Tiger ecology and conservation in the Indian subcontinent

Abstract

The tiger has served as an effective umbrella species in conserving many forms of biodiversity in the Indian subcontinent. During the last three decades, scientific research employing modern methods has generated reliable information on tiger ecology in a range of habitats in the Indian subcontinent. These studies show that tigers evolved as solitary predators of large ungulates, and their social organisation pivots around breeding females that try to maintain and defend home ranges. Across the Subcontinent, tiger population densities vary from a low of < 1 tiger/100 sq. km to a high of 20 tigers/100 sq. km, depending primarily on densities of ungulate prey. Although over 300,000 sq. km of potential tiger habitat still exists in southern Asia, breeding 'source' populations for wild tigers are primarily confined to effectively protected reserves that occupy less than 2% of the overall landscape, the rest of which acts as a population 'sink'. Tiger demography is characterised by both high productivity and mortality. Consequently, the depletion of their prey base due to human over-hunting appears to be a major threat to tigers, besides habitat loss and poaching. After being persecuted for centuries and pushed to the verge of extirpation, tigers received official protection over the last thirty years. However, their future is still not secure because of newly emergent misplaced priorities in conservation policies. Protecting viable tiger populations in reserves and buffering them against incompatible human uses of their habitats must continue to be at the core of the conservation strategy if tigers are to survive this century and beyond.