Lucknow: The recent movement of the tiger towards Lucknow has attracted the attention of locals and wildlife experts.
Dr YV Jhala, a renowned expert who led a long-term research project on Asiatic lions, attributes this migration to the tiger’s natural drive to disperse and claim new territories.
The Rehmankheda region, where the tiger currently roams, is not densely populated with humans but offers a forest-like environment with a significant presence of wildlife, including the campus of the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture (CISH).
Jhala thinks the tiger is probably a male, because males are known to travel greater distances than females in search of new areas.
“The Terai region in the north has an extremely high density of tigers,” Jhala explained.
“This forces young tigers to disperse as they seek to establish territories and find mates. Such dispersal often leads them south, to areas like Lucknow, where unclaimed land might be available.”
Jhala pointed out that tigers usually move to new areas due to the availability of food and the instinct to establish family units. The abundance of livestock in the region could also be a factor in the tiger’s presence.
Despite the concerns of local communities, Jhala reassures: tigers are naturally wary of humans. “Tigers avoid human contact and are more active at night when people are sleeping. They prefer to hunt nilgai, wild pigs or cattle and only attack humans in extremely rare circumstances,” he said .
Tiger movement reflects the natural ecological process of dispersal, where strong competition within dense tiger populations drives individuals to explore new territories. Wildlife experts believe this behavior is essential for genetic diversity and the establishment of sustainable populations in less populated habitats.