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Dipankar Mazumdar
06-04-2009, 06:13 PM
Caught up with Macchli(The daughter of the original machli) in the first safari in Zone-5, Ranthambhore National Park on the 3rd of April. Having sired close to 8 Tigers of the current total of 32 Tigers in Ranthambhore, she has virtually put the tiger population on track.

Although She is well past her prime, pushed out of her primary zone (the lakes, she is also called the Lady of the lakes) by her Daughter, T-17, and has lost three of her four canines(see attached picture) resulting in her hunting only small prey some of which are accosted by resident Males, but boy was she magnificent, her lustrous coat and her swinging gait was spell binding. Spent close to 30 minutes with her and caught her in a variety of moods....Enjoy..!!!!

Lumix FZ18K + TCON 17 TC f/4.2, 1/250, iso 200


Dipankar

Harshad Barve
07-04-2009, 07:38 AM
the legendary tigress caught in good mood

Mohammed Raheel
07-04-2009, 09:12 AM
This picture depicts her in teh most natural environment.
The dried grass adds to the feel :)
Beautiful shot,,,,,

Mrudul Godbole
09-04-2009, 11:24 AM
Nice behaviour captured.Thinking wheather a higher ISO would have helped to capture the action better, it would have enhanced the image by increasing the shutter speed and hence the sharpness. A slight shake of the camera can affect the sharpness. Were you using a tripod or monopod, that helps to keep the camera steady, even a bean bag can help.

30 mins with a tiger is really great..you were lucky :) .Hoping to see the other photographs soon.

Cheers,

Sabyasachi Patra
10-04-2009, 10:02 AM
Dipankar,
A slight loss of Sharpness erases the benefits of lot of megapixels. With increased megapixels in our cameras we have to be more careful about our technique to increase sharpness in our pictures.

You have clicked the image when the mouth was at the full stretch. Normally, you are supposed to get the sharpest image at this point, as the mouth remains still for a moment before it closes. Were you using it handheld?

The out of focus grass infront of the tiger is distracting. It is not always possible to move your position, however, it would have been better if you could have moved a bit to avoid it. A bit of space all around the tigress would have been good as well. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Dipankar Mazumdar
23-04-2009, 03:51 PM
Dear All,
Attached is a news item which should interest you all.Though i am not sure but the male in question is most likely "CHARGER".

Cheers
Dipankar

Sabyasachi Patra
23-04-2009, 04:16 PM
What a gimmick!

Who benefits from this lifetime achievement award? Certainly not the tiger or the tigress in question. I thought the the organisers of this award had better things to do.

Life time achievement award due to it being sighted frequently by some celebrities! :D:D:D

This tigress was kept in the lake area by placing a few kills. It was reported that she was so full of eating that she could hardly walk, but was promptly christened as the "Lady of the Lakes". So much for celebrity endorsement.

Bill Clinton had sighted a male tiger and had had called it "bambooram". It had gone missing soon after that episode.

I hope the tourism operators do some real conservation work rather than indulge in such gimmicks.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Dipankar Mazumdar
23-04-2009, 05:04 PM
Dear Sabhyasachi Da,
Though i am a complete novice, but i do have some difference of opinion with yours. I do agree about this award being a total gimmick, but deep down i also see that some publicity, some trivia or news items need to be undertaken to make the common man respond and say "who is this machli, lets go to Ranthambhore". People like you and me are a small fraction of the larger population who are enthused by the tiger, but a larger segment needs to understand the beauty and power of this magnificient apex predator on whom our survival rests.Probably such gimmicks may enthuse them.

I do understand that our parks are under tremendous pressure from tourists, but i also believe that the tourist gypseys are also a way of patrolling the forests.I know for sure that the tiger losses during rainy season and in the non tourist zones of our national parks are most prone to poaching.

Also i have never heard of machli being fed kills to keep her in the lake area, In ranthambhore the only tiger feeding happens in case of protecting injured tigers as was recently the case.Aditya Singh a keen wildlifer and photographer of some repute, who has been following Machli since birth details out her life and times in his blog (visit url below)

http://ranthambhore.blogspot.com/2007/01/machalis-story.html

To me a Tigress who is the parent of 6 adult living of the 27 tigers in ranthambhore surely deserves a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, however much cliched it may seem.

Just a counter point no offence intended, would love to debate on this one...!!!

Cheers
Dipankar

Sabyasachi Patra
23-04-2009, 07:58 PM
Dipankar,

Don't worry about raising a counter point of view. We are all open and transparent and ready to discuss any conservation issue.

I don't deny that this particular tigress has been able to rear several litters to maturity, not an easy task. However, my comment was not on the tigress but on the utility of such awards.

Any one who knows the tigress being given the name "Lady of the Lakes" knows who the celebrity was and how the tigress was kept in the lake area. You may check with your sources about the incident when our Hon'ble PM had visited Ranthambhore. It was also widely reported in TOI and other dailies. Ofcourse, if you ask any forest dept. guys then they will deny it.

It is easy to believe that tourist vehicles in the tourism zones would help in patrolling. Unfortunately, in most of the parks, the forest department is engaged in tourism rather than patrolling. Also one should know that tourists are not allowed into the core area. So by that logic poaching should be happening in the core area all the time.

You may be aware about the poaching in tigers in Ranthambhore. It was first reported by Fateh Singh Rathore and initially denied by the Park authorities. Ranthambhore has huge number of tourists. So you have to admit that number of tourists have no impact in reducing poaching.

Wildlife tourism is supposed to non-consumptive and its long term impact should be negligible. Unfortunately it is not the case. My detailed views on this topic can be seen by following this link:
http://www.indiawilds.com/diary/wildlife-tourism-boon-or-bane

In India, wildlife tourism is tiger centric. Very few operators take the pains to educate the tourists about the other gems in the forest. The majority of the operators try to enchash on the charisma of the tiger. I thought that the organisers of this lifetime achievement award would be taking steps to ensure that wildlife tourism doesn't have longterm impact (that is what they have mentioned in their objectives), but unfortunately certain things never change.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Chitrita Chatterjee
24-04-2009, 10:15 AM
Read about the " Honour' conferred on to this lady... I agree with Sabyasachi... its a gimmick and the only ones to gain wud be a few officials and some babus.. who will pose for pics with film stars..every body will look into the camera smiling and accepting the awards/rewards for keeping a beautiful wild cat in virtual captivity.... ( she may not have been a captive, but her natural way was definitely tampered with....) Having said that, if this offers ANY gain at all to the overall population of Tigers in this country... then it is welcome.....