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Saving Tigers in a Human Dominated Landscape: The Terai Experience
Saving Tigers in a Human Dominated Landscape: The Terai Experience
1900’s 1920’s 1930’s 1940’s 1960’s 1980’s 2000 2004 2010 2012
The Terai Arc Landscape
1900’s 1920’s 1930’s 1940’s 1960’s 1980’s 2000 2004 2010 2012
The Terai Arc Landscape
“All along the edge of the Himalayas,
from Saharanpur and the Jamna River in the north-west,
to Gorakhpur and the Gandak River to the south east,
is a belt of forest varying in width from twenty to fifty miles,
which is home to many species of animals”
Col. R.W. Burton in his diary in January 1924
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F. W. Champion
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Jim Corbett
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Declaration of Hailey’s National Park
United Province National Park Act, 1934
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Gujjars
sophiaindia.org
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DDT and settling the Terai
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Declaration of Rajaji National Park
Chilla Sanctuary
Motichur Sanctuary
RajajiSanctuary
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Unsustainable lifestyle of Gujjars
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Fragmentation of the Terai
1900’s 1920’s 1930’s 1940’s 1960’s 1980’s 2000 2004 2010 2012
Fragmentation of the Terai
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Are recoveries possible?
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Chital recovery
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Faw
ns p
er 1
00 a
dult
fem
ales
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Tiger recovery
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Tige
r pop
ulati
on d
ensi
ty (i
ndiv
idua
ls/1
00km
2)
Decline in leopard densities
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2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-080
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4
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12Leopard
Tiger
Years
Dens
ity (n
umbe
rs/1
00 sq
km
)
(Harihar and Pandav and Goyal 2011)
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Individuals 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13RT001 RT002 RT003 RT004 RT005 RT006 RT007 RT008 RT009 RT010 RT011 RT012 RT013 RT014 RT015 RT016 CubRT017 CubRT018 CubRT019 CubRT020 CubRT021 RT022 RT023 RT024 RT025 RT026 RT027 RT028 RT029 RT030 RT031 RT032 Cub RT033 Cub RT034 Cub RT035 RT036 RT037 RT038 RT039 RT040
Is poaching responsible for this high individual turnover?
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Tigers are certainly being removed from the population
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Mapping Tiger Occupancy
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Mapping Tiger Occupancy
1900’s 1920’s 1930’s 1940’s 1960’s 1980’s 2000 2004 2011 2012
Mapping Tiger Occupancy
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THB I17.8%522(±90)Km2
THB II88.5%3,587(±237)Km2
(Harihar and Pandav 2012)
The stripes are brighter on the East
Western RNP
Eastern RNP
Chilla-Motichur Corridor
National Highway, Railway Track
Townships: Haridwar, Rishikesh, Raiwala
Khandgaon (I, II, II) settlements
Hindustan antibiotic factory, Raiwala army camp & ammunition dump
14 km long Rishikesh-Chilla power
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Assessing Tiger & Leopard Numbers
East RNP West RNP
Number of unique tigers (Mt+1) 13 3
Number of Tiger captures per 100 trap-nights 9.2 1
Number of Leopard captures per 100 trap-nights 3.6 15
2011-12
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The 9 tigers in Eastern RNP
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The 3 females of western RNP
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Does prey limit tiger numbers?
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Losing ground
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45
Years
Freq
uenc
y of
occ
urre
nce
(±2*
SE)
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Recovering tigers in the western TAL
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o Assuming that prey remains fairly stable in this region
o We assessed viability using a tiger-specific stage-structured model in
Vortex 9
o Our models were based on life-history attributes and stages from studies
carried out in the Terai-Arc Landscape
o Carrying capacity was set at 40 individuals based on available prey data
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Isolation Translocation Connectivity
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Isolation Translocation Connectivity Translocation + Connectivity
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Recovering tigers in the western TAL
Thank you
