Technical Report: TRCI: Aaranyak: 01/2009

Ecological Monitoring of Tigers

in Orang National Park
Assam, India

First Year (2008-09)

Project Investigator
M Firoz Ahmed

Report prepared by
M. Firoz Ahmed, Chatrapati Das, Dhritiman Das,
Pranjit Sarma, Jayanta Deka, Bhupendra Nath Talukdar,
Sukumar Momin and Bibhab Kumar Talukdar

July 2009

Supported by

Implemented by

50, Samanwoy Path, Survey,

Beltola; Guwahati-781028
Assam, India
www.aaranyak.org

Collaborating Agencies

Forest Dept. Assam

 Technical Report: TRCI: Aaranyak: 01/2009

Acknowledgements
We thank our donors to the Tiger Conservation and Research Initiative (TRCI):
SeaWorld Busch Gardens Conservation Fund for supporting this study.
US Fish and Wildlife Service’s RTC Fund for supporting Tiger conservation
planning in Assam.
David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for supporting Equipments.
Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation for support to tiger conservation in Assam.

We thank the following institutions for support and help throughout-

Department of Forest, Assam
The Orang National Park Authority
The Wildlife Institute of India
Brihattae Silbari Banyaprani Suraksha Sangtha

We thank the following officials for support and help throughout-

Shri M C Malakar, ex Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam
Shri S Chand, PCCF Wildlife, Assam
Shri D M Singh, CCF Wildlife
Shri B S Bonal, CCF Monitoring
Shri Gopal Chetry, Research Officer
Shri Qumar Qureshi, Professor, WII
Shri Y V Jhala, Professor, WII
Shri Bivash Pandav, Tiger Coordinator, WWF International.
Shri Abishek Hariha, Researcher, WII

We thank the following staff of Orang for support and help during field work-
P. Sharma, Khalil Ali, D. Sharma, M. C. Boro, Madhab Deka, Shamyal Dey, Gobinda
Mahato, Bolo Choudhuri, Taizuddin Ahmed, Rajak Ali, Rustam Ali, Mangal Boro,
Mahato, Kamaluddin Ali and Sashi all other staff who assisted directly or indirectly.

We thank Bapkon and Salam for their assistance in developing and maintaining our
community relationship around ONP.

We thank the following individual for support and help during field work-
Santanu Dey, Udayan Barthakur, Kamal Azad, Sunit Das, Ajit Boro, Jonson Das,
Anil Das, Biraj Saikia and all the colleagues at Aaranyak.

