After traversing over 3000 km, T1C1 finds its home at Dyanganga sanctuary

The three-year-old male tiger (T1C1), whose 3,020 km journey over 13 months was being tracked by wildlife experts, has possibly established its new territory at

The three-year-old male tiger (T1C1), whose 3,020 km journey over 13 months was being tracked by wildlife experts, has possibly established its new territory at the Dyanganga Wildlife Sanctuary (DWS) in Buldhana, according to a report shared by the Maharashtra forest department on Wednesday.

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This is the final report, developed by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, detailing findings of the longest ever recorded movement of a tiger in the country, monitored via a radio-collar. The carnivore will now be tracked using camera traps.

The animal was radio-collared on February 27, 2019 at Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal district. From February to June 2019, it covered 360 km within Tipeshwar. From June to December (dispersal period), the tiger traversed through human-dominated landscapes, forests, open lands, agricultural fields, canals and water bodies across the central Indian landscape, covering eight districts and four wildlife sanctuaries in Maharasthra and Telangana trying to find its territory. Though the tiger reached DWS in November, it moved further northwest towards Ajanta caves but soon returned to DWS. From December onwards, the tiger began using the entire sanctuary, and also the adjacent territorial forests that cover an area of 1,185 km as its habitat. He has now made an area of 50 sq km in the forest as his home territory.

“Despite travelling long distances, the animal hardly encountered conflict. This shows the ability of tigers to be away from humans while walking, provided the landscape is conducive. We need to ensure these fragmented forest zones, and the overall corridor is stopped from being deteriorated further,” said Bilal Habib, WII scientist who radio-collared the tiger in February 2019 has been tracking his movement along with his team - Parag Nigam, Pallavi Ghaskadbi, and Zehidul Hussain. “The animal has achieved all skills to survive and shows a normal predation pattern with regular kills inside DWS. The movement behaviour shows that the animal is using the main DWS as his core habitat and occasionally using buffer areas as well,” he added.

After tracking the tiger for 13 months and receiving a total of 6,240 global positioning system (GPS) locations, the battery of the collar had almost drained, said scientists. On March 28, using the remote drop-off option, the collar was finally removed.

“Due to the growth in the tiger’s neck size, the collar would have gotten tighter by the day. From existing 10 camera traps, we are adding another 50 to monitor his movement,” said Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), Maharashtra. “Now we know such long dispersals do take place and without conflict. The first-of-its-kind study proves the elusive behaviour of the animal,” he added.

T1C1 is Dyanganga’s first tiger and the forest department is studying the feasibility of releasing a female tiger there for mating. “A committee, set up to check the viability, had its first meeting but they were to visit the site to check the prey position and survey the habitat but couldn’t due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Based on their final report, a decision will be taken,” said Kakodkar.

The movement of T1C1 has opened new conservation challenges for the dispersing tigers in the state. It has also shown the ability to disperse individuals (tigers) to traverse through human-dominated landscape without any conflict, the report concluded.