A male tiger has been found to be raising four of its cubs all alone after the mother tigress died due to a prolonged illness.
As per reports, the incident has been observed by wildlife experts in Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
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After the tigress lost its life on May 15, the forest department officials located the cubs and found the tiger taking care of them.
To study the behavior of the tiger further, the forest department decided to set up cameras and observe their movements for a month.
After going out through the camera trap pictures and videos, the forest officials found that the tiger rarely left the territory of the cubs and was even killing prey for them.
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The forest department observed the tiger and the cubs for a month between May 20 and June 20.
It also found that was the tiger roaming in a large area but it did not remain away from the cubs’ territory for more than two days
“The tiger made all the kills away from their territory and brought the dead prey for them,” the report quoted US Sharma, the field director of Panna Tiger Reserve as saying.
Moreover, the tiger did not even take its cubs while hunting for food and even left prey for them while it goes out of its territory.
“On May 21, he killed a sambhar and shared the kill with the cubs. On June 6, the tiger killed a cow early in the morning a little distance from the cubs’ territory, but it did not eat it,” the field director said.
Wildlife experts said that such kind of behavior among tigers is quite rare.
“Next two to three months are very crucial for gaining skills for surviving the wild. The average weight of the cubs is around 50kg, which ideally should increase to 80-90kg by the time they turn one. Currently, all four cubs are healthy and making good progress in the wild. They don’t seem to be stressed, instead, they are playful and quite active. All four cubs are staying and roaming together,” said Alok Kumar, principal chief conservator of forest, wildlife.