Research overview: tiger natal dispersal distances in India

This overview synthesizes telemetry and genetic studies of how young tigers leave their natal territories to establish their own ranges across India's reserve network. Subadult tigers, especially males, disperse tens of kilometers through often human-dominated and agricultural matrix between protected areas, navigating roads, settlements, and unsuitable habitat at considerable risk. The overview discusses how GPS collars and camera-trap recaptures have measured dispersal distances, identified the corridors tigers actually use, and revealed the high mortality dispersers face. These movements are critical for gene flow among fragmented populations and for recolonizing vacant reserves. Understanding tiger dispersal underpins corridor protection, conflict mitigation, and metapopulation management in one of the world's most densely human-populated landscapes still holding big cats.