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A Modelled Belt of Suitable Tiger Habitat Stretched Between Ratapani, Singhori and Kheoni

Subadult female Bengal tiger drinking in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India
Conservation · Habitat protection

A modelled belt of suitable Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) habitat stretched between Ratapani Tiger Reserve, Singhori Wildlife Sanctuary and Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, India. Areas with high and medium suitability formed a largely continuous pattern through the forested landscape, while agriculture, quarrying, settlements and fragmented forest were generally less suitable. The ensemble model identified about 2,006 km² as suitable tiger habitat across the study landscape.

The researchers based the analysis on tiger signs recorded during intensive field surveys in 2018–2019. They combined these records with spatial data on vegetation, terrain, climate, water, prey and human disturbance, then compared five habitat-modelling approaches and combined their predictions.

Prey availability, permanent water and human disturbance were among the strongest influences on the modelled pattern. Habitat suitability for sambar deer and nilgai was especially important among the prey-related variables. Areas closer to reliable water tended to be more suitable, while higher human population and village density were repeatedly linked to lower suitability.

High-suitability areas were concentrated in forest interiors. Medium-suitability forest patches occurred between and around the larger blocks, and the authors interpret these as potential stepping stones that could help maintain permeability across the human-modified landscape.

The study maps habitat suitability rather than directly tracking tiger movements. The inferred links should therefore be read as places where landscape conditions may support movement, not as proof that every modelled connection is currently used as a corridor.

Based on the spatial pattern, the authors argue that conservation planning should treat Ratapani, Singhori and Kheoni as parts of a wider tiger landscape. They highlight maintaining forest connections, restoring degraded patches and reducing disturbance where agriculture, quarrying, settlements or infrastructure break up the forest matrix.

Sources and image credit

  1. Verma, M. M., & Nag, S. (2026). Landscape-scale identification of tiger habitat priorities in Central India using ensemble species distribution modelling.Primary open-access study published 27 July 2026. Tiger signs recorded in 2018–2019 were combined with ecological, prey, water and human-pressure variables in five habitat models. The models converged on a largely continuous belt of high and medium suitability between Ratapani, Singhori and Kheoni, with prey, perennial water and human disturbance among the strongest drivers.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee / Wikimedia Commons — subadult female Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India, photographed 30 May 2026. Representative image from Madhya Pradesh; not a tiger or site from the Ratapani–Singhori–Kheoni study. Cropped vertically for News Desk framing. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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