The Wildlife India

When Walker wandered over 3000 kms last year, the three year old tiger seemed to have given a wake up call to the government and its officials busy in achieving a bizarre target, the target of doubling the tiger population. Termed as TX2, it is a global goal to make the tiger population two- folds by 2022. In 2010, all the 13 tiger range countries joined hands in St Petersburg and set the target.  India, with the largest tiger population in the world, is busy in achieving the objective. Too obsessed with their tiger number, they seemed to have forgotten the forests and preservation of the corridors.  The wake-up call from Walker underlines the significance of forest corridors. The Epic Walk In March, 2020 this radio-collared tiger in India grabbed global attention by taking a roundabout route of forests starting from Tipeshwer wildlife sanctuary in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra in June 2019. From here, the tiger went to Telangana before re-entering Maharashtra again and f...

Following the history of Ranthambhore National park (RNP) , four more tigers have  gone missing. These tigers have not been sighted for the past over 9 months. One of them- a tigress- is missing with her two cubs making the total number of missing cats 6. The park authorities have sought the help of the Kuno Palpur National Park (KPNP) in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to help track them. The tigers which vanished from the Ranthambhore include T 64 , T 95 , T 97 and the tigress T 73. Two cubs of this tigress have also not been sighted. The RNP tigers often move out to the MP jungles situated on the banks of river Chambal.   Mystery Shrouds the Vanishing Act Since 2009 , the park has “mysteriously” lost 30 tigers, including seven old and 23 young ones.  Of these 23 , the number of missing tigresses was 11. And if we include the latest case of four more, the number becomes 34.  Most of the time, the park authorities term it “a natural migration”. It is also believe...

Beautiful images with good news have come out from the emerald forests of Panna , perhaps the most talked about national park of the country.  After the news of the birth of four more tiger cubs, Panna has come alive again. Though   it is a common sight in national parks, sightings of a newly born tiger always assumes greater significance to the park that had seen it's entire tiger population decimated by poaching barely 12 years ago. This was followed by the translocation of three tigers from Kanha,Bandhavgarh and Pench national parks.  Since then, there has been no looking back and  Panna has been  seen as the only successful tiger reintroduction model in the world. Also Read: From Unknown Tigress of Kanha to Mother of Panna:The Untold Story of T2 So the park authorities were jubilant  after beginning of the new year when a camera trap captured the images of  a tigress -coded as P213(31)   -clutching  delicately in her jaws on...

Ahead of the controversial Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) amidst concerns over enormous environmental loss in Panna tiger reserve (PTR), two major studies have been launched quietly in the PTR -a major project for GPS Satellite collaring of 14 tigers in Panna and radio tagging of threatened vultures.  Wildlife Institute of India (WII)  is involved in both of these, one of a kind projects. All 14 tigers will be collared to study their dispersal behavior and 25 vultures will also be radio -tagged to understand movement, habits and their range of scavenging. The WII is funding both the projects which are part of the Panna Landscape planning for the KBLP. However, experts have raised eyebrows,“The project was not at all required. Tiger habits and their dispersal pattern in Panna is very well known and recorded”, they said.   “ It’s an Exercise in Futility” Eight big cats roaming in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve and 6 from Panna landscape including  the forest d...

Gharial (Gavialis Gangeticus) has found a new home in Kuno, a tributary of Chambal river in the upstream. Over a year after a female gharial showed way to a safe haven to it's threatened reptile species, 25 gharials were released in the river , the lifeline of Kuno Palpur national park . Continued to be threatened by the illegal sand mining in National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary in Morena, the forest department decided to introduce the reptiles in the river.  Five males gharials and 20 female-reptiles were released, said the divisional forest officer of Kuno wildlife division PK Verma .Besides, threatened  chambal turtles were also released. Are Gharials Threatened by Illegal Mining in Chambal? One of the six  female gharials, who was radio tagged  in 2017   swam over 40 kms upstream last year for nesting in Kuno sand-bed. The scientist studying the reptile behavior  revealed to the authorities about the  female reptile’s journey leading to ...

Beware, numbers can always be deceptive. After increasing tiger numbers, the government released another report  with “ good news” of increasing  leopard (Panthera pardus)  figures. “The population of leopards has increased by 60%      as compared to 2014 survey,” the  ‘Status of Leopard in India 2018 ’ report, said . India now has 12,852 leopards as compared to the previous estimate which was conducted in 2014. MadhyaPradesh recorded the largest number of  3,421 leopards  followed by , 1783 in Karnataka and  1690 in Maharashtra. “ Increase in Tiger, Lion and Leopards population over the last few years is a testimony to fledgling wildlife  and biodiversity,”  Union minister for   Environment ,forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar  was quick to announce on Twitter. Amidst the celebrations, the minister missed a point completely - a recent genetic study in India has found that leopards have experie...

As Panna National park reverberates with the roar of tigers, there is one tigress in the park that has contributed almost 33% population of the tiger reserve, now included in the global list of UNESCO biospheres. T 2 , the 15- year old tigress of Panna has so far delivered 7 litters with 21 cubs, one of the most fertile tigresses of central India after Collarwali, the superstar of Pench National Park with 29 cubs in 8 litters . But T 2 ’s success story assumes more significance over Collarwali because the former populated Panna when all the tigers of the emerald forest vanished in 2008.   Also read : World Awaits Another 'Good News' from Collarwali of Pench Not T 2 , her Sibling was Scheduled to Fly People may not be knowing that T 2 , named so after it landed Panna by an Indian air force chopper in March 2009 , was not scheduled to be translocated from Kanha National park to Panna .After suspected poaching of all the big cats in Panna national park in 2008 , when a...

If tigers are solitary creatures, don't they get lonely and depressed? An interesting question ran by Quora on July 29, 2017. About three years later, a tiger itself seemed to have answered this query.  This tiger lived , alone ,in Kuno Palpur   Ntional Park of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years, yes, one decade !   Recently the elderly tiger reached his home Ranthambhore National Park , almost 100 kms away, safely. Code named T38 by the officials of this wonderful tiger reserve of Rajasthan some time in 2006 -07, the big cat was known as “Ranthambhore ka Sher '' in Kuno,   the park awaiting the arrival of lions for three decades now. For this reason, Madhya Pradesh has not relocated any tiger in the park to increase   their number and for the past 3650 days, T38   was living absolutely unaccompanied   . Interestingly , there was no tigress around and T38 spent a bachelor’s life. The predator would hunt and was quite healthy. A tiger expert of Wildlife I...

Madhya Pradesh , the tiger state of India, is facing  fresh tiger threat. Four cases of suspected poaching around Bandhavgarh national park in the last one month and tragic tiger killing in a road accident near Panna national park rattled the state forest department. Experts believe that this is an ominous sign and should serve as a wake -up call for the government to continue the tiger success story in the state. Already facing the issues of multiple threats to the tiger corridors and habitat, the recent happenings revolve around the revenge killing and poaching. There is also an urgent need to initiate retrofitting measures in the parks like Panna , recently included in the list of UNESCO biosphere reserves. Disturbing Trends Around the National Park As the special task force (STF) of wildlife rush to investigate the tiger killings around Bandhavgarh national park- 4 in about 25 days of time- it is suspected that “organised poachers” are behind the killings. Quite a sensation...