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Tigers of Central India
Tigers of Central India
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Tigers of Central India
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 (12-07-2016, 10:07 AM)Roflcopters Wrote: and i disagree with the forest department providing aid to Bheema. he should've earned his right to stay in Mukki and unfortunately. "Humans" had to intervene and rescue him. totally unprofessional and defies the law of the jungle. I agree completely with you here. It's not that I like a tiger dying from injuries, far from it. But there's a reason for the strongest surviving, and when we intervene in a completely natural thing like this, usually we disrupt the balance in nature. 
Gabbar's life in Dr.Bilal Habib and Dr Parag Nigam's own words
Gabbar – Battle-Scarred Survivor The team responsible for tracking and protecting Maharashtra’s Tadoba’s tigers narrate an extraordinary tale about an extraordinary tiger.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo: Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Team. By 2010, the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) had become a tiger conservation success story. Good protection, management and local support combined to turn TATR into one of Maharashtra’s finest parks. An increase in tigers, also brought tourists and photographers flocking to the park. And scientists were not far behind. Up to this point, there were few studies on tiger ecology from this area and in 2012 this prompted the Maharashtra Forest Department and the National Tiger Conservation Authority to plan on a long-term monitoring project for tigers and co-predators in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India. One of the objectives was to study movement patterns and space utilisation by adult tigers in what was increasingly becoming a crowded tiger landscape. We planned for five tigers to be radio collared. On October 17, 2014, Chhoti Tara, the first tigress was collared in TATR, Maharashtra. Two days later we collared a male known by several names – Leopard Face, Sher Khan and Gabbar. His lineage was a mystery. He had challenged another adult male in the area and after their skirmish, his opponent was named ‘Amitabh’ and he, as Bollywood movie buffs would agree, had to be ‘Gabbar’. He was a bold cat taken to walking alongside tourist vehicles for considerable distances. Though we often saw him in the area around the Tadoba lake, Gabbar’s territory ranged over a vast area (approximately 120 – 140 sq. km.) extending into the buffer which made it difficult to track him. On the day he was collared, tourists saw him walking from Chital road towards the Tadoba range office near the Tadoba lake. At this point, he changed course and began moving in the direction of Vasant bandara via Bhave bandara. This is where he was darted, after which he sprinted quite a distance into the bamboo thickets and we were only able to locate him after several tense moments of intensive search.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo: Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Team. Love Blooms January 29, 2015, was ‘just another’ field day in the forest. We watched a huge sambar stag wallowing in the slush at Chikhalwahi, and as we drove back to Pandherpauni, we spotted a swarm of Gypsys, all drawn by the presence of the famous tigress of Tadoba, Maya. It was nearing closing time and most vehicles had begun to move toward the exit gates, which gave us the quiet we needed to track the cat by looking in the direction of alarm calls of chital and some langurs sitting atop the blazing Butea monosperma trees. Suddenly she emerged from the grasses, slightly off direction from the alarm calls, looking stunning in the soft evening light. After a hard day’s fieldwork, such moments give one the strength to continue in the harsh summers of Vidarbha. She walked casually through the grassland to settle in an open spot. Meanwhile, the alarm calls persisted from the bushes near the waterhole. That is when we saw Gabbar walking into the meadow. Maya had been seen with two other males the week before and we were quite sure that she was in heat. Waiting in anticipation as Gabbar approached her, we saw her welcome him with a nuzzle on his nose. Their foreplay was a sight to behold. Chases, kisses, bites, scratches – all part of the love-making rituals of the greatest cats on Earth. After sitting quietly for a bit, we left them to their devices and their well-deserved privacy. The next morning saw us headed for the Pandherpauni meadows where we found them both, in exactly the same spot. Gabbar lay down beside her, as though guarding her from the world! Every now and then he would get up, spray mark trees, bamboo clumps and grasses and, once, even Maya! Probably a strategy to keep other males at bay. Again, after noting our observations on their behaviour, we moved away.