Tigers in southern Nepal appear to be changing their habits so
they can operate under cover of darkness and avoid coming into
contact with humans, scientists said on Friday. A study of the
big cats in Chitwan National Park found that forest paths used
by locals during the day were taken over by Bengal tigers at
night. Two years of research, led by an international team and
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
journal, concluded that “tigers can adapt and thrive in a human-
dominated landscape”. “It opens up new questions about the
capacity for tigers to adapt to people”, said Neil Carter of
Michigan State University. “Their shift to more nocturnal
activity suggests tigers can co-exist with human presence… under
certain conditions, like high prey abundance and low poaching.”
Chitwan, a popular tourist destination that is home to around
125 adult tigers, is surrounded by a forested buffer zone
inhabited by 560,000 people, most of whom are farmers.
Occasionally the tigers kill local li