More tigers at Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary than reserves
Bengaluru: The Malai Mahadeshwara (M.M.) Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka that does not fall under Tiger Reserves in the country, has been found to be the home for at least 15 tigers, a 15-membered conservationist team from Nature Conservation Foundation has discovered. The two sanctuaries have more tigers than some tiger reserves in India like Namdapha tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh, Kawal in Telangana and Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal, said Sanjay Gubbi, Conservation Scientist and State Wildlife Board Member.
“The scientific analysis has spotted 10 to 12 tigers with a density of 0.66 tigers per 100 square kilometres throughout M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary while two tigers were documented during the sampling period in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary,” Gubbi said. He clarified that these figures do not include the number of tiger cubs, which were between 2 to 4 numbers.
H.S. Mahadeva Prasad, district in-charge Minister, released a report on tiger numbers in the dry forests in confluence of Western and Eastern Ghats in Southern India. The report is titled ‘Tigers of Mali Mahadeshwara and Cauvery Landscape’. “The department will write to the Centre to declare M.M. Hills and Cauvey wildlife sanctuaries also as tiger reserves,” Mahadeva Prasad said.
A 15-membered team from an NGO Nature Conservation Foundation, led by conservationist and scientist Sanjay Gubbi undertook the first-ever tiger density estimation using camera trapping exercises at the M.M. Hills and Cauvery wildlife sanctuaries. A total of 809 camera trap locations were identified across both the sanctuaries. “Each trap location had two cameras installed on trees facing each other between the possible tracks of tiger movement,” Gubbi said. The study took over 5 years and consolidation of nearly 10 lakh images from both the sanctuaries from which the actual figures of number of tigers were arrived at, he added.
The team has also documented individual tigers that were common between Biligirirangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve and M.M. Hills wildlife sanctuary highlighting the importance of protecting the Doddasampige-Yediyaralli corridor which is the last forest patch that connects both these protected areas. It was highly encouraging for the team as reproduction too was documented. The team is hopeful that this area has potential to double its tiger numbers if funding and protection is accorded.
- The first-ever documentation of the ratel, also called the honey badger, for Karnataka state in Cauvery wildlife sanctuary was recorded in one of the camera traps.
- Camera trapping exercises also helped the forest department in apprehending several poachers, including the notorious elephant poacher Saravanan, who was spotted on the camera and identified using a mole on his right leg as his head had not come in the frame of the photograph.
- 27 large and small mammalian species were recorded in the camera traps from these two areas, including wild dogs, sloth bears, Indian fox, pangolin, rusty spotted cat (the smallest wild cat in the world), gaur, sambar, four-horned antelope, and Madras tree shrew that is endemic to this area
