AN INTIMATE, SECRET WORLD
Valmik Thapar’s new book, The Sex Life Of Tigers, provides a rare peek into the private lives of big cats in Ranthambhore. Exclusive excerpts
The sexual world of tigers is invisible to most and it was the same for me. I have been through endless books and journals but so little is described regarding this facet of the tiger’s life. And especially in the wild! My very best observation was relegated to a long courtship period that occurred in the mid 1980’s between Noon [a tigress] and Kublai [a big male]. This is what I wrote some 33 years ago “Every day we set out eagerly to search for evidence of the pair. Often we would find them together either lying near each other or occasionally nuzzling each other. On one memorable occasion they indulged in a mock boxing fight rearing up on their hindlegs to swat each other. Low growls resounded but at most it was a playful engagement. As the days passed the evenings were full of tiger sounds with long moans and roars. In the day there was lots of marking and urinating by the female. The male responded with endless rounds of flehmen [sniffing behaviour by tigers]. The intensity of their interactions increased and each day we thought we would see them mating. After two weeks I gave up and went to Delhi. It had been a long courtship and such long periods of courtship are seldom recorded.”
In April 1985, three weeks after the courting had begun Fateh [Singh Rathore, whom Valmik Thapar calls his tiger guru] had his finest encounter. I missed it by a few days and lived on his description of it and some of his remarkable pictures. The flame of the forest was in full bloom. Fateh was driving around the back of Rajbagh, the second lake. As usual he paused to listen to forest sounds and suddenly around him resounded the ear splitting roars of tigers. As he moved to the sound he saw a male and female on the bank of a pool of water behind Rajbagh. He quickly realised the tigers were Kublai and Noon. Dark clouds loomed in the sky. Red flame of the forest flowers bloomed and were strewn around the tigers. Fateh felt it was one of his most spectacular sightings of wild tigers as both tigers started to mate at the edge of the water. A sambar carcass lay in the shallow water. The forest shook with the roars of tigers and Fateh was mesmerized as his camera clicked away. What were his unique observations? For the two hours he watched, the tigers mated every 15 to 20 minutes, and copulation lasted 8 to 15 seconds. Noon initiated the mating each time by rubbing flanks and cheeks and seductively positioning herself in front of the male. The carcass of the sambar was ignored. Crocodiles glided around the carnuance cass attempting to feast and both tigers in between bouts of mating would snarl at them. On three occasions the end of copulation resulted in Noon swivelling around to slap Kublai but each time he jumped away and evaded her wrath. Till Fateh died in 2011 this one evening remained his most memorable. For me it is what I dreamt of as I lived with the vision of his pictures. In a way it triggered me to go into the world of tiger literature and uncover other remarkable encounters of the tiger’s sex life. (From the chapter Tales from the Past)
In early 2017 the two daughters of T19, T83 and T84 popularly called Lightening and Arrowhead were young adults and raring to go. Incessant aggression with their mother had forced her towards Lakarda and Semli some 5 kms away and both sisters were still fighting over the rights to their mother’s territory which was the prey rich lake area. Arrowhead won the battle and her sister Lightening got pushed to the edge between Tamba Khan and Amaghati about 2 kms from the lakes. T19, their mother was now in the Lakarda -Semli area with a new litter of three.
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In the area of the lakes was a very shy male tiger. A recent arrival, T86, was only a few months older than both Lightening and Arrowhead. He kept himself away from human observation but was attracted equally to both T83 and T84. He spent much of his time around the lakes with T84 and she flirted endlessly with him and I knew that after or during the monsoon they would mate. T86 had arrived at the lakes from about 8 to 10 km away in Sawai Man Singh sanctuary which is where zone 7 and 8 are. Young males get kicked out by their mothers when they cross two years and they float around till they find a new spot to reside in...
Lightening also engaged with T86 and twice a week he would stroll into the edges of Amaghati and she would rub flanks and cheeks with him. I remember watching both of them and seeing Lightening make all the moves of attempting to seduce him but he was reluctant and I thought that maybe she had not reached her oestrus. Both the sisters were getting ready to mate. Arrowhead was now completely comfortable in her role as lake tigress, much like her mother and grandmother. She was an expert killer, and knew every of the lake area including the ability to chase sambar in the waters of the lake, that she must have inherited from her mother. Her sister Lightening had focussed on the edge of the park and would frequently surprise visitors at their resorts outside the park and very close to my home. I remember once the shock of a group when they saw her behind the chefs who were preparing their supper late one evening! That is how I left them in June 2017 just before the rains. It was not a good monsoon. By September, even the water in Padam Talao had drastically receded. I have only seen this lake dry twice in 43 years.
When I returned in late October of 2017 and assessed the information from forest guards it was clear that T86 had mated with both sisters. The question was if at the age of 42 to 43 months they were mature enough to have conceived. And could the young male at 3.9 years perform successfully? It was clear their behaviour had changed and both sisters were not as frequently seen. Lightening would pass by the outer fringes once a week and Arrowhead was not as frequent around the lakes. I was certain that at least one was pregnant. But now there was a new entrant to this story. An even younger male T95 who was just over two and a half years was very active on the edges from the town of Sawai Madhopur to Amaghati and was trying to sniff out Lightening’s movement. (From the chapter Ranthambhore’s Tigers and Their Sexual World) In June 2018,Thapar finally saw Lightening mating with T95 . He writes:
Avery special dream of mine had come true. For over five hours they mated 15 times...
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Love, aggression, cuddling and a frantic ability of the female to continuously arouse the male into action and this is the reason that a tigress is sometimes called a sex maniac! They engaged in every position for the camera with low rough growls... In between bouts of mating the female would roll on her back and on approaching the male would lick him and nibble at him in an effort to rouse him. The female then seductively positions herself making it clear she is ready for copulation. (From the chapter My Finest Day)
In August, Thapar was lucky again. He saw a 12-year-old tigress mating with a male several years her junior.