Suggested Citation:
Ahmed, M. F., C. Das, D. Das, P. Sarma, J. Deka, B. N. Talukdar, S. Momin and B. K.
Talukdar. 2009. Ecological Monitoring of Tigers in Orang National Park, Assam, India.
First Year (2008-09). Technical Report, Aaranyak, TRCI: 01/2009. pp 1-28.
 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Introduction
As the majestic tiger is no longer burning bright in the forest of the night, it has been a
grave concern of late all over the globe.
The Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN
Red List (IUCN, 2008) with a declining trend in population and a conservation
dependent species listed under Schedule-I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 in India
and Appendix-I of the CITES. This species is the most threatened large carnivore in
India (Das et al., 2007).
Tigers are under threat mainly due to habitat loss, depletion of prey population and
direct killing (Sanderson et al., 2006). Tiger population has dwindled drastically all over
and remaining species are now found in small and isolated groups in different
locations. The precarious conservation status of tiger has aroused global concern in
recent years. Tiger has been an important flagship species for biodiversity and wildlife
conservation in India over the past thirty years (Karanth and Nichols, 2000). But in
India the habitats of wild tigers have been reduced dramatically over the last century.
The alarm has been ringing since the Sariska tiger-zero incidences few years back that
took the nation by surprise.
Adorned by the foothills of the Himalayas and the mighty Brahmaputra River, Assam is
recognized as one of the significant and potential natural tiger habitat in the world.
Manas, Nameri, Kaziranga and Orang are few important tiger conservation sites in
Assam that offer promising prospects for tiger conservation. Though, floodplain
ecosystem like Kaziranga National Park in Assam is known to have highest density of
tigers in the world, the conservation status of tigers in the state is also not different from
that in rest of the India.
Incidents of killing of tigers using poisons in different parts of Assam recently well
reflected the gravity of Tiger-human conflict in Assam. Orang National Park is one of
sites where tigers were poisoned to death by miscreants. The situation calls urgent need
to obtain reliable estimates of tiger density in Orang National Park.
As per the last census, the Orang National Park harbored about 19 tiger (Data source:
Forest Dept., Assam; census year 2000, based on pug marks). The Orang National Park
is under considerable anthropogenic pressure due to its small size and geographical
location. It is though unlikely that as many tigers would live in Orang National Park
given its smaller area and limited prey biomass. As the existing tiger population is
facing crunch of prey animals in the Park, the big cats tend to stray to fringe areas to kill
cattle. The increase in incidents of human-tiger conflicts has led to most incidence of
retaliatory killing of tigers in and around the Park than anywhere else in the region.
Since the one-horned rhino is the major flagship conservation species in the national
park, there is, however, ample scope to augment management and conservation of tiger
population in the Park.
We carried out this study to compliment the effort of the park management in
augmenting tiger conservation during January-July 2008. The study found out seven
individual tigers that include two males and five females.

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Objective

1. Evaluate, monitor and document population of tiger and its prey

animals.
2. Assess and document growing tiger-human conflict; design and
implement action-oriented conflict reduction measures.
3. Consult, motivate and involve local communities towards long-term
conservation of tiger, its prey and habitats.
4. Develop capacity of local wildlife biologist and forest department staff
for evaluation and monitoring of tiger and its prey population.

Study area
Orang National Park (92˚16' to 92˚27' E, 26˚29' to 26˚40' N) is located in Darrang and
Sonitpur districts of Assam (Figure 1) and has an area of 78.80 sq. km (Talukdar and
Sarma, 2007). Based on the recent satellite imagery, the wildlife habitat types in Orang
can be categorized into the following habitat types-

Habitat types Area (km2)

Eastern Himalayan Moist Deciduous Forest 15.85
Eastern Seasonal Swamp Forest 3.28
Eastern Wet Alluvial Grassland 8.33
Savannah Grassland 18.17
Degraded Grassland 10.36
Water body 6.13
Moist Sandy area 2.66
Dry Sandy area 4.02
The Park experiences about 3000 mm of average annual rainfall with 66% to 95% of
humidity. It has loamy, sandy loamy and sandy types of soil, and situated at 40 to 70
meter above sea level (Talukdar and Sharma, 1995).
The mighty river Brahmaputra flows through southern boundary of the Park that is
crisscrossed by a network of channels connecting the mighty river, particularly during
the monsoon. Small tributaries Pachnoi River, Belsiri River and Dhansiri River flow
along the boundaries of the Park and ultimately meet the Brahmaputra River. There are
twelve wetlands, some of them are already heavily silted and 26 man made water
bodies in the Park (Talukdar and Sharma, 1995).
As per the estimation carried out in 2006, the park harbour about 68 Rhino (Rhinoceros
unicornis) along with sympatric species like – Hog Deer (Axis porcinus), Wild Pigs (Sus
scrofa), Fishing Cat (Felis viverrina), Jungle Cat (Felis chaus) and Leopard Cat
(Prionailurus bengalensis).

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Figure 1: Location map of the study area. (Prepared by: GIS Lab, Aaranyak)

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Methods
The following methods were used to achieve the Objective I (Evaluate, monitor and
document population of tiger and its prey animals) of the study.

