Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve: More tigers than it can hold

Birth of even a solitary tiger cub at Ranthambhore and Sariska tiger sanctuaries are greeted as ‘Khush Khabri’ and celebrated. When five cubs were born in three days last week in the two sanctuaries, forest officials and wild life enthusiasts were understandably ecstatic.

Last Saturday, it was a tourist who spotted a tigress carrying her cub in her mouth. She captured the rare moment on her mobile camera and soon the news spread like a jungle fire. The picture showed Noor, tiger numbered T -39, with her newborn cub. Not long afterwards officials discovered two more newborn cubs in Ranthambhore and two cubs in Sariska while scanning the camera footage from strategically placed ‘camera traps’. Noor, the 13-year-old tigress has given birth to nine cubs till now, seven of whom have survived. A tigress in the wild usually delivers a maximum of four litters, two to four cubs in each. “My personal experience in Ranthambhore national park however shows that under right conditions a tigress can bear a litter every three years on an average till the age of 15. Often all the cubs from the first litter die before sub-adulthood. Noor is therefore surely capable of delivering cubs for two more years,” claims Satish Jain, a veteran guide at Ranthambhore. But did Noor deliver more than one cub? Officials are still poring over camera footage to ascertain.

Four tiger cubs caught on camera on a single day, say officials, was a first and is a very big deal. While two cubs of tigress T-27 were captured by a camera in Akbarpur range in Sariska tiger reserve in Alwar district,two more cubs were delivered in Ranthambhore by tigress T-77.

“Good news from Sariska Tiger Reserve…now the Sariska tiger reserve has 27 tigers (9 tigers, 11 tigresses and 7 cubs); their rising number is a matter of joy,” tweeted chief minister Ashok Gehlot. In Ranthambhore tiger reserve, the total number of tigers is 77 now, among them 23 adult males and 30 adult females.

There is a reason why the chief minister took note of the development. In Sariska, the number of tigers had gone down to zero in 2008 when poachers were found to have killed all the tigers in the sanctuary. It caused a furore and an international scandal and questions were raised about India’s tiger conservation programme. Several tigers and tigresses were hurriedly relocated, some airlifted to Sariska thereafter. From there to have 27 tigers is indeed something to be celebrated.

The rise in the number of tigers in the two reserves however are also causing concern. The Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) holds that the carrying capacity of Ranthambhore sanctuary is not more than 43 tigers (it currently has 77) and the tigers need adequate number of other animals to prey on, and to hunt for food and survival.

The forest officials are also concerned about accommodating the big cats. Besides in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, there is now a serious imbalance in the gender ratio that has come down to1:1.3. The gender imbalance, officials admit, is forcing tigers to either leave the park or die in turf wars. Only a few days ago a tourist on a visit to the Ranthambhore Park captured in his camera the fight between the two tigresses for territorial supremacy.

“Majority of the tigresses are in the reproductive age group. This has increased the birth rate. Between 2019 and 2021, 44 cubs were born in the park as part of the tiger conservation programme," points out Rajendra Singh Bhandari, eminent forester and a former principal chief conservator of forests.

Sunil Mehta, a member of the Rajasthan State Wildlife Board, says that although the number of tigers has grown, various other measures are required to safeguard the tigers from poachers. The tigers could be conserved, he says, because villages were shifted from the sanctuary area to reduce the human-tiger conflict. More villages, still left in the sanctuary, may need to be shifted soon, he believes.

A few tigers have been shifted to Keoladevi in the nearby Karauli district from Ranthambhore and forest officials found that a tigress shifted to the wilds of Dholpur district which is full of ravines and delivered three cubs there.

The state government has already created an additional tiger sanctuary at Darra in Kota district and two more sanctuaries are coming up in Kumbhalgarh and in Ramgarh in Bundi district.

A tiger (males and females) has a normal life span of 26-years and there are lores associated with most of them, remembered fondly by foresters, tiger enthusiasts and tourists. Some become legends like the tigress Macchli, so named because she had fish-like scales in the skin. She lived for 20 years in Ranthambhore and is still talked about for her feat in killing a crocodile in an encounter.

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)