Recently, the male tiger T38 from Ranthambhore was officially found to have a new home in the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary located in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. The tiger was caught by a trap camera after straying out of the park about six months ago and wandering near the ravines of Chambal. Eventually, the three-year-old male tiger made his way into the Sheopur district of the neighbouring state after spending a fortnight in the Shev Ki Chambal area along the Chambal River.

 

In October, the tiger's pugmarks were spotted near the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary, which is set to host the proposed Cheetah Project in the country. Since then, the sanctuary's forest officials have been keeping a close watch on the big cat. Although the tiger may have entered the sanctuary some time ago, it was only recently captured on camera.

 

According to Ashok Mishra, DFO of Kuno-Palpur, "the tiger's pugmarks were noticed last month and recently it was captured on a camera." While the tiger is a welcomed guest in the sanctuary, it may be a point of no return for the tiger to Ranthambore. The overcrowded Ranthambore is not as suitable a habitat as the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary, with the number of male tigers on the rise. However, with no tigress present in the area, T-38 could move forward to the Madho National Park, which has a few big cats, according to officials. The tiger travelled about 100 km from Ranthambore to reach Kuno-Palpur, which is spread over an area of around 350 sq km.

 

Officials have termed this as a natural dispersal process catalyzed by overcrowding at the Ranthambore reserve. Currently, about four tigers have dispersed from the reserve, with one each at Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur and Kota, while two big cats have crossed the Chambal River and made their way into Madhya Pradesh.