The Wildlife India

Shouldering the responsibility of the four orphaned cubs after the death of his mate on May 15 in Panna tiger reserve , the male tiger seems to have been courting two tigresses ringing alarm bells for the young ones. Initially the tiger apparently refused the company of tigresses . After the death of their mother – the tigress P213-32 - the male tiger 243 has not harmed the four cubs. They have now turned 10 -months old. So far the tiger has protected the cubs from co- predators.  On  July 29, the World Tiger Day, we bring an amazing story of the tiger family from Panna where the park management is learning new lessons on the behavior of the top predator every day.   United they Stand, Kill and Survive On May 15 2021, the tigress 213-32 died of “unknown illness”. The tigress was survived by the four cubs which were about 7 months old and their life was at risk.  But  the tiger P243 .considered as their father  ,always remained around them . The tiger n...

  If you think tiger is the only animal in India which is poached to fetch millions. You are mistaken. As the big cat received all the attention, the wildlife poachers shifted their focus to other animals. Huge demand for Red-crowned roofed turtles in China and  the far east nations has  led to a situation when  only about 500 of them  remained in  the river Chambal .  Besides, pangolin scales are also in demand. Recent conviction of wildlife smugglers by a court in Sagar further emphasized the importance of conservation of other species. Turtle with Courtship Coloration There was a time when the habitat of this beautiful multi-colored turtle would stretch to a great length in central Nepal, northeastern India, Bangladesh and probably Burma where they flourished in deep flowing fresh water rivers .But   their numbers declined drastically after rampant poaching for their meat and shells from countries like China. But the major attraction also ...

More than two and half years after a  bullet was fired from a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle by a professional hunter  shooting down  T1 of Avni, the man eater tigress in Yavatmal district of  Maharashtra , controversies continued to surround the shoot out. The case is also being heard in the Supreme Court and  government inquiries are also ordered to probe it. But the core issue of  fragmented  forests of the country and the poor connectivity of tiger corridors has taken a back seat. T1 - and her two cubs - were among the large number of tigers living outside the reserve forests when she became a man eater. The ferocious tigress was drifting around jungles and farmland near the town of Pandharkawada  town where a professional hunter shot her dead on November 2 ,2018. Tigress on the Prowl Avni, perhaps had migrated to Ralegaon area and Pandharkawada from Tipeshwer wildlife sanctuary 50-60km west of Loni village in Yavatmal district. Her first kill ...

Nobody is talking about this issue. What would be the fate of the much awaited Lion project in Kuno Palpur national park where preparations are in full swing to welcome cheetahs, the fastest animal on  the earth.  The MP government is tightlipped over the issue and  so are the IFS ( Indian Forest Service) community of the state . Eight cheetahs  from Namibia and South Africa are expected to be airlifted to Kuno , nestled  in Sheopur district about 390 kms  away from Bhopal ,in November this year. Five male cheetahs and three females will be donated by Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) of South Africa. Work on to Welcome Cheetah There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the state eversince the Supreme Court approved the project in January 2020.A three-member committee comprising former director Wildlife of India Ranjit Singh, DG of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dhananjay Mohan and DIG, Wildlife, Union ministry of Environment and Forests to guide the ...

  She is 105 year old and retired 17 -year ago. Vatsala is the oldest surviving elephant on the earth.  Her name should have entered the Guinness Book of World Records. The female elephant has been in news after reports of deteriorating health conditions in Panna tiger reserve (PTR) , Vatsala’s home.  The director of PTR Uttam Kumar Sharma confirms she is about 105 years old.  thewildlifeindia would want  the state forest department to approach  the Guinness Books to  help Vatsala create a world record . For the last several days she had stopped eating and was unwell, said PTR veterinarian Dr Sanjeev Gupta. “But now she is improving as she has resumed food intake”, he said. From Kerala to PTR, it was a Long Journey The female elephant was shifted to the PTR in 1993 from the Bori reserve forest located in Hoshangabad district. In fact, she was brought to Bori from Kerala's Nilambur forest in 1971.In 2007, when Shahbaz Ahmed was director of the PTR he h...

Your favourite - thewildlifeindia.com is now among the top ten blogs on the Web. And it is the only Indian blog which could find a place in the prestigious list released by Feedspot, a content reader for reading all favourite websites in one place.  Feed post released the latest ranking of the top 60 Wildlife RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds on June 22 where thewildlifeindia ranked at 9th spot. The Hall of Fame In the last 12 months of period,  thewildifeindia  continues to  be patronized  by its readers  as  it improved its ratings twice in the period.  In January this year, the blog was placed at 14th place  in the Feedspot  ratings in the list of top 60 wildlife Blogs and Websites.  Six months later in June this year, the ratings further improved and thewildifeindia was included in the top ten blogs on the web. Following is the list. https://blog.feedspot.com/wildlife_rss_feeds/ 1.Global Wildlife Conservation, United States...

Almost 8 months after inclusion in the list of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves , Bundelkhand’s unique ecology and heritage are all set to be ravaged. A river linking project with a proposed cutting of almost 20 lakh trees has already endangered the home of the tigers of Panna. Another 2.5 lakh trees are going to be felled to give way to a diamond project which is all set to devastate further a tiger corridor. And the way things are heading, digging for diamonds may begin soon. This is an important tiger corridor used by the big cats dispersing from Panna tiger reserve to other jungles. The peregrination of Panna’s legendry T3 male and P211 among others through the woods of Buxwah has already been recorded in the past. Tigers Frequent Through Buxwah Forests Much has already been written about the about the controversial river linking project which experts feel is going to be a bane and not a boon for the drought prone Bundelkhand.  This is going to submerge the best of ...

