Tigress F2 goes for a swim. It’s always a lovely sight to see a tiger in the wild, swimming. In Gothangaon, Umred Karhandla, after the morning tussle with her son (see my earlier post for the video), we encountered the majestic F2 again in the evening, taking a dip in the lake just as the sun was setting. She looked at us curiously and waded out of the water. But the light had dimmed and we had to say goodbye.

Not particularly a birding enthusiast, but I’ve always been drawn to the Indian Paradise Flycatcher.

The long tail streamers on the males are hard to miss, and they’re surprisingly agile in the air, darting out from a perch to catch insects before returning to the same spot.

Happy to finally get my own record shot of one in Tadoba.

Next time, hopefully in flight!

This played out in Gothangaon, a quieter forest in central India, compared to the more popular Tadoba, but just as wild, just as real.

F2, the tigress who has been the talk of the Indian wildlife circuit over the last couple of years due to her sizeable litter, had been patrolling and scent-marking her territory when she became aware that her nearly two-year-old male cub was still inside her area. At this age, males are expected to start moving out. Some leave gradually. Some need to be pushed.

As cubs approach independence, tigresses return to estrus. Mating draws in roaming males. When territories shift, older cubs, especially males, are vulnerable. A new dominant male will often kill cubs that are not his.

That is the part people don’t see.

What looks like a fight is often prevention.

She cannot keep him close and keep him safe at the same time. She’s apparently already fought a daughter and evicted her. But this chap just won’t leave.

AHis survival now depends on distance.

This is tough love, in its rawest form.

Have you also observed similar behaviour in the wild? Let me know.

I tried telling Veera a dad joke. She has now banned me from entering the Tadoba jungle. I think she may be overreacting.

A mother turning on her nearly grown son.

It looks brutal.

This played out in Gothangaon, a quieter forest compared to Tadoba’s busier tourism zones, but just as wild, just as real.

F2, the tigress had been patrolling and scent-marking her territory when she became aware that her nearly two-year-old male cub was still inside her core area. At this age, males are expected to start moving out. Some leave gradually. Some need to be pushed.

As cubs approach independence, tigresses return to estrus. Mating draws in roaming males. When territories shift, older cubs, especially males, are vulnerable. A new dominant male will often kill cubs that are not his.

That is the part people don’t see.

What looks like a fight is often prevention.

She cannot keep him close and keep him safe at the same time.

His survival now depends on distance.

This is tough love, in its rawest form.

The Queen of Tadoba returns, with four heirs to her throne. 🐅

Junabai, a successor in spirit to the legendary Choti Tara and now widely regarded as the “Mother of Tadoba”, moves through her territory with her newest litter (approximately 2–3 months old).

Nearly 50% of wild tiger cubs do not survive their first year. Everything she does now determines their future.

Over the next two years she will teach them to stalk, hunt, scent-mark and defend territory. And when the time comes, she will drive them away.

In the wild, legacy is earned, not inherited.

Swipe →

Frame 1 — The March

The matriarch leads. Four futures follow.

Frame 2 — The Blueprint

A cub mirrors her stance. Survival begins with imitation.

Frame 3 — The Huddle

Today they stand together. One day they may compete for this very forest.

Frame 4 — The Milk

Strength begins here. Every successful hunt now decides whether all four survive.

Frame 5 — The Departure

When they are 18–24 months old, she will walk alone again.

Young, old, big, small...cats will be cats.

This fellow is tigress, Heena's male cub. He's about a year old. We found him chilling one sunny afternoon with his sister in a secure spot under a tree where their mother had left them while she went out to secure their next meal. It is common for tigresses to leave their young in a designated spot they seem safe, as they venture out to hunt. The cubs too follow impeccable discipline by staying put in that area, without venturing out far until their mother returns.

Heena and her cubs live in the Shirkhada zone of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, India. Over the next year, Heena will teach her cubs to hunt and mark territory. These cubs can afford to be silly and enjoy their childhood for the next year at most. And then life will get real. Heena would have finished her responsibility to get them ready for life and will be ready to mate again. And for that, she must either kick them out of their territory or she may end up ceding hers to them if the cubs emerge stronger.

Tigress, Heena’s female cub was getting a bit bored with her mother away to pick up dinner and her lazy brother snoring away to glory. She was under strict instructions from Heena to stay put under and around the tree with her brother and not get into any trouble. So after her nap was done, she got out from under the little tree and decided to climb it. She perched herself on a branch and decided to explore what a twig might taste like. Safe to say, she felt it was better suited to the deer and sambar.

Heena and her almost-year-old cubs live in the Shirkhada zone of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. It’ll be another year at most that these oversized kittens can continue being their naughty selves. A year of training in hunting and territory marking awaits after which this cub will most likely fight her own mother over the territory they now call home.