Sign Survey
To find out suitable locations for camera traps that are frequented by tigers we carried
out sign survey in the park. Though elusive, tigers leave behind signs like pug marks,
scat, scrap marks and kills indicating their presence in the area. We recorded all these
signs during road transect across the park. Along with tigers, signs of prey and other
animals were also recorded during transects. All observations were recorded on
standard data sheet (Appendix I).

Camera trapping
Reliable estimation of tiger abundance is challenging because of their elusive behaviour
and naturally low density (Simcharoen et al., 2007). The project aims to identify the
individual tigers in the Orang National Park and identify all the individual tigers living
in the park using camera traps. Tigers are individually identifiable from their stripe
patterns (Schaller, 1967; McDougal, 1977; Karanth, 1995; Karanth and Nichols, 2000).
In the months of May and June we started camera-trapping of tigers in the Orang
National Park. The camera-trap sites were selected based on the result of the sign
survey, i.e. past and present signs of tiger.
At each camera trap location we used one unit of Trailmaster active infra red monitor
(model TM1550) with two film cameras (model TM35-1) [Goodson and Associates, Inc.,
Lenexa, Kansas, USA] facing each other. This is necessary because the stripe pattern of
both flanks of a tiger is not symmetrical (Karanth and Nichols, 2000). The camera
trapping was carried out continuously for 20 days.

Active Infrared Camera trap Unit Camera and the sensor unit mounted on wood, while
a hog deer being photographed.

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

The following methods were used to achieve the Objective II (Assess and document
growing tiger-human conflict, and design and implement action oriented conflict
reduction measures) of the study.
Past and recent records of Human-Tiger conflict (killing or injuring human and
livestock or straying out in the human habitation) were gathered from the forest
department. Further, local communities were consulted in gathering primary
information on conflict.
We used the following methods to achieve the Objective III (Consult, motivate and
involve local communities towards long-term conservation of tiger, its prey and
habitats).
To make the people aware about conservation needs and encourage their participation,
motivation meetings were organized with small groups of villagers. Local problems
related to wildlife and conservation was discussed in such meetings to instill confidence
among the community.
Awareness camps were organized to motivate common people and students about need
for wildlife conservation considering tiger and rhino as flagship species. Community
Tiger Conservation Unit (CTCU) was established with this objective was meant to
generate information on stray of tigers and other animals in the villages and resultant
conflict of straying were recorded by the CTCU. These small groups of villagers are
also likely to act as the bridge between the forest department and the communities.
We used the following methods to achieve the Objective IV (Develop capacity of local
wildlife biologists and forest department staff in evaluation and monitoring of tiger
and its prey population).

Capacity Building:
For the purpose of capacity building among local wildlife biologists and forest staff
experts were roped in to provide advanced training. Module included in house theory
classes and practical work on different techniques to study tigers and prey animals.
Biologists for the training were selected based on their interest and academic
background. Forest staffs were recommended by the Divisional Forest Officer of
respective Protected Areas.

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Results
Sign Survey
Sign survey was carried out on roads and trails in Orang National Park and 150 km of
road transect were carried out during November-December 2007. The total tiger signs
encountered were 108 and overall tiger sign encounter rate was calculated 7.2/10 km.
The result summary is given below:

Sl# Observations Numbers Encounter

Rate/10 km
1 Tiger scat 43 2.9
2 Tiger scrap 27 1.8
3 Tiger pug mark 38 2.5
4 Rhino sign 126 8.4
5 Hog deer signs 31 2.1
6 Elephant sign 35 2.3
7 Wild boar sign 13 0.9

Camera Trapping
We carried out camera trapping operation in the park from May 25 to June 14, 2008.
During the 20 days of camera trapping we used camera traps at 27 trap locations.
During the 540 trap-nights we obtained 20 photographs of seven individual tigers that
include two males, four females and one individual of unknown sex.
Other than tiger photographs we also have obtained large number of photographs of
rhino, hog deer, wild boar, porcupine, large Indian civet, small Indian civet, palm civet,
fishing cat, jungle cat and leopard cat, and even birds.
The individual tigers and their pictures are provided as Appendix II
Photographs of other animals are provided in Appendix III.

