Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation
Department of National Parks & Wildlife Conservation
Biodiversity conservation Efforts in Nepal
Special issue published on the occasion of
th 20 Wildlife Week 2072 BS
Special issue DNPWC-2072
Estimating the Abundance of Tigers and their Prey in Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve of Terai Arc Landscape, Nepal Jhamak Bahadur Karki1, Shannon Michelle Barber–Meyer2, Yadavendra Dev Jhala3, Bibhash Pandav4, Shanta Raj Jnawali5, Rinjan Shrestha6, Kanchan Thapa7, Gokarna Thapa8, Narendra Man Babu Pradhan9, Babu Ram Lamichane10 & Maheshwar Dhakal 11 E-mail:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT Information on the abundance of tigers and their prey are crucial for managing tiger landscapes.We estimated tiger abudance in Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR) Nepal using camera trap based Capture-Mark-Recapture and prey density and abundance using distance sampling in 2009. With effort of 1679 trap nights covering 113 camera trap stations we photo captured 7 individual adult tigers in Suklaphanta WR. The number and density (per 100 km2) of tigers were 7 (SE 1.41) and 2.1 (SE 0.80) in SWR. Distance sampling was used to assess the prey abundance between May-June 2009 on 463 systematically laid line transects. Density of all wild prey (individuals/km2) were 6.6 (SE 1.1) in Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR). The density (no/Km2) of chital was 79.0 in SWR followed by swamp deer 30, hog deer 21.6 and primate 14.8. With a total effort of 124 Km walk across 62 spatial replicate transects tiger prey abundance was estimated at 25,548. Study indicates decline in tiger in SWR even though the existing level of prey population appear to be adequate to support a higher tiger numbers. There is hope of meeting the ambitious goal 1 Nepal engineering college-center for post graduate studies, Kathmamdu. 2 United States Geological Survey, Ely, MN, USA 55731 (WWF US during the research work), 3 Wildlife Institute of India. 4 Wildlife Institute of India. 5 Hariyo Ban Program, WWF Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathamndu. 6 WWF Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu. 7 WWF Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu. 8 WWF Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu. 9 Bird Conservation Nepal, Kathmandu. 10 National Trust for Nature Conservation, Lalitpur. 11 Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu. Special issue DNPWC-2072
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Estimating the Abundance...
of doubling the tiger population by 2022 set by Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) as indicated by 2014 estimates of 13 tigers for which tiger habitats outside PAs are further managed with local community based initiatives to ensure acceptance of low density tiger movement. KEY WORDS: Camera trap, Capture-recapture, Corridor, Density, Trans–boundary Conservation
INTRODUCTION Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) Nepal encompasses an area of 23,199 km2; covering 14 Terai districts from Rautahat in the east to Kanchanpur in the west, and consists of over 75 % of the remaining forests of the Terai and foothills of Churia. The protected areas (PAs) are part of the global tiger conservation landscape (Dinerstein et al 2007) and are source to maintain the wildlife. The corridor and connectivity within and between countries are vital for the long term maintenance of the wildlife. Thus the regular monitoring of the forest resources and wildlife is important for the management of the wildlife. The Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR) is the site of source population of wildlife in Nepal listed in category IV tiger conservation landscape in global tiger conservation scenario (Dinerstein et al 2007). The SWR used to one of the important site for the tiger conservation in the past and is regaining again in the previous direction with slow pace. In the mark of the 4th year of the landmark Tx2 decision, SWR is also trying to complement in tiger and prey base along with the other biodiversity conservation measures. The transboundary initiatives with India counterpart Kishanpur WLS and Dudhwa TR and the recently established Pilibhit TR is taking momentum to make the tiger habitat a continuum. SWR (28o 45’- 280 57’ N, 800 07’ to 800 21’ E, 305 km2, 80m-600m) in the far Western lowland is bordered by the Mahakali river on the west. Abandoned agriculture land occupies 7.87%, forest 65.02%, grassland 16.1%, shrub land 3.76% and water bodies 7.25%. National highway passes through its upper tip breaking link with Mahabharat range. Over the past 200 years, wild tiger populations have declined by more than 98% in the Indian Subcontinent (Mondol et al. 2009) and probably by the same percentage through the rest of the tiger’s range (Seidensticker 2010). Current global tiger population is comprised of
