1. Monitoring Tiger and its Prey in the Wild:

a. Manas National Park

Aaranyak has made its first step in tiger research and monitoring at Manas in November 2005 in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department with active participation of the Field Director and his forest staff of the Manas National Park. Initially only five camera traps were put into service from 14^th November 2005 and the first tiger was trapped by one of the five cameras in the central range of Manas national park on 28^th December 2005. Currently about 12 cameras are used in Manas National Park and the number of cameras will be further increased to about 30 in coming months.

First Camera trapped tiger of Manas NP	Map of Manas National Park

b. Orang National Park

Aaranyak has mooted a joint collaboration with Assam Forest Department to use camera traps to monitor the tiger population dynamics in Orang and other national parks of Assam. The Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam has provided the nod to researchers of Aaranyak on 1^st December 2006 to put camera trapping devices in Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park and Nameri National Park in active participation of forest staff and forest officials. Initially in 2007, 12 cameras were put into the service in Orang National Park (78.80 km²) and four different tiger photographs in four different sites of Orang could be recorded using the camera traps. In April 2008 about 52 Camera trapping equipments were put at 26 sites by Aaranyak in Orang and till July 2008 over 20 tiger photographs were clicked of seven different tigers in Orang NP.  The Camera Trapping equipments were sponsored by the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation of UK while the operational costs is being sponsored by the SWBG of USA.

Camera trap being installed in Orang NP	Map of Orang National Park

c. Kaziranga National Park

In association with Kaziranga National Park Authorities of Assam Forest Department, Aaranyak has started tiger monitoring in Kaziranga National Park using camera traps in June 2008. The sign survey work has been completed in the national park in active cooperation and inputs from the forest officials of the national park. This is a joint project of Assam Forest Department and Aaranyak and the Kaziranga National Park authorities is eager to continue this joint monitoring of tiger with Aaranyak for next three years to generate the required information on tiger to initiate appropriate conservation measures to ensure long term conservation and protection of tiger in Kaziranga National Park. The camera trapping equipments in Kaziranga is being offered by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation of UK.

d. TIGER (Tiger Informatics through Geospatial and Ecological Research)

The Tiger Informatics through Geospatial and Ecological Research (TIGER) is a unique project developed by Aaranyak for long term monitoring of tigers (using photo trapping) in the Northeast India. more...

2. Communities, Wild Tiger and Their Habitats:

a. Planning for long term conservation:

The overall goal of the initiative is long term protection and survival of wild tigers and their habitat in northeast India, through necessary information gathering, assessment of the best strategies, and identification of the resources necessary to implement a comprehensive conservation and education programme designed to promote participation of local villagers, community organizations, NGOs and government officials.

The primary objective of this initiative is the involvement of stakeholder’s in formulating and implementing long term research, conservation and education programmes for conservation of wild tigers and their habitat in Assam, particularly in and around tiger habitats like Orang, Nameri, Manas and Kaziranga National Park.

Further, it will initiate and maintain a network of individuals, organizations and institutions interested in or contributing towards long term conservation of tiger and their habitat. In addition, a set of young biologists and conservation educators will be trained to implement long term research, conservation and education.

The first phase of this initiative will be implemented during 2007 in participation with different stakeholders, local partners, Assam Forest Department. The financial support for this phase has been provided by the USFWS and Aaranyak.

Field Training for Biologists of NE India	Map of Kaziranga NP

b. Conservation of Tiger in Nameri National Park:

Further in Nameri National Park cum Tiger Reserve another intiative has been conceived and planned to achieve the following two major goals - (1) enhancement of the existing knowledge base on the ecological status of the Nameri Tiger Reserve and suitability of its habitats vis-à-vis tigers as well as assessment of population and distribution patterns of tigers and their prey base with a view to developing sustainable strategies for long term survival of the tigers in the Reserve and (2) capacity building of the fringe villagers and local organizations to empower them to participate in and benefit from conservation efforts in the NTR.

In addition tiger monitoring in Nameri national park has also been initiated along with Assam Forest Department using camera traps. So far four tigers were trapped in the camera in Nameri National Park. The Nameri Tiger Conservation activities is being supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Rufford Small Grants Foundation.