Land of the Tiger Page #2

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She retreats to a spring

deep in a ravine.

Another tigress did fight over a kill.

She came off second best.

Spring is the rutting season

for the sambar in Ranthambhor.

The stages spray themselves

with their male scent.

In this way they become more

attractive to the does

and more intimidating to other males.

In April, as spring changes to summer,

it becomes drier and hotter.

For the sambar the squeeze

between the need to drink

and eat in the lakes

and running the gauntlet of tigers

in ambush becomes ever tighter.

The sambar,

alert and cautious at all times,

cannot see the tiger.

To them the tall grass

is like a blank wall.

May is the height of summer

in Ranthambhor.

Tigers stay close to the water holes.

Another six weeks of

relentless heat must pass

before the monsoon brings relief.

Kanha, in the meantime,

has also dried out in the summer heat.

But because it is a less arid region,

many trees and shrubs remain green.

The streams have ceased to flow.

Only sporadic water holes remain.

Moisture is at a premium.

Even a patch on wet sand is prized

by a blizzard of thirsty butterflies.

The cubs of the cave-dwelling

tigress have grown.

The two, a male and a female,

are now five months old.

The cave has a commanding view,

and the tigress keeps watch for

possible prey

and for anything that may be

a threat to her cubs.

In late afternoon the tigress sets

off to hunt.

The cubs follow her.

Before she has gone very far

the tigress meets a real danger

to her young,

the resident male tiger.

She calls on all her ferocity to

challenge the much larger animal.

Territorial males, which are

known to kill cubs,

are the main threat

to the young tigers.

After the frightening confrontation,

the female cub seeks reassurance.

The summer heat continues.

Every day it is 105 degrees

or more in the shade.

The few water holes are shrinking.

Animals must travel long distances

to drink.

As in Ranthambhor, there is a constant

threat from the well camouflaged tigers

A white-breasted kingfisher

has taken up residence

and bathes frequently to cool himself.

Langur monkeys spend hours licking salt

and other minerals from the rocks

that surround the pool.

The water hole attracts a multitude

of birds.

Even the shy red junglefowl, the gaudy

ancestor of the domestic chicken,

must leave the protection of

the forest to drink.

A lesser adjutant stork probes

the water hole for fish and frogs.

The checkered keelback snake is

an unwelcome visitor

treated with circumspection

by the other animals.

But the reptile is no threat

to most of them.

It is non-venomous and

a confirmed fish-eater.

The deserted water hole no longer

has any interest for the tiger.

When the oppressive heat

of the day abates,

the barasingha emerge from

the forest to drink.

It is a time too when the tigress

and her cubs leave their cave.

Before she sets out to feed

on the remains of a sambar

she killed two nights ago,

the tigress suckles her young

during an interlude of

extraordinary peace and tenderness.

This morning the tigress did not bring

the cubs to her kill

even though they are old enough

to eat meat for themselves.

Danger in the form of the male tiger

is still near.

When the male approaches,

she hides the remains of her prey,

covering it with leaves.

She will stay with in

until the threat has passed.

Early June is the hottest,

driest time of the year.

The shade temperature rises

to 110 degrees.

Tigers suffer more than most animals

in this heat.

Then one day in mid-June,

as the koel and the brainfever

bird scream for rain,

a cool wind whips up;

the air becomes humid.

The monsoon has finally arrived.

For four days it rains

sometimes lightly, sometimes in torrents.

The temperature drops about 20 degrees

The heat, the dry streams,

the brittle bleached grasses,

the aridity of eight virtually

rainless months

have disappeared at one stroke.

After the monsoon's first days of rain

the sun briefly reappears.

Kanha has been transformed,

has taken on a cloak of fresh new green.

Termites celebrate the onset on

the monsoon with mating flights.

Velvet-textured mites erupt out of

the ground and feast on the termites.

Male bullfrogs vie for the females

in duels of sound.

Life has been liberated by the rain.

Plants explode into untrammeled growth

The new lushness attracts hordes

of leaf-eating insects,

and when the caterpillars unleash

their appetites on the monsoon's bounty,

they are an effective restraint

on the new leaves.

In July, when the monsoon

is firmly established,

the chital gather on the grassland,

which soon reverberate with the sounds

and energy of their rut.

A peacock unfurls his train a symbol

for the renewal and exuberance of life

A predator other than the tiger,

and one feared by all the animals,

moves down from the hills

at this time of year,

spreading disquiet in forest

and grassland alike.

It is the Indian wild dog.

No animal is safe from these marauders

and even the mighty tiger will usually

avoid a direct confrontation.

The dogs move in packs that

may number up to 30.

though an individual wild dog

could never challenge the supremacy

of the tiger,

large packs have been known

to attack him.

During such a fight the big cat can

inflict heavy casualties.

Once a besieged tiger destroyed 12 dogs

before he himself was killed and eaten

As the younger dogs play,

they are watched by a mob

of near-hysterical chital.

The herd rushes into the forest

where the pack will soon follow.

The incapacitated are left behind.

The lush grasses lure the reclusive gaur,

or Indian bison,

out of their forest strongholds.

These are the largest wild

cattle in the world.

A large bull stands over six feet

at the shoulder

and may weight up to 2,000 pounds.

The adults have little to fear

from the tiger.

It is the calves and yearlings

that are vulnerable.

Whenever a tiger is detected,

when the cows and bulls snort

and toss their heads in threat

the big cat has no chance

of making a kill.

To the contrary, an alerted herd

can be a danger to the tiger.

At the turn of the century some 40,000

tigers stalked India's jungles.

By 1972 they numbered fewer than 2000.

This grim fact was the signal

for courageous

and far-reaching conservation efforts.

These have been so effective that

if the tiger is to survive in the wild

its best chance is now probably

in India,

in reserves like Kanha and Ranthambhor

where the tiger has already made

an impressive comeback.

With Kanha's riches restored

by the monsoon,

the tiger is no longer tied to

a few scant water holes.

It wanders widely and leaves the plains

for the denser vegetation of the hills

A green curtain is drawn over

its presence,

and the tiger becomes more

elusive than ever,

a hidden force that inspires

even greater dread

among all the animals

that live under its tyranny.

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