CENSUSING TIGERS: THE KEY ROLE OF PUGMARKS FOR INDIVIDUAL IDENTIFICATION & HENCE ACCURATE CENSUSING

摘要

In 1934 J.S.W. Nicholson of the Forest Service used aspects of the shikaris' skill to count tigers in Palamau Forest Division (Bihar). Much later, Saroj Raj Choudhury, an outstanding forest officer of the Odisha cadre and our colleague, wrote about the use of pugmarks before the commencement of Project Tiger (Choudhury, 1970a & b). Having refined the methodology in the 1960s. H.S. Panwar, an IFS Officer who was Field Director of Kahna Tiger Reserve (in Madhya Pradesh) for 10 years, Director of Project Tiger for 4 years and first Director of the Wildlife Institute of India, made a most valuable contribution (1979). H.S. Panwar wrote:"The pugmarks of one individual tiger are distinguishable from those of the other. Even where the broad layout of different pugmarks appear similar, distinctions can be inferred through a minute examination."