Tadoba tigers gorge on flying squirrels, mongoose but sambar remains top pick
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Nagpur: From flying squirrels to wild mongoose, and from sloth bear to hare, tigers in Tadoba have gorged on a variety of prey, with sambar being their top pick. A study conducted by researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, and officials of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) revealed that the diet of tigers in the buffer zone consists of almost 23% domestic animals.
The study examined scat samples in TATR during three different seasons. Samples were collected during the monsoon (September-October 2022), winter (January-February 2023), and summer (May-June 2023) to study the diet patterns of tigers, leopards, and dhole (wild dogs).
For tigers, sambar was the most preferred prey, followed by wild boar and chital. For leopards, wild boar was the top choice, followed by sambar.
For wild dogs, sambar and chital were equally preferred, followed by wild hare.
The study, led by principal investigators from NCBS Uma Ramakrishnan and Abhinav Tyagi, found 16 species in the tiger diet in TATR from 143 samples. The study revealed that overall, 90% of the tiger's diet comprised a wild prey. When breaking it down by areas, wild prey constituted 99% of the tiger's diet is in the core and around 77% in the buffer.
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There were some minor shifts in diet patterns according to seasons found in the study. In the monsoon season, grey langur and jungle fowl were uniquely identified, whereas Indian peafowl and buffalo were observed in the winter diet of tigers. During the summer months, grey jungle fowl and grey mongoose appeared as distinct dietary components. However, gaur and Indian hare were notably absent from the summer scat samples.
For leopards, researchers recorded the highest dietary diversity in winter, identifying 21 different prey species in leopard scat samples. This was followed by the monsoon season, with 14 species, while the lowest diversity was observed in summer, with just 12 species detected. In winter, the leopard's diet included species such as civets, porcupine, grey junglefowl, chicken, and buffalo—species that were not found in samples from other seasons.
The monsoon diet featured unique bird species, including Indian peafowl, buttonquail, and pond heron, in addition to other prey commonly consumed throughout the year. A marked increase in the consumption of cattle, langur, and nilgai was observed during the summer, indicating a possible seasonal shift in prey availability or preference.
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