Survival strategy–Temporal segregation of different age and sex classes of a Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris Linnaeus) population in a Tropical Deciduous Forest of Central India

Temporal activity patterns of different age and sex classes of a Bengal tiger population were studied at Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh between May 2006 and July 2009 using systematic camera traps. Based on the exact time of photo-capture tigers, information on temporal activity patterns of following age and sex categories of individual tiger: such as Resident male (n= 55 photographs), female with cubs or breeding female (n= 70 photographs), female without cubs or non-breeding female (n= 72 photographs) and transient male (n= 42 photographs), were recorded. It was observed that breeding females significantly utilized different activity period with transient male (P< 0.001) and female without cubs (P< 0.001) whereas overall activity period between breeding female and resident male did not differ significantly (P> 0.6) during the study period. The observed temporal segregation may provide valuable information on cub survival strategies adopted by breeding tigress, finally, aiming at their reproductive success in a tropical deciduous forest. This paper will act as a catalyst, advancing the adoption of camera trap based reproductive behavioral study of any illusive large carnivore at in situ condition.