To plug the errors, survey of entire tiger reserve a must

In a bid to minimise error on estimation of tiger population, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has made coverage of entire tiger reserve a must for the next phase of big cat population estimation.

Updated on: Apr 15, 2012, 22:47:11 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

In a bid to minimise error on estimation of tiger population, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has made coverage of entire tiger reserve a must for the next phase of big cat population estimation.

Number of Indian and foreign tiger scientists have raised doubts over the latest tiger estimation figure of 1,706 raising question marks over the methodology adopted. In most tiger reserves only the core-critical area was surveyed for tiger estimation.

Taking the criticism into account, the NTCA has updated the methodology and prescribed coverage of entire tiger reserves either by camera traps to take pictures of the cats or through DNA testing of the fecal.

"If the survey area is very large, tiger population size can be obtained by sampling a minimum block of 400 square kilometers at a time," the new tiger estimation guidelines circulated to the state forest departments governments said.

The guidelines also say that if deployment of camera traps in an entire reserve or parts of it is not feasible for any reason, fecal DNA samples may be collected over the entire tiger reserve for capture-recapture analysis, methodology to cross check DNA findings with camera trap pictures.

To minimise the errors arising of keeping the camera traps open for a longer duration, the authority has prescribed the duration for which the camera trap should be opened and closed.

"Keeping the camera open can led to higher estimation of tigers," said K Ullas Karanth, director of Bangalore-based Centre for Wildlife Studies, who had questioned the methodology of earlier tiger estimation.

A key to estimate the tiger population correctly is prey population. NTCA has stipulated new software called DISTANCE to estimate prey density.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.