There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Yet, I feel some trepidation. From 1990 to 1996, while doing the very first radio-telemetry study of tigers in India, I followed a young, rather obese male tiger nicknamed Das in honor of our portly camp cook. Das had also specialized in hunting gaur. Radio-tracking Das on foot one morning, I blundered close to a gaur cow, which he had apparently badly mauled. The wounded gaur angrily charged me, and I barely managed to escape. Later that night Das killed and ate her. My camera trap research shows that even in Bandipur-Nagarahole’s protected population, about 20 percent of tigers are lost every year. Tigers die in conflict with humans or occasionally from poaching on the edges of Reserves, but more often than not they die fighting other tigers over mates, kills, or territories. Occasionally tigers also die from injuries sustained while hunting potentially dangerous prey. One day in October 1991, after two years of radio-tracking Das, I homed in on his signals in the remoteness of his 50-square kilometer home range only to find his week-old, decayed carcass. Investigation of the flatted bushes, trampled grass, and huge hoof prints of a gaur at the site revealed that, for once, his predatory skills had failed Das. His addiction to hunting gaur had finally rendered the magnificent cat into a mere mortality statistic.
Maximum size of prey that a single male lion or tiger can kill