Prey abundances
The likely prey species of tiger in Orang National Park are Hog deer, Wild pig, and
Cattle. We ran altogether 10 Elephant Line Transect and 4 Line Transect on foot to
estimate the abundance of the prey species density. The transects covered all the
different habitats present in the area viz. Tall Grasslands, Short Grasslands and Mixed
Deciduous Forest . We walked on each transect between 0600 to 1000 hr and 1600 to
1900 hr.
Figure 1 shows the relative abundance of the common prey species of tiger encountered
during transects. Hog Deer and cattle are the most abundant prey species.

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Relative Abundance of Prey Species in

ONP
0.8

0.7
Relative Abundance(%) →

0.6

0.5 Rhino
Hog Deer
0.4
0.7 Cattle
0.3 Wild Boar
0.2
0.25
0.1
0.03 0.03
0
Prey Species →

Figure 1. Graph showing relative abundance of prey species in Orang National Park in 2008.

Assessing and documenting tiger-human conflict

Orang can be considered as hotbed for human-tiger conflict as the record proves here.
Since 1990, as many as 15 people were killed by tigers around the Orang National Park.
This number is considerably high as far as human casualty is concerned. Further, as
many as 33 incidences of livestock lifting cases are also recorded around the park since
1993.
Such high level of conflict has taken a heavy toll of tiger in the park as the local
community has become hostile towards the animal. As a result, 13 incidences of tiger
killings by villagers have been recorded in the park. This is a very high price the tigers
have paid for a small conservation area like Orang National Park.

Table 1: Number of people killed by Tiger

Year # of People killed
1990 3
1997 1
1999 1
2000 3
2001 1
2002 1
2004 1
2005 1
2006 3
Total 15
(Data source: Park Authority)

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Table 2: Tiger Death Records in Orang National Park.

Sl. Date Locality Cause Sex Remark

No.
1 19-07-1996 Gariapathar Bullet injury M 8-9 yrs
(outside ONP)
2 23-02-2000 Bejimari Poisoning F 15-16 yrs
3 25-03-2000 Bontapu Infighting F 10-12 yrs
4 12-12-2000 Gandarmari Natural F cub 7-8 months
5 23-01-2003 Rongagora Village Suspected F 8 years
Poisoning
6 28-11-2004 Solmari Natural F 6-7 yrs
7 26-01-2005 Nislamari Natural Cub --
8 15-11-2005 Bhutiali Poisoning M 5-6 yrs
9 14-11-2005 Pachnoi 2 Poisoning M 8-9 yrs
10 14-02-2006 Gaimari Infighting M 3 yrs
11 16-02-2006 Kachomari Injury on head F 7-8 yrs
12 06-11-2006 Jahoni (Kathgora) Poisoning Cub 2-3 months
13 07-11-2006 Jahoni (Kathgora) Poisoning Cub 2-3 months
14 13-11-2006 Jahoni (Kathgora) Poisoning Cub 2-3 months
15 13-11-2006 Jahoni (Kathgora) Poisoning F 10-12 yrs
16 02-10-2007 Old Orang Suspected M 2 ½ - 3 yrs
Poisoning
17 04-10-2007 Old Orang Suspected Unkn 2 ½ - 3 yrs
Poisoning own
18 27-03-2008 Hazarbigha Suspected Head F 5-6 yrs
Injury
(Data source: Park Authority)

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Community based Human-Tiger Conflict Evaluation

Five fringe villages were surveyed involving the CTCUs (Community Tiger
Conservation Units) to found out the past cases of tiger depredation in the area.
Preliminary result of the survey is shown in the chart below while we analyze the load
of data.

