Prey selection, ranging pattern and habitat utilization of the reintroduced tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, western India.

Abstract

In a forest ecosystem, large felids are generally the top predators in almost every food chain influencing the structure and dynamics of the subsequent descending trophic levels. Evaluation of last fifty years’ presence and absence status of large felids in Protected Areas (PAs) of Indian subcontinent revealed that local extinction was highest in the dry deciduous habitat. Tiger, among all large felids had already become locally extinct from 70% of semi-arid dry thorn and 35% of dry deciduous forest areas. Tigers in dry semi-arid forests with its global western most limit, survive in small isolated populations. The present study assessed the movements and ranging patterns, prey availability, prey utilization and resource selection of reintroduced tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve from July 2008 to June 2012. After the local extermination of the tiger population in Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR), during December, 2005 with the consent of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Rajasthan Forest Department a recovery plan for tigers in Sariska was prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India along with a detailed protocol for tiger reintroduction. The present study was conducted in 400 km2 area which is the notified National Park area of Sariska Tiger Reserve from July 2008 to June 2012 covering all the three seasons monsoon (July to October), winter (November to February) and summer (March to June) with the following objectives: a) to evaluate the prey availability for the reintroduced tigers, b) to assess the prey selection patterns of the reintroduced tigers, c) to study the movement and ranging patterns of the reintroduced tigers and d) to assess the habitat utilization patterns, resource selection and response of tiger to various anthropogenic pressure in the study area. In Sariska, peafowl was observed to be the most abundant prey species throughout the study period.