Other name(s) | T-16 |
---|---|
Species | Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) |
Sex | Female |
Born | 1997/ c. [1] Sawai Madhopur, India |
Died | (aged 19) Sawai Madhopur, India |
Title | Queen Mother of Tigers Tigress Queen of Ranthambore The Lady of the Lakes Crocodile Killer |
Owner | Ranthambore National Park |
Parent(s) | Machali I |
Offspring | 11 (7 females and 4 males) |
Appearance | See In the media |
Named after | Machali I |
Machali (Hindi for "fish"; code name: T-16; [2] ), also known as Machli or Machhli, was a Bengal tigress who lived in Ranthambore National Park in India. She was born in the spring of 1997, [1] and died in 18 August 2016. [3] She played a key role in the regeneration of the tiger population in the park in the early 2000s, and was celebrated with titles such as Queen Mother of Tigers, Tigress Queen of Ranthambore, Lady of the Lakes, and Crocodile Killer. She was considered India's most famous tigress and on her death, was considered the oldest living tigress in the wild. [4] [5]
Machali, born in the spring of 1997, [1] was the dominant cub in a litter of three females. [6] She inherited her name from her mother, Machali I, who was also named fish due to a fish-shaped mark on her face. [6] In her first two years, she started hunting on her own and took over a part of her mother's territory. [6]
Tigresses generally have two or three litters; however, over a period of seven years, from 1999 to 2006, Machali had five litters and gave birth to eleven cubs – seven females and four males. [7] [8] Machali's offspring increased the tiger population in the park significantly – from 15 tigers in 2004, to 50 tigers in 2014. Eventually more than half of the tigers in the park were of her lineage. [6] In 2008, two of her female cubs were relocated to Sariska Tiger Reserve and successfully boosted the tiger population in that park as well. [9]
In early 2014, Machali disappeared from her usual area, sparking a search by over 200 park staff. She was sighted after about a month, and appeared to be in good health. She had survived in dense forest by hunting her own prey, despite having been fed by park staff prior to her disappearance. [9] [10]
She was known for her hunting skill and strength, in particular in an incident in 2003 when she fought with and killed a 12-foot-long mugger crocodile. [11] As a result of the fight, she lost two canine teeth. [12] She was also known for her ferocity in protecting her cubs from threats such as male tigers and other animals. [3]
India reportedly earned about US$10 million per year due to tourists attracted by the tigress. [13] She won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of Travel Operators For Tigers due to her contribution to conservation and as a tourist attraction that earned significant income for India. [14]
In 2013, the Indian government issued a commemorative postal cover and stamp to honour the tigress for her ecological and economical contributions. [15] [16] [17]
Machli is considered to have been the most photographed tigress in the world. [11] She was featured in a number of wildlife documentaries, including a 50-minute documentary about her life, titled Tiger Queen, which was aired on the National Geographic and Animal Planet channels. [18] [19] In 2012, the story of Machli was aired on the BBC's Natural World in an episode titled "Queen of Tigers: Natural World Special". [20] [21]
Towards the end of her life, Machali lost almost all of her teeth, sight in one eye, and much of her strength due to aging. She also lost her territory, as her daughter Sundari from her last litter drove her out of her turf. [6] As she was unable to hunt and kill for herself, park staff provided her with food. [3] This intervention became somewhat controversial; tiger expert K Ullas Karanth commented that it resulted in Machali living longer than she should have, and that truly wild animals should be born, live and die naturally. [22]
In August 2016 she became critically ill. Due to her great age, it was considered risky for Ranthambore's rangers and staff to treat and aid her as the medications needed could be harmful or fatal. [6]
Machali died on 18 August 2016. [3] [23] She was 19 years old, older than the average 12 year lifespan of tigers in the wild. [1] She was cremated in observance with traditional Hindu rituals in a public ceremony. [24]
The last few years of Machali's life were captured on film by wildlife filmmaker S. Nallamuthu. Titled 'The World's Most Famous Tiger', the film contains shots like a brief 2-minute showdown between Machali and her daughter Sundari that ends with the former losing control of the Ranthambore Fort and the unusual instance of a former mate joining her in what seemed an act of companionship. [25]
The cladogram below shows the phylogeny (progeny or offspring) of Machali with code names and/or nicknames. From 1999 to 2006, she gave birth to at least 11 cubs. [26] [27]
Machali |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna.
The liger is a hybrid offspring of a male lion and a tigress, or female tiger. The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the opposite hybrid called the tigon, and is the largest of all known extant felines. They enjoy swimming, which is a characteristic of tigers, and are very sociable like lions. Notably, ligers typically grow larger than either parent species, unlike tigons.
Ranthambore National Park is a national park in Rajasthan, India, with an area of 1,334 km2 (515 sq mi). It is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. It is named after the historic Ranthambore Fort, which lies within the park.
Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an area of 881 km2 (340 sq mi) comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills. This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar state and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1958. It was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India's Project Tiger in 1978. The wildlife sanctuary was declared a national park in 1982, with a total area of about 273.8 km2 (105.7 sq mi). It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers. It is an important biodiversity area in the Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor.
