Tiger travels five months covering 800 km for potential mate
The tiger dubbed T1-C1 by scientists, walked through the forests and populated urban areas in his five-month journey before finally settling in a nature reserve
A Bengal Tiger in India, has made a new record of travelling more than 800 miles in search of a mate.
The tiger dubbed T1-C1 by scientists, walked through the forests and populated urban areas in his five-month journey before finally settling in a nature reserve.
This two-and - a-half-year-old tiger is one of three cubs born to a tiger named TWLS-T1 in 2016.
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In February 2019, a satellite radio collar was placed on all three as part of a study to monitor the dispersal pattern of young tigers.
T1-C1 started to migrate from the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra's western state in late June.
As part of a natural cycle of marking their territories, male tigers migrate to find an environment where they can demonstrate their superiority. They move away from their densely populated place of origin.
The tiger crossed between Telangana's southern state and back to Maharashtra several times, feeding on cattle and wild animals along the way, such as antelope. It then made its way to Maharashtra's Dnyanganga Wildlife Sanctuary, about 186 miles northwest from where it started its journey.
"The primary concern is a thriving prey base it is also important find a mate and there were no female tigers that he could mate with at Tipeshwar sanctuary," Ravikiran Govekar, field director with the Maharashtra state forest department told the CNN.
"A tiger's behaviour is unpredictable but we are keeping track of it," Vishal Mali, a divisional forest officer at the sanctuary told the CNN. "The region has sufficient natural resources and prey for the tiger to sustain itself and it might decide to settle there permanently."
The tracking collar will be removed from the tiger once its battery is completely drained.
According to India's Forest Survey from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, between 2015 and 2017, the country acquired 2,617 square miles (6,778 square kilometres) of forest cover when the new forest assessment was carried out.
Meanwhile, according to a national survey released this July, India's tiger population has increased by nearly a third over the past four years to nearly 3,000 tigers.
