Ceci fait suite à "Le poil de la bête" mis en ligne le 27 mai 2020.
A Sariska, la dynamique tigréenne en cours depuis 2013 a son origine à Ranthambore, où le choix individuel d'un jeune mâle a été déterminant. En février 2011, deux petites tigresses s'y sont retrouvées orphelines après la mort de leur mère par intoxication alimentaire. C'est alors qu'un jeune mâle décida de prendre soin d'elles.
In an extremely rare and unusual turn of events, the father, a young male named T-25, took the responsibility of nurturing the young ones. It is the first reported case of its kind here, where a male tiger raised the young cubs.
The extremely rare male tiger behavior was corroborated by anecdotal observations of the forest officials. The forest department at RTR engaged in proactive monitoring of cubs while occasionally feeding them. Rajbir, a forester at RTR for the past 25 years, recalled that on many occasions he witnessed that after making a kill, the male tiger, the father, use to make growling sounds to call the cubs and share the kill with them. Again, this is unexpected behaviour and a rare response in the case of solitary male tigers. Moreover, the father would actively accompany the cubs to ensure protection and defended their territory from other intruding tigers who were also an imminent threat to their survival. Often, the father was observed training the cubs for necessary skills for survival and reprimanding them – something that the mother usually does.
As these cubs grew older, they started to occupy the familiar areas in and around Kachida which were once ruled by their mother. The sisters then moved up to the Amaghati area, which is more exposed to anthropogenic disturbance and they would often stray out into the nearby resorts.
Deux ans plus tard, les deux jeunes tigresses furent relocalisées à Sariska. To bring fresh life in the recovery plan, the orphaned female tigers (once known as Bina-I and Bina-II), who were raised by their father, were brought from Ranthambore to Sariska in January 2013 and named ST-9 and ST-10. The relocated sisters have acclimatised very well in their new habitat and contributed significantly in building up the tiger population in reserve. In initial days they explored a large area in search of territories but gradually settled down and demarcated their territories. Tigress ST-9 occupied areas of Sariska and Talvriksh ranges, whereas, ST-10 tigress occupied the areas of Talvriksh and Akbarpur ranges which they are using to date. Contrary to speculations made about their survival, both the tigresses actively started hunting on their own. There were reports of kills made by the tigresses mostly on wild animals and few on cattle.
Elles sont à l'origine de l'actuel renouveau populationnel.
La troisième génération descendante d'une des 2 soeurs (de ST-17 à ST-21) arrive aujourd'hui à l'âge adulte, ouvrant ainsi une perspective de solidification de long terme de la présence tigréenne dans le secteur. As the third generation of ST-10 is on the verge of adulthood and already started demarcating their territories, the future seems bright for the reserve. It seems, in the form of newborns, with its vibrant colors, nature is painting for us, a beautiful future.
Voir l'article détaillé de Hemant Singh pour "Mongabay-India", avant-hier.
