Part 2 of 2

Panthera tigris tigris

ENDANGERED

Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra

The jungles of central India, dating back millions of years, are home to some of the most varied wildlife in India. From bears to boars, monkeys to mongoose, from the forest floor to the tree tops, from the smallest species to the largest, this is Kipling’s Jungle Book made flesh and blood and home to arguably the earth’s most beautiful killer - the Bengal Tiger. A solitary hunter that combines stealth and power to kill with a swipe of its paw or one bite of its powerful jaws and NOTHING quite prepares you for a tryst with a bengal tiger in the wild - neither Jim Corbett’s lilting colonial prose nor Disney’s brilliant films - especially more so when you espy cubs peering out from the dense foliage nearby. This was one such serendipitous instance where we found the tigress Archi with her three beautiful 7/8 month old cubs not once, not twice but over three consecutive days.

More often than not, spotting a tiger, leave alone a tiger with cubs, is an exciting game of hide-and-seek with small clues sprinkled randomly all over the jungle – a strangely silent and deserted waterhole on a warm evening, a skittish sambar stomping his hoof for no obvious reason, a pug-mark across a recent jeep track, a nervous langur peering at a lantana bush – all pushing the adrenaline as you await a climactic encounter with the apex predator of the jungle. It does not matter where and how it happens, the moment is always mesmeric. Something beautiful and primal stirs within our dulled urban souls and it is virtually impossible to be unmoved by the up, close and very personal experience of meeting almost 220 kilos of majesty and raw muscle.

Tiger authority extraordinaire Valmik Thapar says tigers have always "captured the human imagination" and "from the beginning of civilisation, they [tigers] have been feared, worshipped, admired, hunted, studied, photographed, written about, immortalised in art and poetry...” As William Blake – who at best probably just managed to spot a gambolling tiger cub at London Zoo – gushed in his 1794 illustrated poem contemplating and immortalising this beast, "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" 

This was the stage set for us amidst the beautiful gold and green hills of the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, home to a rich menagerie of denizens that make up the tiger’s world and, often, its unwitting buffet. Here, in one of the dry nullahs, we ran into Archi, queen of all we could see, and her three 7 month old cubs - a male & two females. Archie was born in July 2016 in a litter of three when the Talab Wali female mated with the dominant Star male. She is named, I am told, after the lead protagonist in a popular Marathi film - Sairat - released in 2016. There is also a beautiful and bold ‘A’ on her right cheek. I suppose this coincidence has given her the name. So read on and indulge in the experience of watching a tigress with her cubs.

Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary

The central Indian landscape is, perhaps, the most biologically diverse part of the Indian subcontinent because it is the gateway connecting the genetically diverse tigers of the colder North with those of the tropical South. Though all Indian Tigers are classified under the same taxonomy, they exhibit different traits including physicality, when compared across the vast expanse of the subcontinent. For example, broadly speaking, as per Bergmann’s rule, the larger individuals of the species are generally found in the colder climate (or towards the poles) and the smaller individuals found in the warmer climate (towards the equator).

This landscape of central India, with its multitude of fertile rivers, makes the land highly arable and very attractive to humans. The human population in the region has exploded, effectively reducing the tiger-scapes to mere patches with almost no connectivity. The corridors that used to be vast swathes of inviolate spaces are now human dominated landscapes.

One such fragment is the isolated Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, a national park in the Yavatmal area along the state borders of Telangana and Maharashtra. It lies in the Pandarkawada district of Yavatmal and stretches over an area of 148.63 km² sprawling among the Patanbori and Parwa ranges of the Pandarkawad Forest Division. The sanctuary is a compact patch of dense forest cover with hilly undulating territory and various types of vegetation that varies with the altitude. It derives its name from the "‘Goddess Tipai” who is enshrined in a tiny temple on the hillside near the Tipeshwar Village within the sanctuary area just about 2kms from the Tipeshwar Forest Guest House.

Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary has emerged as a successful tiger-cradle in the Eastern Vidarbha Landscape (one of the prominent Tiger Conservation Landscapes of India) and has demonstrated the potential to populate nearby tiger reserves like the Kawal Sanctuary in Telangana. However, like almost all other tiger reserves in India, Tipeshwar too, is plagued by the usual suspects – it is surrounded by densely populated and human dominated landscape with all the associated baggage that unhindered human activity brings - poaching, cattle grazing, trespassing etc., development – illegal mining, highway expansion etc., forest and prey-base degradation, human-tiger conflict etc. There are also a number of villages within the sanctuary area and their inhabitants are dependent on the forest for their livelihood.

