Monitoring Tiger Populations by Impression-pad Method

The tiger faces a serious threat from poaching, erosion of prey-base, habitat fragmentation and degradation, excessive human interference in its habitat, diminution of disturbance-free shelter areas and progressively increasing intensity of other ecological as well as anthropogenic stresses. Learned guesstimates as well as census counts of tiger populations have remained unsatisfactory exercises in providing better understanding of the constantly changing status of tiger populations in their fragmented habitats. In recent years the concern for correct evaluation of the status of tiger population in India has been vehemently voiced by all concerned. The answer seems to lie in the regular monitoring of tigers in their natural habitats, provided it can be done without disturbing them. The paper presents a field methodology for long-term regular monitoring of the tiger population in a given area. It has been designed after taking into the account the level of skill commonly encountered among the field staff deployed in protected areas in India. The methodology has been successfully tested on limited experimental basis in Dudhwa National Park in 1982 and Buxa Tiger Reserve in 1984.