E-Paper
High tiger density may result from habitat loss
Conservationists have welcomed the recent finding that the Kaziranga National Park in Assam has the highest tiger density in the world, but warned that it could be an indicator of destruction of habitats in the vicinity and suggested framing of a tiger habitat management policy.
Conservationists have welcomed the recent finding that the Kaziranga National Park in Assam has the highest tiger density in the world, but warned that it could be an indicator of destruction of habitats in the vicinity and suggested framing of a tiger habitat management policy.
'Aaranyak', an environment watchdog, in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department in a recent survey using the 'camera-trap' method has found that the forest, famous for housing the one-horned rhinos, has a recorded density of 38 tigers in an area of 100 square kilometres.
Describing such an unusual increase of the animals in a single protected area can be a dangerous indicator of habitat destruction, conservationist Bibhab Talukdar of Aaranyak recommended regular monitoring of tigers and prey population in the forest.
"We like to recommend regular monitoring of tigers and prey population to understand the ecology in such a high density tiger habitat," Talukdar said.
He said the unusual increase of these animals might be attributed to habitat destruction in the surrounding areas as a result of which animals flocked to Kaziranga.
Due to the high-density, human-tiger conflict in the fringe areas of the park might go up and both short and long term measures were necessary to minimize such conflicts, he felt.