But that said Tipeshwar has gone from being a sink, collecting surplus tigers from the larger sanctuaries, to becoming a source, generating increasing tiger numbers with village relocation playing a particularly important part. The three villages in the sanctuary - Tipeshwar, Pitapingri and Maregaon - mostly dominated by the Kolam tribe were relocated, I think, in 2014-15.

The inviolate spaces created for the tigers through this village relocation exercise and additional measures such as the introduction of prey like sambar has helped the increase in the population of tigers. Especially strong, healthy cubs like these three below.

The Sanctuary is a compact patch of dense forest cover. The major forest type here is the ‘Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest’ and Teak forms up to 60% of the forest composition. And as is the norm with central Indian forests one can also see the Achar (Cordia myxa), the Mahua (Madhuca longifolia), the Lendia (Lagerstroemia parviflora), Bhirra Tiwas (Ougeinia oojeinense) and several other types. Also, approximately 15% of this park consists of the Red Sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus), the costliest of all the sandalwoods in India.

There is also a wide variety of herbs and grasses including Kunda, Kadmod, Guhar, Wide, Gokru, etc. Over 250 species of Bamboo serve to make the sanctuary a repository of economical, medicinal, aromatic, and ornamental plant varieties. Bamboo groves dominate the undergrowth within the Teak dominated areas.

This is not a reserve where one will say I saw a bengal tiger, here one will say I saw Talab Wali, I saw the dominant Star Male, I saw the gorgeous “4” Mark, the shy yet fearsome Zanjeer who is known to charge if disturbed. And here is also where one will say I saw beautiful Archi with her cubs.

Archi & her cubs

By now we know well that a single matriarch, still believed to be alive, is said to have given birth to the Pilkhan and the Talab Wali (colloquial for “tigress of the lake”) tigresses. These two tigresses and their offspring have spawned and increased the tiger numbers in the sanctuary to 25 within a span of 6 years. This number, however, does not take into account the offspring from the matriarch as not much is known about her.

The Pilkhan female and Talab Wali female are the oldest tigers (apart from the matriarch), and both have been courted by the dominant Star male, the indomitable king of Tipeshwar who, I think, is 9 years old and has been king here awhile. In addition to being the dominant tiger, he has proved to be a doting father as well with no recorded scuffles with any of the other males who, incidentally, are his own offspring.

Our interest today, the tigress Archi, was born in July 2016 in a litter of three when the Talab Wali female mated with the dominant Star male.

We had gone in from the Mathani gate towards Tipeshwar when about a kilometer from the Tipeshwar Road towards Thanegaon we had to cross a dry nullah. This is where we first saw Archi with her three cubs relaxing in the evening light. We stopped and watched them relax and frolic till dark. We saw Archi alone the next day in the morning at the waterhole a little further up from the river bed as she chased off some wild dogs.

Archi did not return to the waterhole for the remainder of the time we stayed there but I am told she came again for a drink much later before disappearing into the bushes at which time we were still with her cubs. Anyway, after the chase, and after waiting a fair amount of time during which we saw the wild dogs return to the waterhole, we made our way a few hundred meters back to the nullah where her cubs were and were treated to another spectacle with her male cub. Through the evening each cub individually gave opportunities to photograph them as they moved around in the vicinity.

The video and the photo gallery are from these multiple instances where we saw the tigress and her cubs.

I am thankful to my friends, Samar, Tirtho, Saugat & Sarvesh, who know the best drivers & trackers. I am also grateful to the Forest Department and the entire team led by RFO Vivek Yewatkar for their help and insights. The RFO is seen here in the center with his entire team.

‡‡‡‡‡

‡‡‡‡‡

And now onto the video and photo gallery of this beautiful tigress and her cubs. The video is in three parts:

Part 1: The entire family relaxing in the tall grass and later as the tigress dozed.

Part 2: Starting from when the tigress came to the waterhole to drink and then the chase that you have already seen in my last blog.

Part 3: A sequence of her male cub, I think, as he sat on a little mound and surveyed all that was before him. Towards the end you can see him perk up as he spotted one of the female cubs approach across the nullah.

‡‡‡‡‡

Some facts about tigers and their cubs

The gestation period

The tiger's gestation period is about three and half months.

