Bhubaneswar: Tigress Zeenat, which escaped from Similipal National Park and roamed across Odisha, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, is now suspected to be pregnant, a senior forest department official said.
Captured in the Bankura district of West Bengal after a dramatic 23-day journey through three states, Zeenat was brought back to Similipal and kept in a soft enclosure from January 1, where she was observed for several weeks.
“She was found fit and healthy during her stay in the enclosure. April 17, Zeenat was released into the wild,” the official said.
According to the official, even during her enclosure stay, Zeenat had shown signs of estrus and responded to the presence of a wild melanistic male tiger, T12.
“Zeenat, even during her stay in a large enclosure, showed signs of estrus towards a wild male tiger (T12). Taking this opportunity, the tigress was released from the enclosure. Mating with T12 was recorded on thermal cameras installed at Jamuna meadow in the second week of May,” the official said.
Since her release, Zeenat has been moving inside the core area of STR and hunting natural prey such as cheetah, sambar, and wild boar.
“The tigress is being monitored 24 hours by tracking teams. Each team consists of 4 people. It is also being monitored using satellite-based GPS,” he said.
“She has stopped mating and has isolated herself, both strong indicators of pregnancy. Given that the gestation period in tigers ranges from 105 to 120 days, we expect Zeenat to give birth by August or early September,” the official said.
Zeenat was brought to Similipal from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra as part of a tiger supplementation project. She escaped from STR December 7 and roamed around three states before being captured in West Bengal’s Bankura after 23 days.
According to research by Dr Uma Ramakrishnan of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, in 2021, the population of tigers inside Similipal is genetically isolated, and inbreeding is taking place within the reserve.
To counter this trend, it was proposed to translocate tigers from the central Indian landscape to STR, the official added.
Although the tiger population in Similipal has been increasing at about 18 per cent annually since 2014, nearly 50 per cent of them display pseudo-melanistic coat colour, indicating high inbreeding, he said.
PTI
