Seshachalam likely to be new home for Nallamala tigers
Forest department tracked the movement of two tigers through the corridor between the Nallamala and Seshachalam
Dornala: The narrow stretch of forest connecting Nallamala forest and Seshachalam forest is registering movement of tigers for a few weeks and the movement of transit tigers is expected to be an exploration of a new home in Seshachalam forest by the tigers in Nallamala forest as their number is increasing, explain forest officials.
The Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, which is in 3,727 square kilometres covering the erstwhile Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts in Andhra Pradesh, and Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts in Telangana is home to Bengal Tiger.
Apart from that, the forest hosts a variety of fauna including Leopard, Sloth Bear, Wild Dog, Pangolin, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Mouse Deer, Black Buck, Chinkara, Chowsinga, Porcupine, Mugger Crocodile, Python, Cobra and Peafowl. Forest officials are making sure that water is available to animals by constructing saucer pits, and check dams. Their conservation efforts for almost two decades have doubled the number of tigers, from 45 in 2010 to 80 plus in 2024.
The Forest Range Officer at Dornala, Epuri Visweswara Rao explained that tigers are basically territorial animals, and mark their area of dominance where they have water and prey. He said that sometimes, tigers face conflict from other tigers, or may want to explore a new place for comfort stay.
The DFO said that a forest corridor is nothing but a natural and narrow patch of forest connecting two wide forests. He said that this corridor connects Nallamala through Racherla, Giddalur, Porumamilla, Badvel, Siddavatam, Vontimitta, Rajampet, Railway Koduru, and other places nearby forest, connecting the Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve Forest with Sri Venkateswara National Park. Lankamalla Reserved Forest, Sri Penusila Narasimha Wildlife Sanctuary also connects the forest corridor. Tigers in the Nallamala forest might be exploring a new home for them. Forest department had tracked the movement of two tigers through thecorridor between the Nallamala and Seshachalam. He said there were no tigers in Seshachalam as of now, and these transit tigers may also come back to Nallamala as they know the water sources and have ample prey forhunting.