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I saw this brave young female cub confront a fully grown sloth bear together with her sister. The whole action took place in the tall elephant grass that is prolific in the Agrazari zone in Tadoba so I was unable to record the sequence. This image was recorded after that particular incident after she sat down for a breather. Nikon 7100+200-500 F/7.1 ISO1600 1/250s late evening JAN 2017.
Looks so young and confident. Liked the composition. I had read Jim Corbett witnessing a tiger and bear fight. It would have been really an amazing sight to see two female tigers fighting a grown bear. She looks quite fine after the fight. You got to know what happened to the bear or what was the fight about? Thanks for sharing.
Hi Shyamala, you witnessed an epic scene. Tigers (for that matter most of the animals) are very wary of sloth bears, but do not dare to attack. But these were the progeny of legendary 'Waghdoh' the last generation as the Great Tiger is most likely dead. Thanks for sharing.
During the course of earlier safaris we had sighted a large sloth bear gorging himself on the ber fruit which lay strewn in the grass under the trees around the Navegaon pond.On this particular evening we were waiting for the cubs to come to the pond for their evening drink of water. We knew that they were holed up in a khud close to the rocky hilltop(on which I photographed the cub).Suddenly I saw this sloth bear cross the hilltop and descend to the plain below which was covered by elephant grass and the Ber trees. I was just wondering" my God the cubs are there" when suddenly this cub charged out of the khud and surprise the bear. She was accompanied by her sister. The bear made a desperate dash for it. Then probably realizing their inexperience he turned around and stood up and confronted them both.This brought the cubs to a halt. That gave the wily bear enough time to make a clean get away.I suppose the bear went hungry that evening:D It was a hilarious episode . It seemed almost as if both the parties enjoyed the interlude.
Subhash, according to the naturalists these cubs were fathered by Khalli a very dangerous male who has been photographed only once. One of the naturalist showed me an image of this famous tiger.I quite thought this particular cub resembled her famous father:001_unsure:.His territory also extends across the agrazari zone.
Liked the image & the composition. It would have been a very good sighting seeing the cubs chasing the sloth bear. Yes, Khali is the father of Madhuri's current cubs. He is the father of Sharmili's cubs too. There is a new young male also seen on Junona/Dewada side. Got a chance to see Madhuri & her current cubs in Nov 2016 on Junona/Dewada side. When I compare my image of this cub with the above image I can see the difference in their size (especially head) & how much more they have grown in a span of 3 months . Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shyamala Kumar
Dear Shyamala and Ulhas, Thanks for letting me know the correct details, I was under the impression that Junona / Dewada/ Amritjhari were the area of 'Waghdoh' alone. I did hear the name of Khali during my recent visit in Jan-17, I hope to see him someday :)
By the way just discovered that the cub in the image is a male one:confused:Was just checking the sequence with the sloth bear.The accompanying cub was a female .Certainly he was always the one in lead ,the aggressive one.
Nice image. The angle also is good. The eye contact makes this image engaging. Is it on a bund or raised ground? Most of the times the adolescents are prone to charge anyone. Adulthood brings certain maturity and thy don't charge often. In fights, there are always chances of the tiger to get injured. The sloth bear is an ill-tempered creature and has powerful claws. However a pair of tigers vs one sloth bear made the sloth bear decide to avoid the conflict. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi