is the largest block of continuous mangrove forest in the world, native to nearly 500 species of reptile, fish, bird and mammals, including the world famous Royal Bengal Tiger, the journal Remote Sensing reports.

Thriving human development, rising global temperatures, degradation of natural protection from tidal waves and cyclones is inevitably leading to species loss in this richly biodiverse part of the world, according to a ZSL statement.

Sarah Christie, ZSL’s tiger conservation expert, says: “The Sunderbans is a critical tiger habitat; one of only a handful of remaining forests big enough to hold several hundred tigers. To lose the Sunderbans would be to move a step closer to the extinction of these majestic animals.”

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/shrinking-sunderbans-threat-to-bengal-tiger/article4298468.ece