A Royal Bengal Tiger captured by a camera trap in Kaziranga National Park about 230km away from Guwahati city. A joint study carried out by Aaranyak, a society for biodiversity conservation in Northeast India, and the Assam Forest Department, has shown that Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of wild tigers in the world. The report, officially released by Mr Rockybul Hussain, (unseen) Minister of Environment and Forest, Assam on 29 April 2010 in Guwahati city, is the result of a study carried out during January-March 2009. According to the 50 day long photo-trapping exercise study, which was conducted using the ‘camera trap’ method of tiger estimation and covered an area of 144 sq km of the central and western part of the park, there are 32 tigers per 100 sq km of park area. The previously highest recorded density of tiger in a wildlife park was 19.6 tigers /100 sq km recorded in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in northern India. The usual density of tiger varies from 3-12 tigers/100 sq km in different tiger reserves throughout India. One of the key reasons for the high tiger density in Kaziranga is the abundance of prey animals including hog deer, sambar, swamp deer and wild buffalo. The study was made possible by funding to Aaranyak from the UK’s David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and The Rufford Small Grants Foundation.
PHOTO BY AARANYAK A Royal Bengal Tiger captured by a camera trap in Kaziranga National Park about 230km away from Guwahati city. A joint study carried out by Aaranyak, a society for biodiversity conservation in Northeast India, and the Assam Forest Department, has shown that Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of wild tigers in the world. The report, officially released by Mr Rockybul Hussain, (unseen) Minister of Environment and Forest, Assam on 29 April 2010 in Guwahati city, is the result of a study carried out during January-March 2009. According to the 50 day long photo-trapping exercise study, which was conducted using
“Kaziranga is one of the highest density tiger habitats in the country and has a healthy breeding source population,” says a report released on Monday. It has over 100 tigers, the estimate based on the annual monitoring carried out in 2009, 2010 and 2011 using the camera trap method.
The report, “Tigers of the Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India, 2009-2011,” says 118 tigers were recorded in the reserve over the three year-period. The figure includes six tigers which died during the monitoring period.
The study was a joint initiative of the Assam Forest Department and biodiversity conservation group Aaranyak. In 2011, it was carried out in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India and WWF India.
Unique traits
Senior wildlife biologist of Aaranyak M. Firoz Ahmed, who led the exercise, told The Hindu that individual tigers were identified on the basis of differences in the stripe pattern on flanks, limbs, tail and forequarters.
Like human fingerprints, tigers have different stripe patterns.
The report, released by Assam Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain at a function held in the Kaziranga park, says the tiger population in the reserve was extrapolated at 106 (minimum 81 to maximum 131) by Jhala et al (2011) as published by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Kaziranga, which was declared a tiger reserve in 2008, covers over 1,000 square kilometres. Their major prey there, according to the report, are hog deer, sambar, swamp deer, Asiatic wild buffalo and wild pigs.
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