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo: Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Team. Rival Affections Two days later, we returned to Pandherpauni in the evening to see Gabbar, but Maya was nowhere to be seen. We trailed him but he took a route along a fire line where we were unable to follow him. Close by we heard the hysterical alarm calls of chital, which seemed not to bother him in the least. Taking a parallel route we figured we might catch sight of him further down the road and were delighted to be proved right. Or were we? A tiger was indeed walking towards us, but not Gabbar. His markings revealed the tiger to be a ‘trespasser’ – the Kala Amba male. ‘What was he doing in Gabbar’s territory?’ we wondered. What ensued was a very interesting scent marking ‘duel’. The young male scrape-marked the ground at one spot and moved a little ahead, periodically turning back to look at Gabbar who followed him… scrape-marking and spraying the same spots as the intruder. We were witnessing an ancient tiger ritual. The bamboo clumps and Cleistanthus trees along the path would be purposefully marked by the young male and then cross-marked by Gabbar. At one spot, Gabbar even defecated next to the scrape mark of his competitor. In our view, it was a pretty civil way to settle an argument over territory, without any physical contact. But the message was clear. The younger male had thrown down the gauntlet. Intrigued, we followed the two up to a point, then returned to our base camp, grateful for another insight into the secret life of tigers. On February 4, driving towards Ainbodi, we unexpectedly came upon Gabbar walking towards us in broad daylight. It had been four days since our team had seen him being challenged by the young male. But our happiness at seeing him was short-lived. Blood dripped from Gabbar’s face, his left cheek hung below his face, there were puncture wounds on his nose. One of his eyes was barely visible. We wondered whether the subtle conflict we had witnessed a few days ago had transformed into a lethal battle over territory. Curious, we followed the injured Gabbar for a kilometre or so and watched as he diligently scent-marked his turf. We had radio-collared Gabbar and must confess to be shaken to see him wounded thus. We were slightly comforted by the fact that we were aware of the string of events that had ensued previously and could stitch the pieces to grasp the whole story of how Gabbar may have been gravely injured.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo: Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Team. Gabbar Returns One thing about field biologists is that we seldom interfere with the processes of nature in the course of our work. We knew that the older and weaker have to give way to the young and fit. Of course, Gabbar himself had other plans. He disappeared from the core for a long time after his injury. His location according to his GPS collar was in the buffer where we tried to track him a couple of times but did not succeed in getting a glimpse, but tracked his presence by strong signals emitted by the collar. Two weeks later, Gabbar reappeared at the Tadoba lake from the Pandherpauni meadow. As was his wont, he walked through the swarm of tourist vehicles as nonchalant as ever. His wounds appeared to be healing well, except for the puncture marks on his nose, which had gotten worse, probably lacerated by the undergrowth he had to negotiate in the forest. Following him as he made his way to the lake, we were surprised to see him plunge into the water and swim to a tiny island, where he sat until nightfall. After his encounter, we often found Gabbar sitting on that miniature island in the lake. He probably felt more secure here, we conjectured. Or probably the flies bothered him less here. Clearly, he was slowly, but steadily healing. Gabbar’s collar was equipped with an activity sensor, which allowed us to track him every five minutes. Gabbar did not move from his area of ‘intensive use’, but he completely changed his time of peak activity. Before the injury, he was most active between 05:30 and 09:30 hours and 16:30 to 20:00 hours. Since the fight that left him scarred, he changed his timings to between 10:00 and 13:00 hours, possibly to avoid contact with other males who we observed had intensified their territorial markings in the same period. Gabbar was biding his time, waiting to recover. The activity sensor in his