Study reveals U-K tigers’ choice of prey

Nagpur: If wildlife buffs think that tigers of Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary are dependent on cattle for their survival owing to scarce herbivores in the park, then they are wrong! A latest scientific study on scat samples of tigers, leopards and wild dogs conducted by Prajakta Hushangabadkar, who is working as a junior research fellow with the Pench Tiger Conservation Foundation, revealed that the tigers of Umred-Karhandla are dependent on herbivores, especially Nilgai.
To determine the prey selection pattern of carnivores, about 24 samples of tiger droppings while 11 samples of leopard scats and five of wild dogs were collected from different areas of the sanctuary.
In the scat samples of tiger, 13 nilgai hair, five chital hair, three wild boar hair, two of cattle and one of sambhar were found. In the 11 leopard scat samples, four nilgai hair, three chital hair, two wild boar hair, one cattle and one sambhar hair were found. Three hair of chital and two of sambhar were also found in the five samples of wild dogs.
“Though flesh and bony intake of the prey gets digested, its hair is excreted with other undigested material. A minimum of 10 hair were removed from each scat, washed with xylene and were then studied under microscope,” said Hushangabadkar.
As per the analysis report, the percentage of nilgai hair was the highest in tiger and leopard scats, followed by chital and sambhar. The presence of cattle hair in the scat samples of tigers, leopards and wild dogs was found to be the least. “The findings indicate that the presence of good number of carnivores is helping to regulate population of herbivores like nilgai which are considered a pest for farmers as they damage field crops,” said Hushangabadkar.
Contrary to the belief that population of herbivores is almost negligible at Umred-Karhandla, the report shows that carnivores in the sanctuary are feeding well on deer species and are not dependent on straying cattle. The sanctuary is presently home to one male, three female and nine sub-adult tigers.