B2 and Other Great Tiger Pics from India

[Pckts]

Sanjeev Siva
The X-Factor.

Born in mid-2011, to the very famous Bamera and Kankati, three cubs - one male and two female, hogged the limelight. However, in mid 2013, one of the female cubs was declared dead followed by the male, in the Chorbehra area of Tala, where he was brought up and raised. An intruding male supposedly killed them both.

All was forgotten about the male, for years. In 2015, he made a dramatic comeback. He was popularly called Mr. X for being the unknown for a long time, also called Bamera's son (after his legendary father) and also because of the X-mark on his left cheek.

He made his territory in the Arariya fireline area (also called Tadoba water hole), where he was most frequently seen. Mid-2017, monsoon when the park was closed for tourism, his mate, Kankati jr. was poached, leaving behind three young cubs. And it wasn't known till another three months that Mr. X has been taking care of the cubs till then. The department then took over, and moved the cubs to human supervision.

The tigers in this line, Charger, B2, Bamera and Mr.X all have very distinctive qualities - Each took care of their family, particularly were doting fathers like no other; each ruled sizeable territories like no other and each of them fought and injured their respective fathers, to end their territorial dominance.

The death of Kankati jr., changed the dynamics of the park, with Mr. X being responsible for much of the changes.

First, he persuaded Solo, Kankati jr's sister, to mate with him, and Solo gave birth to his cubs, which eventually couldn't survive (or were killed). Mr. X was left without a mate, but not for long when he decided to expand his territory, from Magadhi to Tala, thus coming in contact with Solo again. Solo, this time, having delivered 5 cubs (a rarity in wild) from Mangu, a dominant male from Tala was grievously injured by Mr. X. She was saved with the intervention of the forest department. Bamera's son has a tussle with Mangu too, and drove Mangu out of his territory, and now is making inroads to conquer his former homerange.

With Mangu driven out, and no other prime male in the heart of Tala, Mr. X seems to have reached the throne. And Mr. X just opened the avenues for an imminent threat to females such as Banvehi, Solo and Spotty who are at a risk of losing their cubs. The threat is from other males as well, such as Chakradhara female's (T44) son from previous litter, Banvehi's son from previous litter, and the vanished Rajbhera sons (probably living off the park's boundary), the situation today is variable, the X-factor, that will decide what's in store in the coming seasons.
Photographed is Mr. X aka Bamera's son | Bandhavgarh TR.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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