A Panthera hybrid is a crossbreed between individuals of any of the five species of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Most hybrids would not be perpetuated in the wild as the territories of the parental species do not overlap and the males are usually infertile. Mitochondrial genome research revealed that wild hybrids were also present in ancient times. The mitochondrial genomes of the snow leopard and the lion were more similar to each other than to other Panthera species, indicating that at some point in their history, the female progeny of male ancestors of modern snow leopards and female ancestors of modern lions interbred with male ancestors of modern snow leopards.
Valmik Thapar is an Indian naturalist, conservationist and writer. He is the author of 14 books and several articles, and has produced a range of programmes for television. Today he is one of India's most respected wildlife experts and conservationists, having produced and narrated documentaries on India's natural habitat for such media as the BBC, Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic.
Panna National Park is an Indian national park in Panna and Chhatarpur Districts of Madhya Pradesh with an area of 542.67 km2 (209.53 sq mi). It was declared in 1994 as the twenty second Tiger reserve of India and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh. Panna National Park was given the Award of Excellence in 2007 as the best maintained national park of India by the Ministry of Tourism of India. Although the reserve went through an ordeal losing almost all of its tigers in 2009 to poaching, a subsequent recovery program touted as one of the most successful big cat population restorations, has resulted in a growth of up to 80 tigers within the park.
Sawai Madhopur is a city in the Sawai Madhopur District in the southeastern part of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the administrative headquarter of Sawai Madhopur District in Rajasthan.
Tigers in India constitute more than 70% of the global population of tigers. Tigers have been officially adopted as the National Animal of India on recommendation of the National Board for Wildlife since April 1973. In popular local languages, tigers are called baagh, puli or sher. The Bengal Tiger is the species found all across the country except Thar desert region, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Kutch region. These can attain the largest body size among all the Felidae, and therefore are called Royal Bengal Tigers. Skin hides measuring up to 4 meters are recorded. The body length measured from its nose to the tip of the tail can reach up to 3 meters and it can weigh up to 280 kilograms, with males being heavier than females. Their average life expectancy is about 15 years. However, they are known to survive for up to 20 years in wild. They are solitary and territorial. Tigers in India usually hunt chital, sambar, barasingha, wild buffalo nilgai and gaur and other animals such as the wild pig for prey and sometimes even other predators like leopards and bears. There are instances of Elephant calves hunted by tigers.
Nandankanan Zoological Park is a 437-hectare (1,080-acre) zoo and botanical garden in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Established in 1960, it was opened to the public in 1979 and became the first zoo in India to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in 2009. It also contains a botanical garden and part of it has been declared a sanctuary. Nandankanan, literally meaning The Garden of Heaven, is located near the capital city, Bhubaneswar, in the environs of the Chandaka forest, and includes the 134-acre (54 ha) Kanjia lake.
Ranthambore Fort lies within the Ranthambore National Park, near the city of Sawai Madhopur in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. the park being the former hunting grounds of the Maharajahs of Jaipur until the time of India's Independence. It is a formidable fort having been a focal point of the historical developments of Rajasthan. The fort is believed to be constructed by numerous kings from Several Dynasties including The Yadavas, Chahamana Rajputs, Hada Rajputs, Mewar Rajput Kings and then the Delhi Sultanate captured it for a brief time. The fort provides a panoramic view of the surrounding Ranthambore National Park and is now a popular tourist attraction.
Mukundara Hills National Park is a national park in Rajasthan, India with an area of 759.99 km2 (293.43 sq mi). It was established in 2004 and consists of three wildlife sanctuaries: Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, National Chambal Sanctuary, and Jawahar Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. It is located in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.
Pench Tiger Reserve or Pench National Park is one of the premier tiger reserves of India and the first one to straddle across two states - Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The reference to Pench is mostly to the tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
Tiger attacks are a form of human–wildlife conflict which have killed more humans than attacks by any of the other big cats, with the majority of these attacks occurring in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Southeast Asia.
Tiger Island is a wildlife attraction in the Dreamworld amusement park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. This exhibit houses for both the Bengal and Sumatran tiger species. The tigers have been raised within the compound and are free to roam and interact with the visitors in the amusement park.
Fateh Singh Rathore was an Indian tiger conservationist. Fateh Singh joined the Indian Forest Service in 1960 and was part of the first Project Tiger team. He was widely acknowledged as the tiger guru for his legendary knowledge of the big cat. He worked over 50 years in wildlife conservation. Rathore was noted for his pioneering relocation of villages from inside the Ranthambhore National Park in 1973–75. Largely because of Mr. Rathore, "Ranthambhore became the place which brought the tiger to the consciousness of people the world over."
T-24, also known as Ustad, was a tiger who lived in Ranthambore National Park, India. He allegedly killed four humans and was put into captivity.
Saroj Raj Choudhury was an Indian environmentalist, wildlife conservationist, writer and the first Forest Conservator under the Government of Odisha. He was also the founder director of the Simlipal National Park, in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha. Choudhury was known for the pugmark technique he employed for tiger census and for his comradeship with Khairi, a domesticated tigress. His experiences with the animal has been documented in a book, Khairi: The Beloved Tigress, written by him and published in 1977. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983.
Sundari was a tiger from Ranthambore National Park, India. She was the daughter of Machali and was once considered the main attraction of Ranthambore.
Aditya 'Dicky' Singh was an Indian wildlife conservationist and wildlife photographer.