collar greatly helped us understand his strategy. However, his behaviour did create a flutter as tourists were unable to spot him, though we knew where he was and this gave birth to a slew of wild theories that surfaced during this period. Controversies followed regarding the severity of the injury and baseless accusations were levied against the radio collar as being the cause of his trouble. One fanciful expert claimed that one of his wounds was infested with maggots that were eating into his flesh. We did not engage with any of these critics, nor did we blame them because they were basically expressing concern for a cat we too cared about. We tracked Gabbar one March evening when he was at the Pandherpauni waterhole, where he could be barely seen in the tall grasses. We waited until late in the evening. It had been an overcast day and a light drizzle turned into a momentary downpour. This prompted Gabbar to change his position and for the first time we were able to get a clear view of his injury. He was healing very well indeed and a clear photograph we took put the maggot rumours to rest. We are supposed to be dispassionate scientists, but we are human too. And we found ourselves smiling inside to know that the cat we had come to admire so much had recovered well. Another well-spent evening date with Gabbar was about to come to an end, when we saw Maya walking towards Pandherpauni from the Tadoba lake. To our surprise, she spent two full days with the injured old mate, still nuzzling and occasionally delivering friendly blows to his now-disfigured face! In the days that followed, Gabbar redeemed his dominant position in his tiger-land as he swam along the banks, bathing in his lake of gold. It was a fairytale conclusion to our long study. This cat had become a symbol of beauty, strength, love, courage and persistence. Frankly, Gabbar helped us to look upon tigers differently – not just in terms of numbers, home range polygons, occupancies, dispersal, but in terms of the behavioural transitions against a backdrop of all these variables. To advance our understanding of tiger ecology we should ideally have a good study design, long-term monitoring and also as strong a will to persist as Gabbar himself had demonstrated for us! Earlier this year, in March 2016, we removed Gabbar’s radio collar. Typical of Gabbar, he was resting in the water at the Tadoba lake. As we write today, this rough and tough cat continues to woo tourists routinely at Tadoba and has been seen mating with Maya once again. He may have surpassed the zenith of his reign; he may have shifted his territory; but he is still very much in the game. source : http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/conservation/field-reports/10478-gabbar--battle-scarred-survivor.html
Wonderful story, thank you so much for the share.
Before I forget to ask, how old is Gabbar?
Since no one knows his ancestry, i would guess around 9 at the very max. People tend to think he's older because of all the scars he has but that's far from the truth. Gabbar survived in a heavily contested area flooded with power hungry males and despite being the smallest in size, Gabbar put up good fights against both Namdev and Katezari.
Ameya Gokarn
Bajrang, Kanha meadows. 29th Nov. 2016.  *This image is copyright of its original author Ricky Patel Fog-On Head-On Link 7 Male Kanha National Park,MP October 2015  *This image is copyright of its original author
ALL
The intention to close the thread has been dropped. Apollo was hit by a storm. No details needed, but it had an effect. As he has things to attend to, he will be away for some time. We wish him well and hope to see him soon. On behalf of all, Peter.
Ananya Dutta Panda
""""Crossing"""" Bheema Kanha October 2016 — at Kanha National Park.  *This image is copyright of its original author Mukesh Shakya New rising star of kanha. The bheema. Save tiger  *This image is copyright of its original author Alhaad Naik " There Will Be So Many TIMES You Feel Like You've FAILED. But In The Eyes, Heart & Mind Of Your Cubs You Are SUPER MOM. " Collarwali Aka Mataram ....... #Nov-16  *This image is copyright of its original author Collerwali pench M.P. Novmber 2016 Turiya gate  *This image is copyright of its original author Rituraj Jaiswal Looks like a full grown male maya male cub tadoba nov 16  *This image is copyright of its original author
Some time ago, four males were involved in a struggle for territory in Kanha. As the struggle continued for a long time, there must have been a kind of balance. Than, out of nowhere, one of the males was found dead. Although no report was published, those who found him concluded Kingfisher had been killed in a fight.
As he was large and in his prime, chances are he was wasn't killed by a female. This means Kingfisher had to be killed by one of the other males. As the four competitors were close in size, it must have been a close fight. Therefore, it's likely that his killer also was injured. Although nobody in the know is sure about anything, one of the other three males was seen not that far away not too long after the fight. They said Bheema wasn't moving well. He took a long time to recover, if he recovered at all. In the period he struggled, he got into another fight. He survived, but this time he had been on the receiving end. When they found him, his injuries were so severe they decided to treat him. Without treatment, he could have perished. I'm not too sure about his opponent, but most think it could have been Umarpani. There has been a debate about a few things, which wasn't quite concluded. Most unfortunately, it derailed as a result of circumstances. I do not doubt the debate will be resumed in some time. We could continue the debate, but I propose to concentrate on something that wasn't discussed. Only few seem to realise we witnessed something out of the ordinary. Most of us know wild tigers face a difficult time when they become independent. They not only need to learn how to hunt, but they also need to find a territory. Females often settle down close to their mother and sometimes even get a part of her territory, but males not seldom are forced to walk long distances. When a young male finds a place to his liking, chances are he will meet the owner sooner or later. If not, he will meet other young males who share his interest in a particular farm. The young male than has two options: to fight or to run. Every young male has no choice but to conquer the place he selected the hard way. This could be the reason tigers in India seem to be larger and heavier than a century ago. Some males, for some reason, are able to keep on top for a considerable period of time, but most males, even when they conquer a territory, will be tested every now and then. I'm not saying every serious fight results in a disaster, but if a male loses his home it will be a disaster no matter what. I'm interested in two questions. The first question is in what way struggles for territory are decided. The second question is why some males seem to be able to keep on top for quite a long time, whereas most others only succeed for a limited period of time. As to the first question. The four males mentioned above are close in size. This could be the reason the struggle continued for quite some time. Assuming size wasn't decisive, the question is what was. The two males still in the race are quite similar in built. Both are large-skulled and compact animals. The other two, although similar in size and weight, seemed a bit less solid. Apart from built, some seemed more able to avoid a tough struggle than others. This is important when the margins are small. Another factor to consider is the ability to weather the storm. When the arena has been selected, chances are all contenders will be fit. Fights between animals of similar size and age seldom are decided at the start. What I know, suggests that it could be about the ability to do it more than once over an extended period of time (this is what I saw in captivity). This means a male tiger needs more than one ability to succeed. The question is which is decisive. As for the second question. Wagdoh has been at the top so long, he could die of old age. The most obvious reason could be size, but it's also clear he is very aware as well as intelligent. When a female disappeared, he took care of the cubs. It's not unique (it was observed a century ago as well), but not all male tigers succeed. Wagdoh did. Raja also has been in charge for a long time. Although large as well, he had to do it the hard way. Apparently, he's still able to go all the way against a younger male. This is remarkable, as quite many young adult males reach a great size. Raja also is an accomplished hunter, able to take down large prey animals on his own. Although they seem to be opposites, both Wagdoh and Raja are very good at what they do. What is it that sets them apart? The situation in central parts of India isn't much different from other regions in India. I've seen so many photographs of large male tigers, I wouldn't know where to start. Based on the information we have, it's quite safe to say that Indian tigers are larger than a century ago. They also seem to reach maturity sooner than before. A result of competition foremost, or did we miss something?
Bheema Update:
Vipul Gupta Badly injured , fd has got him to a closed cage near Mukki gate. Unlikely to survive. While the overpopulated male count was destined to reduce , yet to loose two lovely tigers to territorial fight in a short span of two months is heartbreaking. Sonu Arora T28 (Bheema) is not doing well. His condition is deteriorating despite all of our efforts. His BP and body temp is below normal. Veins have collapsed so we are having problem to give IV fluids. Still we are trying to do our best. Dr Chandrapuriya examined again him in mild sedation. Got from Sagnik bhai in a group
@peter
I think we did lose focus as to what is important here and that is the scenario that is playing out in Kahna right now. For the first time we are able to actually have updates around the clock on tigers and locations, this has led to many new discoveries and images that we weren't privy to before. Thanks for redirecting us as to what is actually important here. So, my opinions on your 2 questions Question 1 sounds to me like you're asking which trait is most important for a tiger to survive in a highly competitive area? My answer to this is "Tenacity" Like you said, this cats are close in size, share the same lifestyle and experience, so what separates them? Lets look at champions in combat sports for a second, a true champion is always going to be skilled, but the people he is fighting are also skilled, so there has to be something more. Champions are built in training, they fail and fail and fail but they do not quit, they grow and push on, and that builds character. This character building creates an attitude, when they are pushed to their limits they continue on while others will fold under the pressure. I think this holds true with apex predators to some extent as well. When we see these situations play out I notice that while size is a factor of course, when the opponents are evenly matched, its the one who keeps coming back and pushing the action. It's the one who may loose the battle but not the war, eventually all animals want peace at some point, if they are continuously forced to fight they will get tired of it, something has to give. They will either finish off their adversary or they will give way or they will go down on their shield. If a tiger has this ability to keep coming back, that will break the will of the other tiger and eventually that tiger will simply out last the other. Question 2 is in the same vein as question 1 for me, so I think my answer to 1 probably would be answer to question 2 as well.