It is difficult to identify a pregnant tigress because they do not begin to show a bulge until the last 10 to 12 days of pregnancy.

The tigress spends the last few days of her pregnancy searching for a safe birthing place that provides enough cover to conceal the newborn cubs and has adequate prey.

The frequency of births

Each litter may have up to seven cubs, but the average is three.

Tigresses usually wait between 18 to 24 months between births.

The cubs at birth

Tiger cubs are born blind and are completely dependent on their mother.

Newborn tiger cubs weigh between 785 and 1,610 grams (1.75 to 3.5 lb).

Tiger cubs are born with a membrane covering their eyes. This membrane will cover their eyes for around 5 days until it eventually breaks open. When tiger cubs open their eyes at around 10 days old their vision will still be hazy. Their vision will slowly start to improve over a period of weeks.

Care and development of the young cubs

Tigresses are overly cautious & secretive when caring for very young cubs. She will immediately move them if the area becomes disturbed or threatened. Therefore extreme care should be taken to ensure the tigress doesn’t feel threatened and overwhelmed.

The tigress is solely responsible for the protection and care of her young for the first few months of the cubs' lives. She leaves her young for only short periods of time to drink and hunt.

Tigresses will spend nearly 70% of their time nursing their cubs for the first few days following birth. The amount of time spent nursing reduces to about 30% of their day by the time the cubs are a month old.

Nursing tigresses must increase their nutritional intake by an estimated 50% to keep up their milk supply.

The tigress stimulates the cubs circulation and bowel movements by spending large periods of time licking them.

The tigress may also eat the cubs faeces in order to protect them from potential predators detecting their scents.

Tiger cubs begin consuming solid food when they are six to eight weeks old.

At four months of age tiger cubs are about the size of a medium-sized dog and spend their day playing, pouncing & wrestling with siblings.

Tiger cubs are weaned from their mothers by the time they are six months old. However, they are still dependent on the prey their mothers procure for them. Although they are not hunting on their own yet, cubs begin to explore their surroundings more freely.

Male tiger cubs weigh about 90 to 105 pounds by six months of age and females are about 30 pounds lighter.

Cubs will begin to follow their mothers out of the den around two months of age. However, they do not participate in the hunt at this point. They wait in a safe place for their mother to bring the food back to them.

Tiger cubs begin to hunt with their mother and siblings between eight and ten months of age. The tigress is primarily concerned with teaching her young how to hunt and protect themselves.

Tiger cubs spend the majority of their time playing with their siblings and their mother till they are around fifteen months of age. Playing helps the growing cubs develop life skills like stalking, pouncing, swatting and climbing.

Hierarchical order is established amongst the cubs by the time they are sixteen months old with the most dominant sibling eating and consuming most resources first. The dominant cub is most often a male and will leave the family unit within a few months.

Young tigers become independent from their mothers around seventeen to twenty-four months of age. Males travel further from their mother's home range than females. Young male tigers will continue to grow and develop muscle until they are about five years old but settle only temporarily in marginal habitats until they are strong enough to take a permanent territory of their own.

Every litter has one cub that is dominant and leads the others in play and is favoured by the mother. This cub is not always the largest male. There are also dominant female cubs. Male cubs are more adventurous & are likely to roam further than females. This may partially explain why female cubs have a better chance of surviving unto adulthood. Many tiger cubs are killed when they first begin hunting, usually from injuries sustained while trying to take down their prey. Although they may never interact, after leaving to establish their own territories female tigers will often find one that is close to or intersects with their mothers. Male cubs will roam further afield in search of territories, often being allowed to stay as a guest on the far edge of another males territory.

When they first learn to hunt, they will watch as their mother stalks and takes down prey. Much of their play emulates stalking and hunting behaviours. As they get older the tigress will get the prey to the ground then allow the cubs to step in for the kill. After this, the cubs will start to practice their hunting skills on their own.

Like humans with brown eyes, tiger cubs are born with milky blue eyes. As they develop their eyes will slowly change to their signature gold color. The only tigers that maintain their blue eyes are white tigers. White tigers are not albino or a separate species but are white due to a genetic mutation called Leucism which also causes blue eyes. In fact, the white coat would be a hindrance in the wild, as it doesn’t provide a tiger with any camouflage, which greatly reduces their chance of survival.

And now onto the individual cubs.

Cub 1

Cub 2

Cub 3

Related Posts