Movement and home range characteristics of reintroduced tiger (Panthera tigris) population in Panna Tiger Reserve, central India

Abstract

Reintroduction of the tiger (Panthera tigris) has become imperative to address the extinction crisis and, it also provides new knowledge of the species biology as to how these animals explore and utilize new environments. We studied six reintroduced tigers and three of their offsprings in Panna Tiger Reserve, central India, focusing on exploration strategy, movement characteristics and spatio-temporal home range patterns. It was found that the release site had no influence on home range selection by the reintroduced tigers, regardless of the release method (soft or hard release) and origin (wild caught or raised in captivity). Although there was a high rate of initial movement, these animals exhibited strong site fidelity and territoriality subsequently. Mean (±SD) annual home ranges of male and female tigers were 132.7 km 2 ± 9.0 and 73.6 km 2 ± 9.6, respectively, and did not differ significantly across seasons. The home range sizes of males were among the largest in India and was also marginally larger for females. Comparison with previous telemetry study on historic tiger population in the same site suggests that the reintroduced animals behaved almost exactly the same way as that of native populations, offering support for reintroduction strategies which look to restore not only the species population but also ecosystem functions. The exploratory strategy and subsequent home range establishment by the reintroduced tigers offer novel insights on species behaviour in a new environment, with implication for future conservation strategies that consider translocation-based recovery of tiger populations in the range countries.Keywords Home range . Intra-specific interaction . Large carnivores . Movement ecology . Reintroduction Patterns of space use and distribution reveal key information on species biology and behaviour. These patterns relate closely to demographic parameters (Smith and Mcdougal 1991; Wielgus et al. 2001) that affect population viability (Chapron et al. 2008;Packer et al. 2009), sex ratio (Emlen and Oring 1977), degree of polygyny (Yudakov and Nikolaev 1987;Smith and Mcdougal 1991) and effective population size of a species (Smith and Mcdougal 1991;Chepko-Sade et al. 1987;Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1978). Spatial occupancy pattern or home range sizes have an inverse relationship with population density (Majumder et al. 2012) due to resource limitations. Accordingly, individual animal space use defines the area negotiated for foraging, shelter and reproduction (Burt 1943;Powell 2012). Studies of animal space use patterns and ecological processes underlying those patterns potentially enable improved management inputs for conservation of threatened wild species (Wilson 2010). This important knowledge is possible only by advanced telemetry methods which allow close observations, collection of sufficient spatial location data and subsequent analyses with required precision and accuracy (Kaczensky et al. 2008).The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the top-order predator in the Indian subcontinent, with high fl...

Wild versus domestic prey in the diet of reintroduced tigers (Panthera tigris) in the livestock-dominated multiple-use forests of Panna Tiger Reserve, India

“…All 6 founder tigers and 6 of their offspring have been fitted with VHF radio collars by reserve authorities. Details of this equipment are provided by Sarkar et al [23]. PTR tiger monitoring teams working in three 8-h shifts followed radio-collared tigers each day using a handheld VHF antenna between 2009 and 2014.…”

“…Here we investigate the case of tigers from PTR, where they became locally extinct during 2008 and were reintroduced into the same livestock dominated environment in 2009. The growing population of reintroduced tigers enter the adjoining multiple-use buffer zone where thousands of livestock graze, along with over 9000 feral cattle [9, 22, 23]. With this, the compensations paid for livestock losses by PTR management are also increasing (see the compensations records presented in (S3 Table).…”

New insights into the factors influencing movements and spatial distribution of reintroduced Bengal tigers ( Panthera tigris tigris ) in the human-dominated buffer zone of Panna Tiger Reserve, India

“…The Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in India is one such genetic source pool. The state Forest Department initiated a tiger reintroduction programme in 2009 after local tigers became extinct due to poaching (Gopal et al 2009, Sarkar et al 2016. Following successful breeding, tiger numbers in PTR increased from six founder animals to over 30 individuals between 2009 and 2014 (Sarkar et al 2016).…”

“…The state Forest Department initiated a tiger reintroduction programme in 2009 after local tigers became extinct due to poaching (Gopal et al 2009, Sarkar et al 2016. Following successful breeding, tiger numbers in PTR increased from six founder animals to over 30 individuals between 2009 and 2014 (Sarkar et al 2016). Currently, the Forest Department aims to create and strengthen safe areas across the larger landscape and secure the tiger species outside the reserves (Gopal et al 2009, Wikramanayake et al 2011.…”

“…Like most tiger reserves, the PTR is an isolated, protected area surrounded by multiple-use forests and humandominated landscapes. In the PTR, the home ranges of male and female tigers are larger than the average ranges in other parts of India (Chundawat et al 2016, Sarkar et al 2016. These large ranges and the relatively small size of the protected area lead to a mismatch between the space needed for tigers and the available protected area (Chundawat et al 2016).…”