Orang Tiger Reserve in Assam Has The Highest Tiger Density
Orang National Park, one of the smallest national parks in
India is poised to emerge as the reserve with the highest tiger density
with 35 tigers per 100 sq km.
The tiger population in Assam has increased noticeably from last
census but India’s smallest and relatively lesser-known Orang National
Park could displace heavyweight Kaziranga National Park as the reserve
with the highest tiger density.
Kaziranga had highest tiger
density (12.72 per 100 sq km) followed by Corbett in Uttarakhand (11)
and Bandipur in Karnataka (10.28) in the 2014 census of the big cat
population.
But the latest round of tiger estimation carried out in January to March 2017 could displace Kaziranga from the top slot.
The Rajiv Gandhi Orang National
Park in Darrang district which was notified as the 49th Tiger Reserve of
the country only in 2016, may soon become the highest tiger density
forest in India, surpassing several world famous Tiger Reserves
including the Corbett Tiger Reserve (National Park) and Kaziranga Tiger
Reserve (National Park).
Much to the cheer of the nature lovers of
Darrang district and the officers and staff of the forest, a month-long
tiger census with the help of camera trapping conducted by the State
Forest department for the first time on their own, which ended in the
forest on Friday last has triggered this signal. According to Chakrapani
Rai, Range Officer of the forest, preliminary monitoring of the camera
capturing has shown the possibility of around 40 individual tigers
(excluding cubs below the age of six months numbering more than ten).
“All other cameras, except two out of the total 72 cameras with modern
technology, installed across the forest have spotted movements of
tigers. This is evident from the preliminary monitoring of the camera
trapping. We are hopeful of finding around 40 adult individual tigers in
this exercise ,” said the Range Officer. “However, we will have to wait
till the declaration of the final result after the analysis of camera
captures by experts from the National Tiger Conservation Authority
(NTCA),” he added.
It may be mentioned here that in 2010, according
to a tiger status report released by the NTCA, an organisation of the
Government of India, Orang National Park had only 0.15 Tigers per 100 sq km
unit density behind Corbett National Park with the highest tiger
density in the country with an average of 17.83 per 100 sq km.
On the
other hand, a study report revealed in 2014 declared Kaziranga as the
forest with the highest tiger density in the country with a figure of
12.72 per 100 sq km followed by the Corbett National Park (11) in
Uttarakhand and Bandipur National Park (10.28) in Karnataka.
In the last
tiger census conducted in 2013 before Orang was notified as a Tiger
Reserve, it reportedly recorded a total of 24 adult tigers. Similarly,
in 2011 the figure recorded was 20 and it is easily evident from these
figures that the number has been gradually increasing in the forest over
the last several years.
This may be attributed to the conducive eco-
system for the habitation of the big cat species and adequate prey base,
besides the sincere protection measures taken by the forest officials
and the staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment