in Mysore and Chamarajanagar Districts (760 12' -760 46' E 110 37' 110 57' N) at an altitude

of 680 -1454 m.

 Bandipur is the oldest protected area in Karnataka. It is contiguous with Nagarahole on the

northwest, Wayanad reserve to the southwest and Mudumalai reserve to the south. The terrain is

undulating, and the reserve is bounded by the Moyar River to the south and Kabini Reservoir to

the northwest. Bandipur Reserve receives an annual rainfall of 625 1250 mm (Karanth &

Nichols, 2000). The forests are mostly the mixed dry deciduous series of Terminalia-

Anogeissus-Tectona type. In the northwestern parts where the rainfall is higher, moist deciduous

forests of the Tectona-Dillenia-Lagerstroemia series occur. The wildlife of Bandipur is similar to

that of Nagarahole; however, three additional large mammal species, blackbuck antelope

(Antelope cervicapra), striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), and the Indian wolf (Canis lupus), occur

occasionally on its eastern fringes. The bird life and herpetofauna are similar to Nagarahole.

 Methods

Field Methods

 I used commercially made TRAILMASTER TR-1550 camera traps (Goodson and

Associates, Lenexa, Kansas, USA) equipped with active infra-red tripping devices to obtain

photographs of animals. Two cameras, positioned opposite each other, were set along game trails

to simultaneously photograph both flanks of an animal that broke the infrared beam. The camera

traps were housed in locally manufactured theft-resistant metal trap shells and set about 300-350

cm from the side of a trail with the infrared beam set at a height of 45 cm. To eliminate mutual

flash interference, a small delay (approx 0.1 sec) was electronically introduced into the splitting

device connecting the two cameras. The sensitivity of the tripping device was set to photograph

large-bodied animals. The date and time a photograph is taken is imprinted on the film and

recorded on the receiver unit.