Cattle lifting cases of 2 No. Cattle lifting cases of Nalbari

Kacharivetitoop
2.5
6
2

Number of cases
Number of cases

5
4 1.5

3 1
2
0.5
1
0 0
2000' 2001' 2002' 2003' 2004' 2005' 2006' 2007' 2000' 2001' 2002' 2003' 2004' 2005' 2006' 2007'
Years Years

Cattle lifting cases of Ranga Gara Cattle lifting cases of 1 No.

Kacharivetitoop
6

5 3.5
Number of cases

3
Number of cases

4
2.5
3 2
1.5
2
1
1
0.5
0 0
2000' 2001' 2002' 2003' 2004' 2005' 2006' 2007' 2000' 2001' 2002' 2003' 2004' 2005' 2006' 2007'
Years Years

Cattle lifting cases of Bechimari

7
6
Number of cases

5
4
3
2
1
0
2000' 2001' 2002' 2003' 2004' 2005' 2006' 2007'
Years

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Consultation, motivation and awareness

We organized five small group consultations with the local villagers at Silbori,
Bechimari Jahoni Island, Belsiri, Rongagora and Kacharivetitoop. Several issues
regarding human-tiger and human-wildlife conflict, resource sharing and conservation
were discussed during such meeting. In almost all the meetings resentment of the
community towards the park management was obvious particularly on resource
natural sharing, like thatch collection and grazing of cattle.

Mass education programme

As part of the awareness programme we also organized a 150 km Cycle Rally from
Kaziranga National Park to Orang National Park. During the cycle rally from 15-17
November 2007 different educational activities were carried out on the way and around
Orang National Park.
The educational activities carried out included street play, interaction, and Audio-visual
documentary on wildlife, chorus on nature, mime and recitation.
The cycle rally was organized in collaboration with 18 different organizations and
institutions and with support from the local administration.

Cycle Rally from Kaziranga to Orang was flagged off by Shri S N Buhragohai, the Director
Kaziranga NP.

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Training and Capacity Building

Monitoring Tigers and Prey Animals: Advanced Training for Biologists and Managers.
Duration: 04-07 November 2007
Venue: Orang National Park, Assam, India
The training was organized to impart advanced training on techniques to monitor tigers
and prey animals. As many as 13 participants including five biologists and seven forest
officials participated in the training.
Dr. Bivash Pandav of WWF International and Mr. Abishek Harihar of Wildlife Institute
of India conducted the programme as experts.
The participants were trained in the following topics along with field practice.

• General Introduction: Tiger, its ecology and current status

• Monitoring Tigers and Prey Animals: Concepts of Population Monitoring
• Field Techniques: Theory, Sign Survey for Tiger and Prey Animals
• Distance Sampling and Line Transect Survey
• Capture-recapture Sampling and Camera Trap Survey
• Survey Design
• Practical Exercise: Sign Survey and Camera Trapping
• Other techniques of studying prey animals
• Practical Exercise: Line Transect and Sign Survey
• Camera Trap data collection
• Exercise: Data Analysis

Mr. Abishek Harihar from Wildlife Institute of India demonstrates use of

Camera Traps to the trainees.

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Participatory Training
Master’s student Kamal Azad from North Orissa University participated in the camera
trapping operation for two weeks and gained enough experience to choose tiger biology
study as his master dissertation topic. Kamal shall be carrying out his field work from
January 2009 and the project shall be assisting him in his upcoming study.
Further, Sunit Kumar Das, under graduate student from Mangaldoi College, Assam
participated in the camera trapping operation for a week as volunteer. Inspired by the
experience, Sunit has decided to pursue his Master in Wildlife Biology and currently
studying in the North Orissa University for his Master degree in Wildlife Science.

