Tigers of Ranthambore & Western India Landscape

[Pckts]

The Family.

Most tigers in Ranthambore are from the Machli line. Not much is known about tigers from other lineages, as these tigers were generally off the tourism limits.

One such line is the Gilai Sagar line, the cradle being Gilai Sagar female. Not much is known about her ancestry, and she was equally mysterious in her death too. She went missing in around 2010, but was dubiously declared dead in 2012 after a mutilated carcass of a tigress was found.

One of the most prolific litter of Gilai Sagar (T-27) female is Husn-ara (T-30) who gave birth to some famous tigers of Ranthambore such as Hamir (T-33) from her first litter and Fateh (T-42), Surzan (T-43), T-44 (who's relocated to Sariska) from her second litter all fathered by Jhumroo (T-20) and T-69, T-70, T-71 of which T-69, T-71 have reached Kailadevi WLS; T-69 subsequently returned to Ranthambore and has cubs fathered by Suraj (T-65, son of Krishna T-19 and Star T-28). The last litter was that of T-90 and Mirza (T-91); T-90 went missing after mating with T-75 for a brief period and T91 aka Mirza ruled the lake area fo a short while before being ousted by Chirico (T-86) and has been translocated to Mukundara Hills TR. The third and fourth litters were fathered by Bahadur (T-3).

T-27 has also given birth to Star male (T-28), one of the longest serving kings of Ranthambore and the lake area and T-29. T-29 went missing post a treatment for an injury.
Sanjeev Siva‎
T-27 then gave birth to two cubs, one of which is Indu aka T-31 (generally thought to be named after the late prime minister, smt. Indira Gandhi, but also could've been named after the area where she ruled - Indala plateau). Not much is known about the second cub.

The litters of Gilai Sagar were from X-male, the most dominant tiger of that time.

Indu (T-31) has given birth to Jr. Indu (T-60) and T-59. While T-59 currently lives in zone 9 with her mate Ladla (T-62, son of Ladli T-8 and Kumbha T-34) and has her own cubs, T-60 has given birth to two males and one female, fathered by Aurangzeb (T-57) earlier. One of the males (T-98) has naturally migrated to Mukundara Hills TR while the other (T-97) is still in Ranthambore tourism area; the female (T-99) has reached Zone 10.

Recently, Indu Jr. (T-60) has given birth to a new litter, of which only one cub seems to be surviving (fathered by T-57).

The family never received the attention that Machli's line got, probably exemplified by the fact that T-31 went missing around the same time T-17 aka Sundari went missing, but T-31's (Indu) case was never highlighted, despite being from one of the most prolific families of Ranthambore - having tigers migrated to and populated various parts of this isolated North-Western cluster (thus contributing to the genetic variation)  

Photographed is T-60 aka Jr. Indu on a late evening stroll | Ranthambore TR.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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