International Tiger Day: Capturing elegance of the big cats

I was driving through the forests of Ranthambore one winter morning, when we spotted a tiger cub by the dry stream bed under a tree. It kept looking up at the tree, and we couldn’t figure out what it was looking at. It was only after a few moments that we saw this tigress appear between the branches and leaves on the tree.

She soon descended the tree, slowly digging her nails in the tree bark, as she jumped off from a height. Tigers are not great tree climbers like leopards, but they do a fairly good job if the tree branches out at a lower height, and/or if the tree is slightly slanted. They also are known to climb only a select few types of trees. Since they are far heavier animals compared to the leopards, they find it difficult to lift their body weight up a tree.

Tigers and the Great Indian Rhinoceros are the two giants of the floodplains of Kaziranga in Assam. Kaziranga is a World Heritage Site, and is home to the largest population of rhinos in India. Most of the plains of Kaziranga submerge under water as the Brahmaputra river swells during the monsoon. On one of my tours in the winter, we were watching rhinos scattered in the grasslands feeding, and we had no clue about the presence of a tiger in the area.

While we were photographing the rhinos, this young male tiger walked nonchalantly amongst half a dozen rhinos who were busy feeding on the fresh grass. Kaziranga is one of the unique habitats in India and while it was once known to host the highest density of tigers, it is not easy to see tigers in this landscape anymore. Tigers are known to hunt rhino calves and there is varied documentation of tigers feeding on adult rhinos as well.

Ranthambhore in Rajasthan is a dry and arid forest and has been a stronghold for tigers in India. The tiger was known as a royal animal, which meant only the kings and queens of the region could kill them. This beautiful palace from around the 1600s is on a small island on a lake called Rajbagh lake in Ranthambhore, and has been referred to as a hunting place. The royals would either shoot from the platforms in these palaces or they use this as a resting place in the forest. We saw this young tigress mating with a young male tiger one summer morning. Seeing tigers in the wild is quite thrilling, but the historical reference here made the setting far more beautiful and it turned out to be a storytelling image by itself.

Shivang Mehta is an award-winning wildlife photographer, author, and a former journalist.

Tigers are prolific breeders and the queen of Mowgli land, Pench, has proved it by entering the Guinness World records by being the most productive wild tiger in the wild. With 26-odd cubs, she has not only numbers to showcase but also the fact that she is a responsible mother as she accomplished the rare feat of raising a litter of five to maturity.

There are tigers and then there are tigers that hit international headlines. T24 Ustaad was put behind bars for killing four humans, but got the nation together as people were on the streets rallying to his support. Never before has a tiger caused a major uproar in Indian wildlife history.

Contrary to his name, Zaalim of Ranthambore raised eyebrows when he showcased incredible fatherhood by raising two orphaned cubs to maturity. Along with the commendable efforts of the forest department, this male tiger ensured that his cubs were safe from other intruding tigers. A landmark success story of orphaned tigers that were later relocated to Sariska National Park.

Inexperience was on public display as 14-month-old Pacman caught a deer in Ranthambore but didn't know how to kill it. A struggle, which was a turning point in his life as a tiger to become a master hunter later on. The young tiger finally decided to eat the deer alive. Mother Krishna was around but didn't offer a helping hand to the cub. It was all a part of the training process.

Aishwarya Sridhar became the first Indian woman to win the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award at the 56th Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition held in London by the Natural History Museum.

Maya, the most photographed tigress and the reigning queen of Tadoba national park in Maharashtra, controls five major water bodies in her territory. She's also a super mom. Being orphaned at an early age, she relised the importance of inculcating self-reliance in her young ones. Training her cubs earned her the reputation of a tigress who has defied her wild genetics.

I have been fortunate to witness two such training lessons in Tadoba. The first one was a scene that I will never forget, and surprisingly, both happened during a week of my stay at Tadoba. Her strategic techniques of false mating have not only helped her survive but also helped her protect her cubs from rival males too many times. I have never had a trip to Tadoba and not seen Maya. It is as though she senses my love for her and ensures we meet every time I visit.

Vijay Bedi & Ajay Bedi (Canon Cinema EOS Ambassadors) are third generation wildlife film makers and photographers, and won the Green Oscar for their film, 'The Policing Langur'. Their film 'Cherub of the Mist' based on the endangered Red Panda won them an Emmy Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nomination.

This photo was taken soon after the lockdown ended and I headed back to the forest after a break of one year. Riddhi and Siddhi are sisters but now they are grownup and are vying for their own territory. Whoever wins, will keep the territory, an ideal habitat for future cubs.

Something seemed to have changed in the world when I went back to the forest. From the age of the Anthropocene, we seemed to have moved as it is being said now to the Age of the 'Anthropause'. The animals in the forest seemed more relaxed, there were very few tourists those days as i moved around, trying to get these pictures. On a lighter note, the two tigers seemed to be giving each other a fist-bump that seems to have become a reality of our socially-distanced world.

Tigers don't chase; they prowl and then hunt. They hunt at least once a week. Tigers are also night hunters, as their eyesight is six times better than humans.

Tigers can walk around 20 to 30km of their territory in a day. We found this female on the famous Ranthambore lake.

Kairav Engineer: VP, business development, Astral Limited, and accomplished wildlife photographer

Tigers are known to inhabit a variety of habitats, ranging from the snowy woods of Siberia to the dry deciduous forests of Rajasthan. Tigers used to be present from the Caspian Sea to Far East Russia to Indonesia. The sheer adaptability of this big cat led to a large global presence for it before majority of the tiger populations were hunted down.

Tigers love water, and are born swimmers. An adult tiger will spend much of its summers near a pool of water, and will take a customary dip to cool off the body heat generated from feeding on raw meat.

Amit Verma is the chief photographer at Forbes India, and a passionate wildlife photographer.

Rarely does one get a chance to see the tiger deep inside its natural surroundings, but elephant safaris have this advantage to take deep into the forests where they spend most of their time. This particular image gave me a chance to capture moments when the tiger was walking on a beautiful rock in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The top angle from the elephant’s back gave me the vantage point to capture the tiger’s shadow, and also the white spot on its ear, which we miss most of the times because we see the tiger either from a distance or from the front

In the summertime, the probability of sighting a tiger near a waterhole is higher. It was late afternoon that day. It's always best to shoot the tiger from an eye level, and because this tiger was almost at my eye level, I could capture this expression when it was growling at me.