Charger and 3 cubs

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

We were watching Charger dozing and the cubs coming out and settling all around him. He kept on looking at us periodically, kind of checking warily. In this shot we have the rest of the cubs too looking at us along with him...it was a riveting moment!
Shot with the Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-300mm lens, 300 mm, ISO 500, 1/60s - F/7.1

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Well composed image reflecting extended family bond. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[V S Sankar]

Photographs of leopard familys are rare and here you got a good one.Must have been very exciting to observe them.

Regards

[Prasad Dingankar]

Lovely... Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice moment .The cubs look very cute... even in Bera this must be rare.

TFS
Roopak

[Mrudul Godbole]

Lovely poses and eye contacts from all. Is this a crop? How far were they? The shutter speed was less, was this photographed early morning? Thanks for sharing.

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

Thanks all. They were photographed late evening hence the slow shutter speed. The distance was about 60ft...this is a 40% crop.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Kaustuv,
It seems you had a fantastic time with this leopard and her cubs. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bhargava Srivari]

Nice to know that you had a superb time with the family. If my memory serves me right, the locals used to call a female who was sighted regularly as "charger", and this must be her second litter of cubs. So perhaps it should be a "she" :)

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

No...that female is Zara, Charger is her male sub adult cub seen here with her latest litter of cubs.

An amazing factoid of the natural world, Charger is also the father of the latest litter...

[Bhargava Srivari]

Really? :-O There was the sad incident of in-breeding then?

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

Yes...and this is when there is a male called Cut ear who is the resident adult male for the area. Bera is a strange an unique ecosystem that way...Charger is now 2.5 yrs old and should have left Zara. But he's still around with the new family. Looking at the socialization, this is the 1st time I've encountered or heard of the father hanging around with the mother and cubs as they are known to be solitary by nature. Tiger behavior was also thought to be solitary till numerous cases have recorded of males socializing with the female and cubs and playing a supportive role. I wonder if this is so due to insufficient prey base in the area which makes them stay together.