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During a routine patrol in Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha Tiger Reserve in May, the state’s forest department team came across an adult tiger carcass. This was the third such case reported from the reserve in a span of two months. In a similar case reported the same month from Rajasthan’s Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, a patrol team had discovered body of a young tiger.
All the four tiger death cases had a common thread—the animals were sub-adults or adults and the deaths were most likely due to territorial infighting among the species, said officials.
Infighting mainly includes cases of adult male tigers competing for territory, tigresses defending cubs, or conflicts due to dispersal of sub-adults into areas already occupied by other tigers. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)—the country’s nodal statutory body for the conservation of the Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)—does not maintain a record of tiger deaths due to “infighting” or “territorial fight” on its dashboard, but it does list cases of tiger mortality, which have nearly doubled in the past one-and-a-half decade—from 88 in 2012 to 167 in 2025. If not due to poaching or disease, then the deaths are likely due to infighting, say officials.
An NTCA official says infighting, especially in a reserve’s core or central area, is a positive indicator since it shows that conservation is succeeding and the species is thriving to the extent that it is now fighting for territory. But infighting is also a negative indicator since it implies that the habitat is not being developed to keep pace with the ...
This article was originally published as part of the cover story Rethinking Conservation in the June 1-15, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth
