Tigress spotted with her cubs in Rajasthan’s Dholpur: Officials
Dholpur Tiger Reserve (DTR) will be the state’s fifth and country’s 53rd tiger reserve after approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
Ranthambore Tigress T-117 has been spotted with her cubs in the Sarmathura forest area in a camera trap in Rajasthan’s Dholpur district, forest officials said on Saturday.
The officials informed that the tigress gave birth to three cubs, which are 15-20 days old. This is the second litter of the tigress with T-116 – both the tigers moved to the Dholpur area from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR), around two years back.
Dholpur Tiger Reserve (DTR) will be the state’s fifth and country’s 53rd tiger reserve after approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The DTR adjoins Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur, which is the source population of big cats in Rajasthan and its other rest three reserves – Sariska Tiger Reserve (Alwar), Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (Kota), and Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in Bundi.
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Currently, Rajasthan has four reserves namely– Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in Karuali, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Kota, and Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in Bundi, which was added in May 2022.
According to the data from forest officials, the population of tigers in these reserves has climbed to 113 from 59 in 2014. In Rajasthan, RTR has the most number of tigers with 86, making it the third most congested habitat of felines in India after Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
With the increasing tiger population in RTR, the state forest department had moved a proposal to develop the fifth tiger reserve in Rajasthan.
The forest department has proposed to develop parts of the Karauli and Dholpur forest area, adjoining RTR as a tiger reserve. As per the preliminary proposal, the total tiger reserve area will be 1058 sq km.
“The protected natural tiger corridor will increase from Ramgarh Vishdhari- RTR-Dholpur to Mukundra – the stretch would be around 4000sq km,” said the official.
