Tiger in India travels 100km in 4 months to reach Bangladesh

A tiger radio-collared by the Indian foresters in the Sundarbans to study movement patterns near humans shocked officials by travelling to Bangladesh's part of Sunderbans, crossing 100km in over four months.

According to the Times of India, the foresters stated the journey the tiger crossed involved several large hurdles, including some rivers wider than a kilometer.

West Bengal Chief Wildlife Warden VK Yadav said the male tiger was radio-collared at the end of December last year and has mostly stayed in the Bangladesh Sundarbans.

“After initial movements for a few days on the Indian side, it started venturing into the Talpatti island in Bangladesh Sunderbans and crossed rivers such as Choto, Harikhali, Boro Harikhali and even the Raimangal,” he added.

According to Yadav, in the span of four months - from December 27 to May 11, when the radio collar stopped emitting signals - the tiger moved across three islands.

It mostly roamed the Bangladesh Sunderbans and did not go near human habitats.

The initial project’s purpose - a collaboration between World Wildlife Fund India’s Sundarban’s chapter - was to analyze negative relations between the tigers and villagers in the Indian Sundarbans. 

The tiger seems to have settled in the Talpatti island in Bangladesh based on its last known location.

Yadav believes that the tiger is fine as they did not receive any signals from the mortality sensor equipped on the collar. 

He hypothesizes that the collar probably slipped off the tiger’s neck or was damaged by the salinity of the water in the Sundarbans.

As the tiger was not caught on any camera traps, Yadav also added that the tiger might have come from the Bangladesh Sundarbans when they had captured it.

In January 2017, a female tiger was also radio-collared, and it, too, travelled a 100km distance to reach the Bay of Bengal’s tip. 

Five other tigers were also radio-collared, one of which also travelled into Bangladesh’s Talpatti island. The purpose of that project was to find the territory and home range of Sundarbans tigers.