Tigress Scent Marking#1/Bandipur

[Praveen Siddannavar]

This tigress was sniffing a lot and also scent marking, I can think of few reasons. In general female tigers don't scent mark so often, however in this case she is doing it so the that her cubs can easily track her. I also have a feeling that Gowri is now ready to mate hence inviting the male tigers and marking her presence felt.
I have few images of the scent marking with spray will post them soon

p.s.these are my assumptions, I am not a Tiger behavior expert.

Expert comments welcome

Camera - Canon EOS 7D, 500mm

Av 6.3
Tv 1/400
ISO 400
EC -0.3
Focal length 500mm
Bean bag support
Date and Time : 3rd Dec'11 @ 8:28am

[Bhargava Srivari]

Nice behavior. A positive EC would have been better here though. Did you make any horizontal images of this? Also, I wish there was some kind of a head turn..that would have made this a very very interesting image. In fact, I think I had seen a couple of such pictures from this sighting, posted by others elsewhere.

tfs

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice behavior captured. Its good that you could get the spraying action. Agree a horizontal would have been good, but if this is a full frame then at 500mm, I think Praveen would not have got the tail in full. So I feel the present composition works. An head turn would have definitely been a bonus. A +ve EC would have been good. Thanks for sharing.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks Mrudul and Bhargava, the light was tricky and the tigress was on the move, so you can imagine the challenges faced by any photographer.

None of my photographer friends managed to capture the scent spray atleast in my jeep, I also have image with head turn but the spray isn't visible. I have plenty of images of this sighting will post them, I am sure we will find the one that satisfies 100%.

[V S Sankar]

Great photograph and begaviour.Was the camera on 'continous shooting mode"?

Its wonderful that you manage to get good pictures of these tigers of Bandipur.

Regards

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Wildlife photography is perhaps the most challenging among all the branches of photography. One can add war/conflicts photography as well in that bracket as one can get shot while capturing images.

How much crop is this? And crop from where?

I agree that eye contact with the tigress would have been better.

Both the tiger as well as tigress do scent marking. There are 41 different chemicals in the liquid ejected during scent marking. The purpose of scent markings can vary. How many times did you see her scent marking?

Some details about sense of smell: Tiger: Sense of Smell - Flehmen Response - Indiawilds: Land of the Tiger. Conservation, Wildlife Photography, Communities

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Anand Madabhushi]

Praveenji

This is awesome.

About the eye contact.......one: the objective of the tiger/tigress is to mark territory. two: the animals are oblivious to the cameras.........and they could not care less......three: they possibly can not look in to the camera and also do what they are doing.

In my recent visit to Bandhavgarh I had the opportunity to witness Bamera (male) and Kankathi (female) marking their territory. The female was doing it more often. I am thrilled at watching them and no regrets that I do not have a decent image.

Regards

Anand

This tigress was sniffing a lot and also scent marking, I can think of few reasons. In general female tigers don't scent mark so often, however in this case she is doing it so the that her cubs can easily track her. I also have a feeling that Gowri is now ready to mate hence inviting the male tigers and marking her presence felt.
I have few images of the scent marking with spray will post them soon

p.s.these are my assumptions, I am not a Tiger behavior expert.

Expert comments welcome

Camera - Canon EOS 7D, 500mm

Av 6.3
Tv 1/400
ISO 400
EC -0.3
Focal length 500mm
Bean bag support
Date and Time : 3rd Dec'11 @ 8:28am