PDA

View Full Version : Lure of the wild-A.J.T. JOHNSINGH AND RAGHUNATH



Roopak Gangadharan
24-02-2010, 08:58 PM
Nice reading.....
Roopak


http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20100312270506400.htm



While driving between Thengumarahada and Gulithoraipatti, a tiger suddenly
appeared on the road, and before the cameras could be focussed, the agile
cat crossed the road and stood behind a bush, watching us. This encounter
with the tiger and the sightings of numerous blackbucks made us realise that
probably the Sigur range and adjoining forests (the Moyar range of the
Bandipur Tiger Reserve and the Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary) were the
only landscape in India where the magnificent tiger and the elegant antelope
coexisted. In the Kanha (Madhya Pradesh) and Katerniaghat tiger reserves
(Uttar Pradesh), where there was this kind of coexistence, the blackbuck
became extinct several decades ago. Interestingly, Major Phythian Adams, who hunted in the Nilgiris in the first half of the last century, writes about
the occurrence of the chinkara and the nilgai, two more antelope species, in
this landscape. The chowsingha, a low-density antelope species, still occurs
here.



There are three reasons for the reappearance of tigers in the Sigur range
and in adjacent areas: the removal of cattle camps from the forests by the
Tamil Nadu Forest Department; improved protection, largely offered by the
meagrely and irregularly paid tribal anti-poaching watchers; and excellent
breeding in the adjacent wildlife areas of the Mudumalai Wildlife Santuary,
the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and the Nagarhole National Park, which resulted
in the dispersal of tigers seeking new territories. The Sigur range, with
its abundance of forage species (for example, *Anogeissus latifolia*, *Randia
dumetorum*, *Zizyphus xylopyrus* and plenty of palatable and nutritious
grass), always had a sizable population of the chital, the sambar and the
gaur. The dispersing tigers easily found a home here to settle down.
Refreshingly green