Her Many Royals…

Down by the river's bank, I strayed upon a hot spring day;
Beside the fading forest there, I saw them for the first time at play...

Playing among the yellow leaves, the leaves that were once green;
Flung upon the dried stream, what once had flowing been...

Oh! deeply did it touch my heart, to see these cubs at play;
It was the sweet unconscious sport of childhood, on that hot spring day..

- Raghavendran Kandaswami -

A family emerged one summer from the depths of the thick bamboo forest, dense dry banks and deep calm gorges of Waghdoh. One evening, waiting on the edge of the dry Andhari river bed, with an inkling of their presence in the area, we gave our silent attention to what the woods called out for - The dry rustling of leaves, the far belching sound of a sambar deer alarm, the glistening water-pool awaiting the forest's prized denizens were all there to be felt in its element.

Listening to the wind is an art that jungle-farers depend on - for we believe, the forest speaks to you through the wind. The soft cracking of a twig, a deep rustle in the bushes, the rumbling sound of a growl - all mean something in this world. And the place, at the time, had the unease of predator movement and quite distinctly, possibly many predators on the move.

We were first visited by a sub-adult from the previous litter of the shy and reticent Waghdoh female. We, at the time, actually mistook her to be the dominant female herself, due to what followed. The sub-adult female was followed by the dominant female - a rarity in tiger behaviour. Tigresses ensure their female cubs move on early, being territorial they know that as the girls grow up, they will eye the family jewel, territory. Hence, finding mother and daughter together after separation was quite a surprise. We surely, were not ready for what followed.

What followed immediately after the sub-adult went away into the forest, was a rendezvous with the female and her three-many royals. Looking not more than three months old, these young ones slowly glided down the banks of the water-hole; while the mother kept a watch on our peering eyes.

Although she is believed to be a shy and discreet queen, she surely seemed to have grown in confidence; given that she held sometime for the cubs in the water-hole despite our presence. This moment became the first and perhaps the only documentation of this family and particularly the first possible observation of the sub-adult spending time with her mother's new family, surely a new observation of tiger behaviour.

14 Apr 2017, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Chandrapur, Maharashtra