Sanctuary | Photo Feature
Porcupines making porcupines: WCT’s fi eld team surveys over 6,000 sq. km. of central Indian forests every year; and our library includes
some truly stunning natural history moments. This mating porcupine image blew us all away. Given their armoury, scientists say that sex
between porcupines can only be consensual, unlike many species, as males cannot force themselves on to a female!The Corridor Conundrum
The central Indian landscape (CIL) is one of the three most important tiger-bearing
landscapes of India, others being the Western Ghats and the Terrai Arc. The CIL,
which supports nearly 31 per cent of India’s tigers, is a complex mosaic of over 60
protected areas and several good quality reserve forests that act as both buff er
areas and corridors. It harbours some of the better protected tiger reserves of India- Kanha, Pench, Panna, Tadoba-Andhari, Ranthambhore, Satpura, etc., with signifi cant
tiger populations. Yet, none of the tiger reserves on its own has over 100 adult tigers
with 20 breeding females, numbers that are needed for long-term viability of a tiger
population. The only way these tiger reserves can withstand existing anthropogenic disturbances – low levels of tiger poaching,
widespread hunting of prey species, forest degradation due to uncontrolled fi rewood collection, man-made fi res, and large-scale
linear intrusions such as highways, canals, railways and electricity lines – is by strengthening the protection along the corridors and
other intervening reserve forests. In other words, unless the corridors and other intervening forests allow safe passage of tigers
and their prey, the tiger reserves alone will not be able to conserve the species in the long run.
WCT’s decision to focus on forests outside protected areas has yielded many interesting and uplifting results. It has revealed
the presence of the Eurasian otters in central India from where it was previously unknown. Camera trapping has helped bust the
myth that wolves have virtually disappeared – their numbers may have fallen but they are still widely distributed across central
India. Fieldwork has showcased the persistence of tigers in multiple-use areas, alongside dense human and livestock populations.
We now know that tiger densities in some of the reserve forests are comparable or better than many well-protected tiger
reserves. Extensive camera trapping eff orts has also highlighted the fact that despite the presence of sizeable leopard populations
in forests with high anthropogenic pressures, the incidence of confl ict is relatively low.
However, not all is well. Our work in association with the State Forest Departments has captured innumerable direct and
indirect evidences of potentially harmful human activities in corridors and other forest patches. Unfathomable levels of fi rewood
collection is one of the biggest threats to these forests. Pictures of gun-carrying men in broad daylight are fairly consistent from
several high density human-dominated forest patches. Another signifi cant observation from the camera trapping work across
reserve forests is of wild animals that have either miraculously escaped from wire snares, such as this injured adult hyaena (in the
insert), or animals roaming with snares stuck around their necks or waists. Whenever such images appear, the WCT team shares
the details with respective forest offi cers so that necessary action can be taken to curb bush-meat hunting. However, the presence
of high-density human populations in and around territorial forests makes the forest department’s job extremely challenging. High
frequency of human-wildlife interactions is slowly escalating the antagonism between villagers and the forest department, which is
further accentuated by periodic accidental injuries or deaths of humans caused by wild animals. To make matters worse, the local
politicians more often than not add fuel to the fi re by instigating the villagers against the forest departments.