Comment by Chaitanya Joshi
October 23, 2009 @ 3:07 pm

The numbers of tigers are a serious concern, it has become obvious that well-being of a tiger in a particular area also ensures the steady rise in numbers of its prey species, good density of palatable plant species in which prey survives and theses further leads to overall better surveillance of the area as it is apparently reach in wildlife. Once tiger is gone from an area, gradually everything may show a decreasing trend, this has in fact happened in few small sanctuaries which were home to few tigers. It seems ecological and human complexities simultaneously play a role here, with the main concern, now, being human nature which dictates terms for almost everything or say living creature. Generally people start losing interest in conservation of a natural landscape which has been devoid of this magnetic cat. So, it has to do now, more with human complexities to safeguard the numbers of tigers which may result in prosperity of small but reach natural landscapes.

Comment by Andrew
October 24, 2009 @ 7:16 am

There is also a large economic dimension to the loss of tigers in certain landscapes. While development or forest exploitation often offers fleeting economic gains, there are long-term losses related to declining tourism and a host of other issues. This is not well studied, but I think GTI has offered to shed more light on the economic value of the tigers’ existence to communities. I hope this is a topic considered by the experts in Kathmandu.

Comment by Hunter Weiler
October 27, 2009 @ 3:56 pm

Realistic tiger population estimates are important, in combination with systematic monitoring to measure trends. Without them it is not possible to measure success/failure and adjust conservation priorities and interventions accordingly. Total TRC tiger numbers by themselves are not necessarily a good indicator of overall status. What really matters is how many separate landscapes with viable breeding populations have been confirmed, regardless of size. Normal tiger society consists of several individuals with overlapping well defined home ranges that they mark with scent, scrapes, scat and tree scratches. These tigers occasionally meet and mate and produce cubs. When the cubs grow up they disperse to find their own home range. A number of interconnected home ranges comprise a viable tiger landscape. Now there are far too many shattered relict populations comprised of scattered individual wanderers, drifters, dispersers, and floaters that are winking out one by one from old age, disease, starvation, and injury from poachers, prey animals and fights with other tigers, collectively in a death spiral towards extinction. (Tigers have a very high natural mortality rate even without poaching.) Lastly, IUCN points out an unfortunate truth: Studies have shown that only about 40% of any given tiger population consists of breeding tigers. Best Available Estimate of 3500 maximum total tigers is actually 1400 reproductively successful adults.

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