Sawai Madhopur : Ranthambore has reached an alarming situation due to equal number of male and female tigers. Here young tigers are pushing out the middle aged tigers and are also fighting among themselves in the battle for territory. The deteriorating sex ratio took the life of Ranthambore’s young tiger 2312 today. Once again sad news has come from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve for wildlife lovers. A male tiger T 2312 died in a territorial fight in Ranthambore again. The dead tiger was about three years old. The forest department cremated the tiger’s body after post-mortem at Rajbagh Naka Chowki.
During patrolling in Gaughati forest area near Fariya Naka of Khandar range of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve today, forest workers saw the dead body of a male tiger. Seeing the dead body of the tiger, the forest workers informed the senior officials of the forest department about the death of the tiger. On receiving the information, Ranthambore’s field director Anup KR and DCF Dr. Ramanand Bhakar along with forest department officials reached the spot, where the dead tiger was identified as Tiger T 2312. The forest department team that reached the spot took possession of the tiger’s dead body and took it to Rajbagh Chowki Naka where a medical board of veterinarians was constituted. The medical board conducted the post-mortem of the tiger’s dead body and took the viscera. After which the tiger’s dead body was cremated.
According to Ranthambore’s DFO Ramanand Bhakar and veterinarian Rajiv Garg, tiger T 2312 died due to territorial fight with another tiger. The tiger’s body is about 24 to 36 hours old. The DFO said that in the area where the body of tiger T 2312 was found, there is movement of tigers T 96 and T 137 along with T 2311. Tiger T 2312 probably died in a fight with one of these tigers. There were deep wounds on many places on the body of the dead tiger. According to veterinarian Dr. Rajiv Garg, the tiger died due to territorial fight with another tiger. Tiger T 2312 was badly injured in the fight.
In fact, about 13 tigers, tigresses and cubs have died in Ranthambore from January 2023 to September 2024. These include Tiger T 57 on 10 January 2023, T 114 and its body on 31 January 2023, T 19 on 9 February, T 104 on 10 May 2023, T 79 and its two cubs in September 2023, T 69’s cub on 11 December 2023, T 99’s cub on 3 February 2024, T 60 and its cub on 4 February 2024, T 58 on 7 July 2024 and today on 22 September 2024, T 2312 died. Many tigers have died in Ranthambore due to the battle for territory.
Ranthambore is spread over an area of 1700 square kilometers and tourism is organised in 10 zones. But Ranthambore has a higher number of tigers, tigresses and cubs as per the area. In such a situation, many tigers have died so far due to the internal conflicts in the area. Ranthambore currently has about 74 tigers, tigresses and cubs, which is a very high number as compared to the area, while from time to time many tigers have been shifted from Ranthambore to other places, otherwise this number would have been even higher. Regarding the internal conflicts between tigers, Ranthambore CCF Anup K R says that along with the high number of tigers as per the area, the sex ratio among tigers is also a big reason.
He says that according to wildlife, there should be a ratio of two female tigers for one male tiger but in Ranthambore there are 30 tigresses for 31 tigers which is less as per the sex ratio. This is also a big reason for the conflict between tigers, also as soon as a cub grows up, it has to make its new territory and while making the new territory, if it clashes with a big tiger, then it dies in that clash too. Especially along with the conflict over territory, the sex ratio of tigers and tigresses is also a big reason for the death of a tiger in the conflict between tigers.
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The population of tigers is increasing continuously in Ranthambore. Due to shortage of land and less number of female tigresses as compared to male tigers, many tigers, tigresses and cubs have died in Ranthambore due to mutual conflict and territorial fight among tigers, which is a matter of concern for the forest department. If the ratio of tigers and tigresses is not balanced soon by adopting a concrete process, then tigers will continue to lose their lives in the fight for territory in Ranthambore.
