Newly translocated tiger released into open forest recently in Rajasthan adapts to the wild

A translocated male tiger in Rajasthan has hunted prey and carried out territorial markings indicating successful adaptation to the wild according to teams monitoring its progress since the big cat was released from its rewilding enclosure 18 days agoThe tiger designated as RVT07 has also had encounters with other tigers in the open forest of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve RVTR suggesting the possibility of mating in the future forest officials saidThe threeandahalfyearold tiger voluntarily left its fivehectare rewilding enclosure on June 24 2026 and entered the wild in the tiger reserve spanning over 1500 sq km across Bundi Kota and Bhilwara districtsDuring this period RVT07 exhibited entirely natural wild behaviour essential for survival officials saidMonitoring teams have documented the tiger making scratch marks on trees scentspraying and carrying out territorial markings all critical indicators of successful adaptation to a natural habitatSignificantly the tiger has also successfully hunted prey under natural conditions proving its independent hunting capabilitiesThe rewilding programme by authorities in Rajasthan began nearly two years ago in December 2024 Two orphaned cubs one male and one female were rescued following the early demise of their mother The cubs were then shifted to the Abheda Biological Park in Kota where they were carefully reared under human supervisionRecognising an opportunity to pioneer the states first rewilding process the forest department translocated the male cub to RVTR in Bundi while the female cub was transferred to the Mukundra Hills Tiger ReserveDeputy conservator of forest DCF RVTR Arunkumar D told PTI that for around 18 to 19 months the male tiger was kept inside a specialised 5hectare tiger enclosure located in the Jaitpur range of RVTRDuring this intensive period wildlife officials carefully managed the enclosure and curated a specific prey selection to prepare the animal for survival in the wild Throughout this phase the department maintained rigorous continuous monitoring to evaluate the tigers developmentThe newly released tiger now 35 years old is adjusting exceptionally well to its open environment despite being raised in a controlled setting he saidRVT07 is exhibiting authentic wild behaviour including creating territory markers such as scrape marks and scratch marks on trees he addedA roundtheclock 247 monitoring strategy utilises advanced technologies including radio telemetry and tracking collars to log each movement and ensure the tiger does not find itself in volatile territorial conflictsIn its first 18 days of stay in the wild RVT07 had multiple interactions with the resident dominant male RVT01 a cub RVT03 and the resident tigress RVT05Most recently last week RVT07 also had an interaction with RVT06 a female tiger which has recently transitioned from subadult to adult stage the forest official saidHowever the possibility of territorial conflict between RVT01 and RVT07 is a concern for the department and the forest teams are on high alert he added Acirc AcircWe are tracking its movements every second to ensure its safety and observe how it establishes its domain saidAcirc the forest officialA combination of GPSVHF radio collars radio telemetry camera traps and groundlevel field monitoring teams is being used to continuously document its movements he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever