Report prepared by M Firoz Ahmed, Jimmy Borah, Chatrapati Das, Ajit Basumatary, R. N. Sarma, D. D. Gogoi, S. N. Buragohain, N. K. Vasu, B. K. Talukdar, Y. V. Jhala and Q. Qureshi April 2010 A Joint Initiative of A Society for Assam Forest Department Biodiversity Conservation in NE India Technical Support Wildlife Institute of India Supported by A camera trapped tiger Report prepared by M Firoz Ahmed, Jimmy Borah, Chatrapati Das, Ajit Basumatary, R. N. Sarma, D. D. Gogoi, S. N. Buragohain, N. K. Vasu, B. K. Talukdar, Y. V. Jhala and Q. Qureshi April 2010 A Joint Initiative of A Society for Assam Forest Department Biodiversity Conservation in NE India Technical Support Wildlife Institute of India Supported by Published by: Aaranyak 50 Samanwoy Path, Survey Beltola, Guwahati 781028 Assam, India. Tel: +91-361-2228418 Email: [email protected] Website: www.aaranyak.org Published: April 2010 Copyright © 2010 in photographs: Individual credited. Copyright © 2010 Aaranyak and Assam Forest Department, India. All rights reserved. Any reproduction in full or in part of this publication must mention the title and credit as suggested below. Suggested citation: Ahmed, M. F., J. Borah, C. Das, A. Basumatary, R. N. Sarma, D. D. Gogoi, S. N. Buragohain, N. K. Vasu, B. K. Talukdar, Y. V. Jhala and Q. Qureshi. 2010. Monitoring Tigers and Prey Animals of Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India. Technical Report, Aaranyak, TRCI: 04/2010. 50 pp. Design: Fine Edge, Guwahati -781005 Shri Rockybul Hussain Minister, Environment & Forest, Tourism, P&S, Information & Public Relation. Government of Assam Foreword The Assam Forest Department has been conserving flagship species like rhino, tiger and elephant across the state in a network of protected areas. Assam has three tiger reserves, five national parks and 20 wildlife sanctuaries that cover about 5% of total geographical area of state. Tiger conservation in Assam was officially initiated in 1973 by listing Manas Tiger Reserve amongst first few Tiger Reserves established across the country. However, because of sustained efforts to protect the one-horned Indian rhino in the state, tiger population has automatically been covered under effective conservation especially in the Kaziranga and Orang National Parks. Tiger population has drastically dwindled all over the country during the last few decades. Perhaps, Assam was not immune. However, tiger population in the state seems better than many other states in the country. Kaziranga, Orang and Nameri are few best examples of tiger conservation areas in Assam. Kaziranga NP is considered as the source population for the northeast Indian region. The grasslands of Kaziranga are known to be the best tiger habitats in the world. When the hope for tiger conservation is fast dimming all over the world, Assam's forests continue to offer best habitats for this charismatic and majestic animal for centuries. The Assam Forest Department in collaboration with Aaranyak, a research and conservation organization with reputation in the region, has been carrying out camera trapping exercise in Assam since 2008 to monitor the tiger population. This report consist the result of the first year (2009) camera trapping exercise for monitoring tigers in the Kaziranga National Park. The result presented in this report is overwhelming. Further, being the best tiger habitat, Kaziranga shall now be able to attract more attention from national and international agencies as far as conservation of biodiversity is concerned. I must congratulate the Aaranyak team and the Assam Forest Department for initiating this partnership to find out valuable information on tiger population of the Kaziranga NP. I also convey my best wishes to the management of the Kaziranga NP and the staff of the park for their relentless efforts to save the wildlife from poaching. The Assam Forest Department shall continue its effort to uphold the conservation of biodiversity in the state. My best wishes to Aaranyak for their efforts to complement research, conservation and protection of biodiversity in the state. (Rockybul Hussain) Acknowledgement We are grateful to David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for financial support to this work. Thanks also due to Rufford Small Grants Foundation, London for partially supporting purchase of equipments. Thanks Wildlife Institute of India for technical help, training and advice provided during execution of the project. We are grateful to Mr. Rockybul Hussain, Minister of Environment & Forest cum Tourism, Government of Assam and Mr. Suresh Chand, Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam along with other senior forest officials for their support. Mr. M C Malakar, Ex-Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam was very kind in guiding us while initiating this project. Thanks to the Range Officers of the park DD Boro, Deben Kalita, Atikur Rahman, K K Deori and Ekramul Mazid for their all out help. We are thankful to Abishek Harihar and Bivash Pandav for giving training to biologists and assisting through out data collection and analysis. Many thanks to Ranjit Baruah and Rupak Bhuyan, the two Forester of the Park who were never annoyed by our frequent visit, phone calls and requests to arrange our logistics during the long field work. Deben and Ganesh, and all other armed guards, thank you all for your commitment to save our lives from dangerous wild animals. Thanks to Tipu, Philip and Babu for assistances. We are also thankful to all those frontline staffs that helped us in the field. Arif, Kamal, Mayur, Mazid, Rajeev, Johnson Das, Abhijit Das, Naba Nath, Santanu Dey, Krishna Das, Biraj Saikia, Anil Das, Mahikanta Phukan and all those who volunteered in the field, we are thankful to all of you for your time and efforts. We thank Pranjit Sarma for preparing the GIS maps. Many thanks to Ashok Dey and Udayan Borthakur and Jayanta Baruah for assisting in the field. We are thankful to Bhaskar Sarkar for painfully managing our accounts. d e m h A z o Fir M. A tiger resting in a pool, a rare view in the Kaziranga NP though tigers are thriving there. Content Introduction 1 Objectives 2 The Study Site 3 Methods 7 Results 11 Discussion 16 Recommendations 18 What Next? 18 References 19 Appendix 01: A. Standard datasheet for camera trap monitoring. 22 B. Standard datasheet for Sign Survey. 23 Appendix 02: Individual Camera Trapped Tigers. 24 Appendix 03: Photographs of other camera trapped 37 animals. Appendix 04: Activity Photographs of the study. 43 Appendix 05: Name and GPS coordinates of trap locations 45 Tables used in the report Table 1. Capture history of individual tigers photo-captured in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam; 40 individuals, 25 occasions during January-March, 2009. Table 2. Summary of the result of capture-recapture study of tigers in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam; carried out during January-March, 2009. Table 3. Relative abundance indices for prey species recorded in Kaziranga National Park using camera traps from January to March 2009. Total effort 1250 trap-days. RAI: Number of days required to get single 1 photo capture, RAI: Number of photos per 100 trap-days. 2 Table 4. Comparison of tiger density amongst different tiger habitats in India and Nepal (estimated using Half MMDM approach). Figures used in the report Fig 1. The trail monitor, Trailmaster 1550 along with cameras and other accessories. Fig 2. Map of the Kaziranga National Park showing the trap polygon, effective sampling area (half MMDM buffer) and the trap locations. Session January-March, 2009. Map prepared by GIS Lab, Aaranyak. Fig 3. Map of the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve showing the Kaziranga National Park, Laokhowa WLS, Buhrachapori WLS, adjacent reserve forests and the Brahmaputra River. Map prepared by GIS Lab, Aaranyak. Fig 4. Cumulative number of individual tiger captured and photographs obtained with increasing number of sampling occasions in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam (Session: January-March, 2009).