Thirty days after the death of a tigress in Panna , her four cubs continue to grow, thanks to  the loyal male tiger who sired them and the staff of the tiger reserve . As the park staff closely monitors the upbringing of the cubs in the absence of their mother, it turned out to be a learning experience for them.  Imagine, the tiger hunts for the cubs and the park staff delivers it in the ‘cubs’ territory’ to enable them to eat.  Some new lessons in tiger conservation are being learnt every day by Panna tiger  reserve of Madhya Pradesh. Cubs’ Territory: Lesson for the Litter and the Staff Images of the cubs’ movement churned out by the camera traps have been immensely useful for the park management to monitor them. Disciplined cubs remain in their territory which has been termed as ‘cubs territory’ by the park. “They now have a territory within which they move. Size of this territory is less than one square kilometer. We can call it ‘Cub’s Territory’”, says Uttam Kuma...

In the Mowgli land of Central India’s Pench tiger reserve , ‘ Bagheera’  has returned. And this black leopard is attracting the attention of a large number of wildlife tourists. So far only a few lucky people got a chance to have some glimpses of this elusive big cat, mostly wandering around the buffer zone of the jungle and also often visiting the core area. Despite the presence of  the star big -cats like Collarwalli, Patdev or L-Mark, there is a lot of buzz  in the park about ‘ Bagheera‘ too. Kipling Immortalises Black Panther Rudyard Kipling immortalized the black panther  –Bagheera. As a child Kipling lived in India and most of his stories are set in the country, though it is not entirely clear in exactly which part of the country.  The jungles that claim to be associated with Kipling stories include Pench National Park located near the district of Seoni.  Also read : Like Her Mother in Pench, Patdev Tigress delivers 5 cubs The park is also popularly k...

Pench tiger reserve is celebrating the birth of five cubs thesedays. And this has happened after a long gap of almost 11 years. Wildlife lover were enthralled  when they first spotted T4  nicknamed Patdev moving around with her cubs,delivered some time in November last year. The majestic feline seems to be following the path of   her mother, the celebrated tigress- Collarwalli . The mom, still the most popular tigress of Pench, has  so far delivered 29 cubs in her 17 years’ of life, a record of sorts. With her fourth litter of 5 cubs, T4 has till now delivered 16 cubs. Will she be as fertile as Collarwalli ? Wildlife experts answer in affirmative. She can as she is just 11- year of age.   The Crown Princess of Pench Patdev was born in 2010 to Rayakassa male and Collarwalli from her third litter with 5 cubs. After marking her area , T4 settled down in the northeastern side of Kalapahad .  But she also started dominating in about a 30 sq km area...

  Besides playing an exceptional father, this Panna tiger also seems to be showing great emotions for his mate. The tiger is spending long hours at the spot where the tigress was cremated. Just after an hour of cremation of his beloved, the tiger was spotted on the same site- sitting quietly as if missing the mate. In another instance he was again  found sitting, for a considerable amount of time,  this time at the location where the tigress had died .These are the moments when the tiger tracking team  could actually  notice it.  They feel the tiger is usually moving around the same spots, the place of cremation and the jungle patch where the tigress died on May 15, the culmination of almost two years’  of companionship between the male tiger P243 and the female P213-32. Caring Father,  Teaching Life Lessons The exceptional fatherly act by P243 not only caught the attention of the tiger enthusiast all around the globe but also is proving to be fr...

Braving the blistering May afternoons on the banks of Chambal River, a dedicated team of National Chambal Gharial sanctuary scan the sand mounds spread over a long patch of the river that flows into ravines. This long walk is actually the beginning of a very delicate exercise for the ex-situ conservation of   Gharial (Gavialis Gangeticus ) , a critically endangered reptile.  The scanning of sands includes the sighting of nests and counting of their numbers and then collection of  200 eggs. And all this takes almost a month’s time. Chambal is one of the few habitats left in the world for these reptiles. In May end, sanctuary staff are ready for the magic moment - the emergence of hatchlings from the egg. Calling Mom from Beneath the Sand The ex-situ conservation of Gharial assumes significance and is an extremely important exercise carried out from March when the Gharials lay their eggs to May when they crack the egg with their snout to see the world  . Despite ...

When four tiger cubs orphaned in Panna national park on May 15, everybody was concerned about their safety.  Wildlife experts thought that the life of the four cubs was at risk after their mother died under mysterious circumstances.  Ever since, the cubs are at the mercy of a male tiger who had fathered them about 7 to 8 months ago.  And this tiger is displaying some extraordinary pro social behavior. A picture released by the tiger reserve showed the new family equation: four cubs- three sitting on a rock while the fourth on the ground – enjoying the company of their ‘father’. It was clicked on May 22.  The Tiger Protects the Cubs  The tiger conduct has left the wildlife experts amazed. Initially, no tiger expert was sure of the safety of these cubs and the duration for which the male tiger would   share his kill with the cubs.  But now it appears that P243, the male tiger, is rearing the cubs like a mother.  The tiger is sharing the kill a...