CHAPTER 12 Tiger range collapse and recovery at the base of the Himalayas John Seidensticker, Eric Dinerstein, Surendra P. Goyal, Bhim Gurung, Abishek Harihar, A.J.T. Johnsingh, Anil Manandhar, Charles W. McDougal, Bivash Pandav, Mahendra Shrestha, J.L. David Smith, Melvin Sunquist, and Eric Wikramanayake The tiger’s (Panthera tigris; Fig. 12.1) threatened status became widely appreciated 40 years ago. Since then, the human population has doubled in South and Southeast Asia (UN 2007), contributing to massive land-use change across most of the tiger’s once exten- sive range. All signs point to an impending range col- lapse: (1) tigers now occupy only 7% of their historic range (Sanderson et al. 2006); (2) tiger geographic range has declined by 40% in only 10 years (Dinerstein et al. 2007); and (3) tiger numbers in India are down to 1410 individuals >1.5 years of age ( Jhala et al. 2008), about half the number reported in the 2001–02 national estimate (Government of India 2005). More comprehensive surveys and studies across the shrink- ing range confirm that we are learning more about fewer tigers. The overall gloomy trend masks positive results in the recovery of tiger populations in a few selected landscapes. In this chapter, we report on one such effort centred in the Terai zone of southern Nepal and adjacent northern India (Fig. 12.2). These re- maining forests and tall-grass savannas skirt the southern foothills of the Himalayas and contain the highest densities of tigers on earth. After providing a brief primer on Terai ecology, we summarize advances in tiger biology—many originating from An adult tigress needs nearly 3000 kg of meat-on-the-hoof each year; feeding cubs requires an additional 50%. Tigers meet this demand by killing large, hoofed mammals—large deer, wild pigs, and wild cattle. # John Seidensticker.