Density and carrying capacity in the forgotten tigerland: Tigers in the understudied Nepalese Churia

Abstract

While there are numerous wildlife ecology studies in lowland areas of Nepal, there are no in-depth studies of the hilly Churia habitat even though it comprises 7642 km of potential wildlife habitat across the Terai Arc. We investigated tiger, leopard and prey densities across this understudied habitat. Our camera trapping survey covered 536 km of Churia and surrounding areas within Chitwan National Park (CNP). We used 161 trapping locations and accumulated 2097 trap-nights in a 60-day survey period during the winter season of 2010-2011. In addition, we walked 136 km over 81 different line transects using distance sampling to estimate prey density. We photographed 31 individual tigers, 28 individual leopards and 25 other mammalian species. Spatial capture-recapture methods resulted in lower density estimates for tigers, ranging from 2.3 to 2.9 tigers per 100 km , than for leopards, which ranged from 3.3 to 5.1 leopards per 100 km . In addition, leopard densities were higher in the core of the Churia compared to surrounding areas. We estimated 62.7 prey animals per 100 km with forest ungulate prey (sambar, chital, barking deer and wild pig), accounting for 47% of the total. Based on prey availability, Churia habitat within CNP could potentially support 5.86 tigers per 100 km but our density estimates were lower, perhaps indicating that the tiger population is below carrying capacity. Our results demonstrate that Churia habitat should not be ignored in conservation initiatives, but rather management efforts should focus on reducing human disturbance to support higher predator numbers.

Ecological correlates of the spatial co‐occurrence of sympatric mammalian carnivores worldwide

“…In Asia, we included the southern Riau landscape of central Sumatra in Indonesia (Sunarto et al . ), the Chitwan National Park in Nepal (Thapa & Kelly ) and several reserves across central Iran (Farhadinia et al . ).…”

“…North and Central American study areas included five national parks in western Canada (Steenweg et al 2016 (Farris et al 2015b). In Asia, we included the southern Riau landscape of central Sumatra in Indonesia (Sunarto et al 2015), the Chitwan National Park in Nepal (Thapa & Kelly 2017) and several reserves across central Iran (Farhadinia et al 2014). We also included a single European study area, located in northern Norway (Hamel et al 2013;Henden et al 2014).…”

Assessing global patterns in mammalian carnivore occupancy and richness by integrating local camera trap surveys

“…In Africa, studies were located in the Cederberg mountains of Western Cape, South Africa (Martins, ), Ngamiland District of northern Botswana (Rich et al, ), Niokolo Koba National Park of Senegal (Kane, Morin, & Kelly, ) and the Masoala‐Makira protected landscape of Madagascar (Farris et al, ). In Asia, we included studies from the southern Riau landscape of central Sumatra in Indonesia (Sunarto, Kelly, Parakkasi, & Hutajulu, ), the Churia habitat in Chitwan National Park in the south‐central Terai Arc in Nepal (Thapa & Kelly, ) and seven reserves across central Iran (Farhadinia et al, ). Lastly, in Europe, we included a study carried out in four peninsulas along the coast of Finnmark in northern Norway (Hamel, Killengreen, Henden, Yoccoz, & Ims, ; Henden et al, ).…”

Elephant (Elephas maximus) temporal activity, distribution, and habitat use patterns on the tiger’s forgotten trails across the seasonally dry, subtropical, hilly Churia forests of Nepal

“…The Churia, also called the Siwaliks in India, is one of the youngest of the five mountain ranges in Nepal [4] extending from the Brahmaputra River in the East in India to the Indus River in the west in Pakistan [5] and occupies 13% of the country’s total land surface [6]. Forest density within the Churia is high (73% has intact forest cover) and conservation of Churia is critical to maintain trans-border connectivity across the landscape in Nepal and India [7, 8].…”