Successful conservation translocation: Population dynamics of tiger recovery in Panna Tiger Reserve, Central India

Tiger (Panthera tigris) is an indicator species of ecological health and
conservation efforts. Due to excessive poaching, the tiger was locally
extinct in Panna Tiger Reserve, central India. Subsequent successful
reintroduction efforts have brought the species back from the verge of
extinction and have demonstrated the success of conservation
translocations in response to such critical situations. To understand the
demographic characteristics of the tigers reintroduced to Panna Tiger
Reserve, we used an ensemble approach of different sampling techniques and
direct observations from a long-term data-set spanning more than 10 years.
We evaluated different demographic indicators (population status, growth
rate, mean litter size, inter-birth interval, and survival probability).
Since reintroduction in 2009, 18 females have recruited 120 cubs from 45
litters. This led to 59 individuals in 2021 with a growth rate of ~26%.
The mean litter size was 2.66 (SE 0.1), and the inter-birth interval was
19.16 months (SE 0.5). The high survival rate of the reintroduced
population (0.82±0.2) helped to achieve the success of reintroduction. We
observed non-constant mortality trajectories for both sexes (higher
survival probabilities for females) with a moderately higher risk of death
in younger (<1 year) and older (>10 years) individuals. Our
results showed the effectiveness of translocation and conservation
efforts. The recovered population can be used as a founder for
augmentation in other recovering tiger populations. A long-term
tiger-centric management plan should be implemented in the area adjacent
to Panna Tiger Reserve to conserve and secure the habitat of the entire
landscape for the long-term survival of the reintroduced population in a
metapopulation framework.