IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Tempa, T.; Norbu, N.; Dhendup, P.; Nidup, T. | |
| Results from a camera trapping exercise for estimating tiger population size in the lower foothills of Royal Manas National Park | |
| 2011 Full Book | |
Tiger (_Panthera tigris_), a highly endangered large carnivore is used as a flagship species in conserving wildlife and wild lands in many parts of Asia. Currently, less then 3500 tigers live in the wild occupying a mere 7 percent of their historical range. The fate of tiger have never looked more uncertain than the current plight. A failure to reverse these trends will result in not only the loss of wild tigers, but also bring about profound changes to ecosystem structures and dynamics throughout the Asiatic region. The main threats to tigers are poaching, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and depletion of their main ungulate prey species. To stem the loss of tigers, range country governments, international agencies and NGOs are expediting their efforts at all levels. The Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) is committed to conserving this species and has set aside more than 51 percent of the country's total geographic area as protected areas in the form of National Parks and Biological Corridors. Such initiatives should be grounded on a proper understanding of tiger population status in the wild. We used remotely triggered camera traps in conjuncture with the Capture- Marked Recapture method to estimate the population size of tigers in a lower foothill habitat within the Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan. A total of 60 camera traps at 30 trapping stations were set. We acquired 448 photographs of 10 individual tigers. To estimate population size, we used information from only 9 individuals as 1 female tiger was photographed outside our sampling period of 60 day (1620 trap nights). We estimate a population size of 10 (ñ2.7) tigers in our sampling area. This gives an estimated density of 4.47 tigers/100 km2 or 1 tiger/20 km2 ). The effective sampling area was calculated using « MMDM (Mean Maximum Distance Moved). In addition to tigers, our cameras also captured pictures of 6 others cats and 22 other species. These results provide insights into the ecosystem dynamics within lower foothill forests of Bhutan and suggest that Manas is an extremely productive and rich landscape. Our results vindicate our assertion that Manas as a landscape is crucial for the future of tigers. This region also forms an indispensible corridor between the Terai regions (of Nepal and India) with landscapes of Northeastern India, Myanmar, and SE Asia. |
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