Until 2006, India’s tiger census, conducted every four years, was more of a guesstimate based on a survey of paw prints-a lengthy and tedious exercise carried out by teams covering tens of thousands of square miles. The rising numbers are particularly encouraging to conservationists because tiger and leopard counts are now more credible. “I have tigers living around my house in central India,” says conservationist Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, who lives on the edge of Kanha Tiger Reserve in the state of Madhya Pradesh. One sign of this growing population is more sightings of big cats beyond the edges of reserves, which also has increased the potential for conflict with humans. The number of leopards has increased 62 percent since 2014, to nearly 13,000. The country now has almost 3,000 tigers in the wild, according to the latest official census, completed in 2018. The latest count of tigers at Nagarahole was 135, more than twice the number from a decade ago. The likelihood of seeing these big cats has gone up significantly during the past decade in Nagarahole and many other wildlife reserves across India, thanks to the success of conservation efforts. It’s the perfect milieu for tigers and leopards to coexist: tigers prowling in the undergrowth leopards lounging in trees, safe from tigers.

Beyond are meadows and streams and dense woods. At the southern end of this tourism zone lies the Kabini River, fringed with brush and tall grasses. Less than a 10th of the 327-square-mile park is open to visitors. Great, but did you see the black panther?” “Usually when you go on a safari, it’s like, Did you see a tiger?” says Krithi Karanth, a scientist at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore). That cat, often sighted, has become something of a star. Tourists flock to the reserve to catch a glimpse of these big cats, including an especially bold black panther-a leopard with a mutation that causes dark pigmentation. Nagarahole abounds with Bengal tigers and Indian leopards.

Nagarahole is the perfect place for tigers and leopards to coexist: tigers prowling in the undergrowth, leopards lounging in trees.Ĭalls like this are heard here with increasing frequency.

Panther prowling black mountain lion