Conclusion
1. This is the only second extensive camera trapping of tigers in Assam since the
study of tiger density carried out in Kaziranga National Park during 1996
(Karanth and Nichols, 2000).
2. The study reveals presence of seven individual tigers including two males and
five females in Orang National Park as compared to the earlier estimation made
by the forest department using pugmark method (which is known to
overestimate the tiger numbers in India).
3. As the camera trapping study was carried out for the first time and for 20 days, it
is likely that we might have missed few tigers in the park.
4. Continuous monitoring for three to five years would give a clear understanding
on the population dynamics and ecology of the tigers and prey animals in the
park.
5. Estimating prey density in alluvial tall grassland has been a challenge for the
team as visibility was very low, even from atop the elephant back. The team is in
discussion with experts to device a suitable methodology to suit the study
environment.
6. The human-tiger conflict in the park is very high considering the loss of tigers in
retaliatory killing by the villagers. Lack of proper mechanism to compensate
villagers affected due to conflict with the tiger has aggravated the situation. The
study team has put up an effort to urgently introduce a compensation package
for the affected villagers.
7. For sensitizing villagers in the need of the hour for long term conservation of the
Orang National Park and its wildlife, the awareness campaign initiated by this
project should be taken forward to a logical conclusion so that villagers and
other stakeholders from around the park participate in holistic conservation of
the park.
8. Further, training to forest staff and local biologists will ensure availability of
much required manpower to conduct thorough study and estimate the tiger
population in the region in the near future.
9. Involvement of villagers in conservation initiatives is the key to long term
conservation of the park. Through this programme, we tried to establish
community tiger conservation units (CTCU) and involve them in day-to-day
monitoring of human-animal conflict. The data generated by three CTCUs are

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very large and useful and are being analyzed for proper evaluation. Similar
involvement will ensure ownership among the villagers and assist protection
and conservation of the park.
10. The tiger population of the Orang National Park seems to be a healthy breeding
population. However, lack of proper connectivity of the park to nearby protected
area like the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve may be limiting long term conservation of
tigers in the park. However, river islands in the Brahmaputra River would act as
stepping stones for the tigers in the park to move across tiger habitats in the
floodplains allowing an opportunity for genetic exchange with other source
population like Kaziranga National Park. Aaranyak, therefore, is evaluating the
status of such river islands and evaluate their utility value for movement of
tigers out of their small habitat in Orang National Park and mingle with the
Kaziranga National Park population across the river Brahmaputra.

Lessons learned
This was the first ever extensive camera trapping operation carried out by the team
which has learned a lot from the experience.
1. The timing of the camera trapping was little late and went into the early
monsoon period. This caused frequent malfunction in the camera systems and
we had to give extra time to monitor the units every day.
2. We were not well equipped to save the cameras from the elephants and rhino
and lost three costly cameras as they were damaged by elephants. We have now
built an elephant proof steel caging to protect the system.
3. Insects were menace to our underground cables and as many as 40 costly cables
were destroyed by underground tiny devils (ants). We have now decided to lay
the cables inside insect proof piping to save thousand of dollars.
4. Carrying out line transects in tall grassland was not suitable for spotting and
counting animals even from elephant back. This has prompted us to look for
alternative methodology or improvise on the existing one.
5. Working with the communities is a difficult task. The team has learned quite a
bit in handling community conservation issues and hopes to improve upon in
upcoming session.

What next?
We shall continue the study of population of tigers and their prey animals. We would
strive for raising awareness level on conservation need among the community besides
trying to find human-tiger conflict resolution. However, to continue this study we
would require continued support from the State Forest Department and our donors. We
expect continuous support from the SeaWorld Busch Garden Conservation Fund and
other donors during the next three to five years that will be required to better
understand tiger ecology in the Orang National Park. The support will also help in
minimizing human-tiger conflict and improve awareness among the villagers to ensure
better conservation of wildlife and the park.

