Fascinating internal movement of tigers within TATR recorded

Nagpur: Tadoba seems to be the first choice for dispersing males from the Kolsa range. In the last two years, there have been four recorded dispersals of young males from Kolsa with fifth one also trying make the park his home.
Two months ago, tourists recorded the presence of a new male in Pandharpaoni. Since then it is vying to get a territory of its own.Two days ago the tiger was sighted near Tadoba lake.
Young naturalist Jignesh Patel, who confirmed the identity of the tiger from its stripe pattern, claimed it was a young male from the third litter of Kuwani tigress (T-14). The tourist-friendly tigress was regularly sighted with two females and a male cub in 2018.
Patel’s earlier claims of three male tigers dispersing from Kolsa and settling down in Tadoba have been ratified by forest officials. The three tigers include two male cubs of Shivanzari tigress (T-6) nicknamed Rudra (T-103) and Tala (T-100), and Mowgli, a male cub of Kuwani. These cubs were from the 2016 litter of both Shivanzari and Kuwani tigresses.
The 2016 litter of Shivanzari tigress included one female and three males. The female was radio-collared and had reached Umred-Karhandla-Paoni wildlife sanctuary in 2018. Two males – Rudra and Tala — moved out through Karwa and later parted ways.
Patel claims while Rudra reached Junona in the buffer zone and later moved to Kolara after competing with other males and seems to have settled in the Tadoba range now. Similarly, Tala had reached the Mohurli range from where it was pushed out by strong male Bajrang.
Now it too is settled in Tadoba range. One more male of Kuwani tigress Mowgli from the 2016 litter settled in the Tadoba buffer zone.
“The new male is the fourth one trying to claim a part of Tadoba range. It must be continuously moving to find a suitable territory,” said Patel.
Patel’s identification in the past has been found correct by the department. Working as a naturalist since 2012, he has developed a database of pictures from tourists and direct sightings. In June 2019, his book ‘Tigers of Tadoba’ was also published.
TATR officials, who did not wish to be quoted, said, “Most of the dominant males in Tadoba have come from Kolsa only. This is nothing new. They try to settle in Mohurli and Tadoba considering the competition.”
On the new incumbent, they added, “Two tigers were sighted Tadoba lake round in last few days. We identified one as T-103 while the identity of other tiger is yet to be established.”
Conservation biologist with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Bilal Habib said, “Migration and interbreeding holds key to saving the species. This is a good sign. The new male tigers seize the opportunity to get a mate and territory by pushing out older ones.”
“This is going on for a long time in every park with tigers but it has now become more exciting due to large-scale awareness and use of scientific techniques. More the genetic diversity, higher the chances of species survival,” Habib added.
TATR is connected to other tiger populations in surrounding forests such as that of Indravati Tiger Reserve through the forests of Chandrapur-Bramhapuri-Gadchiroli districts but young dispersing tigers are preferring Tadoba before moving out of the park. Habib said, “Tigers move where they sense opportunity. TATR as a whole is good habitat.”