[Leica] A Tiger Story

[ric at cartersxrd.net (RicCarter)]

good story and photos

ric


On May 5, 2013, at 9:26 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> 
wrote:

> Just a tiger story as it played out in Ranthambhore last month. A lot
> of the shots were taken at long distance, through trees, grass, twigs
> and leaves and then cropped - and the first one has been included for
> the story's sake. The lighting for the morning shots was also quite
> difficult - shooting into the sun, with a water body reflecting
> everything. Anyway, here goes, hope you enjoy the tale:
> 
> Our first sighting was the female T22, the mother of T24:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0719-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Our next sighting, after a few minutes, was the male T24, the dominant
> male of the southern end of Ranthambhore, dragging a half eaten
> carcass through the trees, periodically stopping to eat a morsel:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0762.jpg.html
> 
> When he reached a clearing, it was apparent that the carcass was that
> of a young Nilgai, a large antelope. It was also getting apparent that
> T24 had stolen the kill from his mother T22, and they were not
> together for mating (tigers in Ranthambhore are notoriously
> incestuous):
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0799.jpg.html
> 
> It was clear that he was making for Phoota Kot, a water body close by:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0848.jpg.html
> 
> He dragged the carcass into the water, and entered with quite a splash:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0857.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0864.jpg.html
> 
> He gave us a snarl or two as a general warning:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0878.jpg.html
> 
> He then stashed his scavenged kill in the water. Tigers do this both
> to slow down the decomposition of the meat, and to easier defend it
> against other tigers.:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_0887.jpg.html
> 
> After this, his mother also came to the water, probably to try and see
> if she could get something out of her son - no such luck - his ears
> pinned back, hair bristling, growling, he saw her off in no time.
> Unfortunately this encounter was half hidden from our position, and I
> got no shots of it.
> 
> We came back in the afternoon, and he was there, cooling off and
> guarding the carcass. The ears and the body of the nilgai is visible,
> floating in the water, at the top right:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_1090.jpg.html
> 
> A last shot - the wind acted up, and a thunderstorm was imminent, and
> he obviously smelt something!:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Ranthambhore_20130418_1143.jpg.html
> 
> Please see LARGE
> 
> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
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