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Tiger Predation
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 This video was shot using my Iphone 6s Plus. Cinematographer-Pankaj Thawakar. © Ramachandra Urs H.S. One late afternoon, two of the most audacious cubs of T6 and JAI, Bittu and Srinivasa were on a hunting trail. In the meantime, we, after watching the Guar herd for a while decided to try our luck further up the road. The decision was a right one as within few minutes we encountered Bittu, who was walking down the road head on. He seems to be communicating with his brother Srinivasa, who had already gone inside the forest to our left. Initially we had no clue what was happening. It seems that their mother T6 had let them loose so that they could learn on their hunting skills. These cubs are about 16 months old and both are males. As you can see, we started recording when Bittu got the scent of the Gaur herd and he keeps looking down where they were. It was amazing to see how the cub's instinct kicked in displaying its hunting postures and gestures while he positioned himself on the Guar herd. The Guar herd consisted of about 5 adults and 2 young ones. They were very nervous as they had picked up the scent of the Tigers which had them cornered off. Guar is the largest Bovine in the world. They are very formidable beast who can even kill an adult tiger or its cubs easily. These 2 cubs were no match to the herd as they were quite inexperienced. In fact on sensing the danger, the whole herd surrounded the young calves and posed an impenetrable barrier. They were not an easy proposition for the Tiger cubs. As you can see from the video, Gaurs started giving out grunts and they only do if they sense any sort of danger. This is the way for them to stomp their authority and warn off the predators. This was something new for me and my mates in the gypsy. After all you don't get to see this interaction very often. For me it was once in a lifetime experience. We in the meantime were very engrossed watching the whole hunting sequence and totally forgot to look behind us for any other signs of the mother Tigress. While we stood watch to the whole sequence of events, one of the vehicles decided to leave and they happen to spot the T6 tigress watching over her cubs progress and the whole commotion. There were about 7 to 8 vehicles and all their attention diverted towards T6 tigress. since she was spotted, she decided to move on and cross the road to block the only exit for the Gaur herd. By this time, the Guar herd was totally surrounded and had no way to go. The whole event lasted for more then 30mins. Unfortunately it was getting darker every minute it passed by. We decided to leave soon after this video. Not sure if the kill was made or not. Nevertheless it was a sight to behold for the rest of my life. Amazing experience indeed. I would like to thank my team, especially Pankaj. He made a huge difference recording this video. This video is shot in 4K. So please make best use of it if you have sufficient bandwidth.   *This image is copyright of its original author Reuuben Fernandes-Have never witnessed something this dramatic in my wildlife journey so far, 9 years to be precise. We were busy tracking a tigress and her cub who were on a kill. This particular tigress called Choti Mada who is frequently sighted in the water body called Minkur Anicut. The day before in the afternoon safari she made a kill in front of a group of vehicles, assuming she’d be there the next morning safari our guide and driver decided to track her since the probability of sighting her with her cub would be the highest. We reached minkur and weren’t surprised to see vehicles strategically placed around so parked ourselves in such what that we could get good shots if the tigress would come to drink water in the waterbody. Suddenly we hear langur alarm calls followed by spotted deer alarm calls and there she was walking fearlessly towards us. She drank as much water as she could and walked back a little away from the jeeps and waited for her cub to come out, her cute little cub came leaping towards her mother who was also followed by a huge male, he is the dominant male of Mukki none other than Umarpaani. He walked towards his mate and while he was walking he saw a barasingha who wandered away from its group. The tiger sensed that a barasingha in the dense thicket is the most vulnerable prey to pounce at and he stalked and charged at it but didn’t manage to grab hold of it, choti mada made the most of this opportunity and grab the barasingha by its throat and got her down. She grabbed the barasingha’s throat so hard that it couldn’t screech. Witnessed a live kill for the first time in my wildlife journey so far. Seen here in this pic are : Choti Mada brining the prey down and Umarpaani
 *This image is copyright of its original author Sandip Patil-''Braveheart Prince'''Male Subadult of Maya and indian gaur' Tadoba (M.H) May 19,  (05-12-2019, 12:36 PM)Rage2277 Wrote: Wow.. Male gaurs are really overconfident animals, aren't they! Following his stalk that cub gave a victory-nibble on its hindquarters & the startled gaur turned.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (05-12-2019, 01:25 PM)Rishi Wrote:Kind of funny incident also in that way, that what was that tiger thinking? :) That gaur turns head and say "be my guest"(05-12-2019, 12:36 PM)Rage2277 Wrote:  Approaching like that a gaur looks almost like attempt to do a suicide. I think, that either making a real attack or backing off, but not like that. Young ones...
 (05-12-2019, 04:23 PM)Spalea Wrote: @Shadow : In some way yes, but that lion was sleeping :) But maybe this tiger had confidence that it is fast enough to escape... Still dangerous game to play :) Easy to learn to fly like that one lion cub with cape buffalo in lion predation thread. I wonder what are statistic for tiger cub survival to adulthood.  *This image is copyright of its original author Harpreet Singh-Finally my dream came true to see a chase in open grassland. I witnessed this bful sighting today morning. What an amazing Sighting. Kajri May 2019 Bandhavgarh  (05-17-2019, 12:02 AM)Rage2277 Wrote: I'd have to find the video again, but the Buffalo were very aggressive towards her, they put a great defense and ran her off. karthik_val The queen of Ranthambore "NOOR" bringing down a wild boar She took nearly 25min to bring it down The wild boar was a tough catch It never gave up until it's last breath They say wild boar can only be brought down by a fully grown male or an highly experienced female tiger The meat of the wild boar is so thick sometimes bullets don't go through It took everything from the queen to make a meal out of him Such an honor to watch this spectacular moment.! Video credits - Janardhan ND sciencemowgli A possibly 1 ton bull Gaur, a real forest giant, killed by a tiger, it would be awesome to see such a clash of titans live!! Gaur Kill Another Gaur Kill |
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