Shashikant Sayare
We were on our evening round and saw the fresh pugmark and sigh of sleeping on the road. However the tiger was missing all of a suddne tiger appeared photographars complain about light but this day was in my favour to see this tiger in my angle.  *This image is copyright of its original author Kankata male^ Shivendra Singh Jadon Marking his territory ! Kanha,Nov,2016  *This image is copyright of its original author Mahesh Ghadshi Jamun Talav Male Tiger, Son of Kanakatta "MP-KTR-T24" Minh Ha This guy was born in Sarhi late 12 or early 13, coupled with his buid and stripes his father must be CHuri male instead of Kankata.  *This image is copyright of its original author Ameya Gokarn A magical misty morning in Kanha. Chota Munna - Mukki 3rd Dec. 2016.  *This image is copyright of its original author Shreyas Srivastava do we know who killed KF ? Ameya Gokarn There is no confirmed news but it could possibly be Umarpani male. Minh Ha Shreyas,Judging from where he was found dead, plus the sheer size of the canine marks found on KF's body, and the fact that Uma male quickly overtook all of KF's territory right after his death, the killer was 100% Uma male. And Bhima was found heavily wounded in Uma male's territory too, so most likely he was taken down by Uma male as well. June Adam I think I may have disappointed you- this is the two year old I saw which we thought might be Munna at a younger age. I am no expert, but to me his chest markings are different? Does anyone know which tiger this could be? Also can anyone help identify the pic of the tiger facing right? Taken in 3005 in Bandhavgargh( I know this page if for Khana but I am sure you all know! Thanks June  *This image is copyright of its original author Kshitij Degaonkar This is the son of Banda and old Link 7 female... Did he have a collar when you saw him?  *This image is copyright of its original author Kshitij Degaonkar This one is the Chorbehra female. She was also known as Langdi because of the limp she had developed in the later years of her life. She was finally killed by the tigress Kankati. Minh Ha Kshitij is right Nikita. The left guy was son of Banda; he was collared too. He was found dead in Orai camp in Jan 2009, killed by Chain male. Below was his bro, who died 2 months later in Kisli. Both deaths were attributed to infighting. His bro below was the father of current karai Ghati male.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Bala Krishnan
Catwalk, Bajrang May 16 TATR  *This image is copyright of its original author Kathy Turner Bajrang at Jamun Jhora in late February 2016  *This image is copyright of its original author Prasad Parab This guy reminds me so much of movie Predator Bajarang....male tiger from telia region of TATR — at Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Well, as mentioned in B2 and other tiger pics thread by @anand3690 , Bheema died today at 2:10 PM (11-Dec-2016). RIP Bheema
Hemant Masurkar
Pench Tiger Reserve, MP 11-Dec-2016  *This image is copyright of its original author The beautiful BMW male ^^^
Ameya Gokarn
The Karai Ghati male - Kisli 2nd Dec. 2016. This big male and Munna are definitely in for a major confrontation. Munna was seen at this very same spot on the evening of this sighting. Also heard that they have already had an altercation a couple of days later. Hope things pan out well for both of them.  *This image is copyright of its original author Rachit Singh Surya Munna was Injured in fight thats true but not recently..it was 10 days back, and yesterday what david saw is regular routine check up of him, n he is perfectly fit n fine, old injury marks was there, nothing to worry, he is perfectly moving , n comfortable  *This image is copyright of its original author ? *This image is copyright of its original author ??Its not necessary that where there are elephants,must be something wrong  *This image is copyright of its original author ?, sometimes they do regular patrolling as well, as per routine patrolling of forest*This image is copyright of its original author This guy is said to be huge and around the 8 year old mark, his history is vague but he is a serious contender. I hope for the best but I think this may be the end of the road for Munna, I hope I'm wrong but things don't look good IMO. Time will tell if this guys attitude matches his size and if that is the case, Munna may need to find a new territory. But knowing him, I do not doubt that he'll prefer to be kicked out the hard way. |
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