Human-tiger conflict, ranging pattern and habitat use by tiger in Sundarban Tiger Reserve, India

Abstract

The Sundarban tiger inhabits a unique mangrove habitat type, isolated from neighboring tiger populations by hundreds of kilometers of agricultural and urban land. The main objectives of the present study were to (a) understand ranging pattern and habitat use of tiger (b) to quantify livestock losses by tiger predation and identify spatio-temporal patterns in conflict in and around the Tiger Reserve (c) to document and quantify the geographic distribution of tiger-human incidents and (d) to evaluate the perception and level of tolerance of people living in the vicinity of Tiger Reserve. This study showed that tiger home range range sizes are much larger than reported from Bangladesh Sundarban. The Sundarban Tiger Population is of global importance for the conservation of the species due to the size of the contiguous nature of the habitat and the unique adaptations of the tigers that inhabit these mangrove forests. In spite of only four tigers that could be radio-collared and monitored this study enhances our understanding aspects of tiger ecology in this unique landscape. Sundarban tigers are primarily diurnal, prefer certain habitat types and are reluctant to cross wide expanse of water. This information can be used to minimize human-tiger conflict which is a major impediment to tiger conservation in this region.