Comments
Scientific monitoring of tigers in Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve has made a difference.
The Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve popularly known as NSTR is the largest Tiger Reserve in the country.
Notified as sanctuary in 1978 and as the 16th tiger reserve in 1983, it is located in the Nallamala tracts of Andhra Pradesh. Along with its original area of 3,568 sq km, extended core wildlife sanctuary 1,194 sq km at the Southern part of it and buffer of 1,175 sq km, the total tiger landscape of 5,938 sq km is large and unique for its diverse flora and fauna.
The area is the prime habitat for the flagship species, the tiger, its co-predator such as panther and wild dog.
Herbivores such as Sambar, Spotted Deer, Wild boar, Nilgai constitute the main prey-base for the carnivores. The habitat also harbours endangered species such as Four-horned Antelope, Mouse Deer, Honey Badger and Giant Squirrel.
According to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-Wildlife, A.V. Joseph, the use of camera traps and deployment of Chenchu tribals and a concerted effort by the Forest Department, has proved useful in management of the tiger reserve and monitoring their movements.
Towards effective conservation strategies, camera trap has been used to ascertain the number of tigers through statistical extrapolation and other parameters. The result of 2006 estimation gave a range of 47-57 tigers with mid value of 53 excluding cubs.
Similar processes were repeated in 2010-11 and the tiger population has shown a positive trend with a range of 53-66 with mid value of 60 excluding cubs.
The camera trap monitoring has helped not only the monitoring of tigers but also indicated the presence of rare and endangered animals in different parts of habitat such as honey badger and mouse deer, known to be nocturnal and shy.
Tribal Chenchu tiger trackers are trained in handling of these trap cameras for fixing and using them in the field.
>rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.