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 wa..., Data Collection
Radio telemetry
A total of 25 tigers (7 males and 18 females; Table S1) were radio-collared between March 2009 and June 2020 as a part of the long-term project entitled “Tiger Reintroduction and Recovery Programme in Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.” Animals were captured and collared under the permission of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD Letter No./Exp./2009/1205 dated 31/8/09) following the capture rule and regulation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 Section 11 (1A). Animals were tracked and immobilized, using a ‘Hellabrunn mixture’ (125 mg xylazine + 100 mg ketamine/ml) (Hafner et al., 1989) injected through a Tele-inject projector (Model 4V.31). The target individuals were chemically immobilized. The entire process took place under the supervision of a veterinarian. Tigers were fitted with Very High Frequency transmitters (15 individuals; Telonics® Inc) and VHF/ GPS/ UHF collars (10 individuals; African Wildlife Tracking® Inc and Vetronic Aerospac..., , Successful conservation translocation: population dynamics of tiger recovery in Panna Tiger Reserve, Central India

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18qz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18qz)

Description of the data and file structure

Details of individual animals, including birth year, death year, capture matrix, sex, and monitoring strategy. This dataset is a part of the long-term project entitled “Tiger Reintroduction and Recovery Programme in Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.” We have submitted the raw data (tiger demography.csv).

The column

Animal ID: Represents the individuals

Birth: Year of birth of the animal

Death: Year of death of the animal (here, 0 represents that the animal is still alive)

2009-2021: Representing the year-wise study period. (Here, 0 represents that individual was undetected, while, 1 represents detection of the individual)

Sex: Sex of the individual; M = Male, F = Female

Data collection: Individual's data was collected through both invasi...