
National Geographic: Land of the Tiger
- Year:
- 1985
- 29 Views
December.
It is winter in Kanha National Park
in central India.
These very same grasslands and
forests were the inspiration
for Rudyard Kipling's immortal
Jungle Book stories.
Kanha National Park is
prime tiger country.
Sixty years ago its 363 square miles
were part of vast primordial forests.
Since then these forests have been
denuded on a gigantic scale.
But Kanha has been preserved
in its pristine state.
still spreads his dread.
Just before dawn
this male tiger killed a sambar stag.
Now, a few hours later,
he drags his prize into deep cover
to hide it
from the prying eyes of vultures.
Like all of his kind he is solitary
for most of his life
a lone hunter who lives by stealth.
The night has been cold.
The gray langur monkeys,
after their first meal of the day,
rest and groom each other
in the warmth of the early sun.
winter is the season of birth
for most langurs.
This newborn, only a few hours old,
is the center of attraction.
The new member of the troop is passed
from one female to another
as many as ten times in half an hour.
It is treated with great curiosity
and affection.
This "aunt" behavior, as it is called,
inducts the infant into the troop,
makes it feel welcome and secure.
more than two months ago.
But along the streams the vegetation
is still green.
Grass-shrouded water holes are
perfect hiding places
to ambush the chital.
Despite his power and camouflage
the tiger often fails to make a kill.
Only about one hunt in twenty
ends in success.
In mid-January, when winter
is at its coldest,
the rut of the barasingha
reaches its peak.
During this season of courtship
and mating,
stages bugle and fight
will mate with the does.
from her cave
where she is hiding newborn cubs.
Helpless young with great fierceness
and devotion.
It will be some weeks before she will
bring her cubs out into the open.
For the most part, Kanha's tigers
remain elusive and mysterious,
concealed by the dense undergrowth
and the jungles of grass.
But in Ranthambhor National Park
the habitat is drier and more open.
In February, early spring in India,
Ranthambhor's 64 square miles
are already parched.
a vague memory.
a chain of lakes,
and it is because of this permanent
water that wild animals flourish here.
Unlike pristine Kanha,
Ranthambhor has a long history
of human occupation
dating back to the 11th century.
Dominating the reserve
is Ranthambhor fort.
Now deserted by man, the fort
has become the haunt of animals.
Centuries ago it was the focal point
of a vigorous city.
Battles raged back and forth
over the hills.
In more recent times villages thrived
deep inside Ranthambhor.
But their inhabitants have also gone.
They were encouraged to settle
on better land outside the park.
Monuments to forgotten dramas
dot the reserve.
This stone marks the spot where
where she burned herself alive
on her husband's funeral pyre.
Only the ruins remain.
Man has moved out of Ranthambhor after
almost a thousand years
and returned it to the wildlife.
On this cool spring morning it is not
an ancient warrior who keeps vigil,
but a tigress on the lookout for sambar,
her favorite prey.
When the sambar lie down to chew
their cud, they are still out of range
The deer's senses of smell
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"National Geographic: Land of the Tiger" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 18 Jan. 2021. <https://www.scripts.com/script/national_geographic:_land_of_the_tiger_14547>.