tigers – Pelican Yoga

“Hunting” tigers (#3 in 3 part series: close encounter)

Published November 13, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#3 in 3 part series: close encounter)

It was late afternoon, on our final “full” day in and around Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.

We were midway through the eighth of our nine Nagarhole wildlife “drives”.

Tiger-wise, time was running out.

We had enjoyed many “close encounters of the wildlife kind”, including one with a very healthy leopard.

On two occasions we had seen a tiger…just, fleetingly.

On more than two other occasions our ears had provided unmistakable evidence that a leopard or tiger was “on the prowl”, nearby.

However, at 4.52 pm on 07 March it appeared likely that we were not going to experience any 2023-vintage, visual “close encounter of the tiger kind”.

I took the featured photo – above – at 4.58 pm.

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“Hunting” tigers (#2 in 3 part series: use your ears)

Published November 11, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#2 in 3 part series: use your ears)

Imagine an English-speaking tiger, asked to describe the deer in this post’s featured image.

”Delicious”, might be the tiger’s reply.

You are looking at #1 and #2 on the list of species most preyed on by India’s tigers – respectively, sambar and chital/spotted deer.

As you can see, all five deer are definitely not relaxed.

Drinking and having “a good look around” are not simultaneously-possible; the pictured chital are in “eyes down” mode.

The sambar calf is looking at its mother.

However, you can see that the ears of all five deer are open, alert.

If you wish to see tigers (or leopards) in the wild, your ears are your most useful organs.

Big cats’ hunting success is stealth-dependent; they are highly unlikely to make sounds that betray their presence.

Your very quiet self should be focused on hearing the alarm calls which “prey” animals make whenever they notice a predator.

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“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

Published November 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

If you wish to see tigers “in the wild”, India is your best destination.

It contains circa 25% of the world’s remaining tiger habitat, but India is currently home to around 75% of “our” globe’s wild tigers.

There is no such thing as a reliable estimate of India’s wild tiger population, let alone the world’s.

The likely-best available figures come from the Global Tiger Forum.

On 10 September 2023, Global Tiger Forum published its latest global estimate: 5,574.

That is 74% higher than their 2010 figure. (click here for more detail)

It is impossible to know how much of the apparent increase reflects better monitoring rather than actual increase.

That said, there are grounds for believing that in some nations – India, especially – wild tiger numbers really are rising, after many years of steep decline towards seemingly-inevitable extinction.

This little series looks at Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, south India.

The featured image and the one immediately below show what the local tiger habitat looks like.

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Tag: tigers

“Hunting” tigers (#3 in 3 part series: close encounter)

“Hunting” tigers (#2 in 3 part series: use your ears)

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)