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References
Chambers, R. 1994. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): Analysis of Experience. World
Development 22 (9), 1253–1268.
Das, J.P., N.K. Nath, N. Brahma, S. Dey, B.P. Lahkar, P. Devi, R. Barman and B.K.
Talukdar. 2007. Conservation and Monitoring of Tiger Population in Manas
National Park through Field Techniques and Capacity Building of Local
Stakeholder. Conservation Report Series 2007. Aaranyak, pp 33.
IUCN. 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland
[http://www.redlist.org, accessed 24 September. 2008].
Karanth K. U. 1995. Estimating tiger populations from camera-trap data using capture-
recapture models. Biological Conservation 71: 333-338.
Karanth K. U. and J. D. Nichols. 2000. Ecological Status and Conservation of Tigers in
India. Final Technical Report to the Division of International Conservation, US Fish
and Wildlife Service, Washington DC and Wildlife Conservation Society, New York.
Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, India.
Karanth K. U. and J. D. Nichols. 2000. Ecological Status and Conservation of Tigers in
India. Final Technical Report to the Division of International Conservation, US Fish
and Wildlife Service, Washington DC and Wildlife Conservation Society, New York,
Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, India.
McDougal, C. 1977. The Face of the Tiger. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
Sanderson, E., J. Forrest, C. Loucks, J. Ginsberg, E. Dinerstein, J. Seidensticker, P.
Leimgruber, M. Songer, A. Heydlauff, T. O’Brien, G. Bryia, S. Klenzendorf and E.
Wikramanayake. 2006. Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of Wild
Tigers: 2005-2015. The Technical Assessment. WCS, WWF, Smithsonian and NFWF-
STF, New York – Washington D.C.
Schaller, G. B. 1967. The deer and the tiger. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
Illinois, USA.
Simcharoen, S., A. Pattanavibool, K. U. Karanth, J. D. Nichols and N. S. Kumar. 2007.
How many tigers Panthera tigris are there in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary,
Thailand? An estimate using photographic capture-recapture sampling. Oryx, 41(4):
1-7.
Talukdar, B. N. and P. Sharma. 1995. Checklist of the birds of Orang Wildlife Sanctuary.
2nd edition. 34 pp.
Talukdar. 2007. Conservation and Monitoring of Tiger population in Manas National
Park through field techniques and capacity building of local stakeholders.
Conservation Report Series 2007. Final Project Report under Rufford Small Grant
Programme. Published by Aaranyak. 33 pp.

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Map of Orang National Park showing camera trap locations (grid size 2 x 2 km).

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Map of Orang National Park showing vegetation cover and road network.

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Appendix I
Datasheet: Tiger/Prey sign Survey

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Appendix II
Tigers of Orang National Park

OT-01: Male, caught on camera on 11 June 2008 at Singbheti area.

OT-02: Male, caught on camera on 27 May 2008 at Rahmanpur Road.

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OT-03: Female, caught on camera on 9 June 2008 at Magurmari Road.

OT-04: Female, caught on camera on 6 June 2008 at Roumari Beel.

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OT-05: Female, caught on camera on 14 June 2008 at Singbheti.

OT-06: Female, caught on camera on 14 June 2008 at Kasomari Camp area.

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OT-07: Unknown sex; caught on camera on 8 June 2008 at Jahoni River Island.

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Appendix III
Other Animals of Orang National Park caught in camera traps.

Rhino with her calf below

Rhino Calf

Wild tusker

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Wild Buffalo

Wild Boar

Hog Deer

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Porcupine

Crow pheasant

Owls

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Domestic Buffalo

Cattle

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Other Photographs Gallery

Forest Staff monitoring camera traps

Acting tiger! Testing a camera trap

Project Investigator monitoring a camera trap

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Intern, Kamal Azad learning camera trapping

Team members installing a camera trap

Acting tiger! Project Officer testing a camera trap

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 Technical Report: Aaranyak: TRCI: 01/2009

Loss of Camera!!

Caught in camera! Wild tusker destroying a camera

Caught in camera! Rhino destroying a camera

Camera damaged by elephant

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