India, March 18 -- There is a need to facilitate active 'gene flow' into the Rajasthan tiger population from Central Indian tiger landscapes

Ranthambore National Park's tiger population has seen dramatic fluctuation in the last half a century. Before Project Tiger came into force in 1973, Ranthambore was on the verge of losing all of its tigers due to a combination of hunting, poaching, and habitat destruction.

Since then, from just 14 tigers in the early 1970s, the count went up to 40 tigers in the 1980s, then fell again to 16 tigers in 2006. After that, the number has been going up consistently - climbing to about 40 again in 2016.

A study during this last recovery phase has found that on average, a tigress in Ranthambore can have mo...