Miscellaneous
Park starts maiden study on carrying capacity of tigers
Chitwan National Park (CNP) has begun its first ever study on the carrying capacity of rare Royal Bengal tiger.Rastriya Samachar Samiti
Chitwan National Park (CNP) has begun its first ever study on the carrying capacity of rare Royal Bengal tiger.
CNP officials felt the necessity to study this wildlife’s carrying capacity following a decrease in its population according to recent data. Carrying capacity is the maximum population that can live in an environment, usually determined by natural limits like food, water, land, and other species.
Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation ecologist Laxman Poudel said the study team includes international experts—Dr Rajan Amin from the Zoological Society of London and Indian wildlife expert Abhishek Narayanan— and the study is the first of its kind in terms of the participation of internal experts.
Other team members include department’s Deputy Director General Gopal Prasad Bhattarai, Kanchan Thapa (World Wildlife Fund), Dr Naresh Subedi (National Trust for Nature Conservation), another expert Dr Bhagwan Raj Dahal and Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation under secretaries.
The study follows methods used globally. The study is field-based and data plays a vital role. The report unveiled last month shows the number of Royal Bengal in the CNP decreased by 27 in the past five years.
The team plans to complete the study within the current fiscal. CNP has never done this kind of study to collect data on the carrying capacity of any wildlife species in the CNP that spreads around 953 square kilometres.
Its buffer zone covers an area of around 729 square kilometres.
In 2013, the number of big cats in CNP was 120. It further declined to 93 this year, drawing concerns from various quarters mainly of people and organisations working for wildlife conservation.