Human Disturbance is the Major Determinant of the Habitat and Prey Preference of the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in the Chitwan National Park, Nepal

We studied the impact of human disturbances on the habitat and prey preference of tiger by walking along transects in different sites of the Chitwan National Park, Nepal. The study found that tiger mostly preferred successional forests, grasslands and floodplains while avoiding the Shorea forests. Tiger strongly preferred prey abundant areas and strongly avoided the human disturbed areas. The prey preference of tiger obtained through scat analysis showed the highest preference of medium sized prey and less preference of large sized prey while avoidance of small, very small sized prey and domestic mammals. Tiger utilized higher numbers of domestic prey in the areas where there was high disturbance and less abundance of wild prey. The low preference of large sized prey and high preference of medium sized prey might be due to the low availability of large prey (e.g., sambar, gaur) and comparatively high availability of medium sized prey (e.g., chital, wild boar) in this area. For the effective use of habitat and prey, a predator like tiger needs considerable behavioural plasticity with the lonely wilderness. The regular disturbances caused by human activities could invite a dramatic change in the behavior of such predators which consequently increases conflict with people and declines in prey population. Hence, the habitat and prey preference of tiger not only depends on prey abundance but also depends on the degree of habitat disturbances in the human dominated landscapes like Chitwan. Proper management of parks by delineating the core areas as the prohibited zone and having only the buffer zone area as the free access zone for the local people to accommodate their daily needs, could help minimize the human disturbance in this park.