The obituaries have been written, pictures have been selected and framed but Machli, India’s best-known tigress, still lives. The mother of almost 60 per cent of Indian tigers turned 20 years old in May. The average age of the Royal Bengal Tiger is 10-15 years.
She is named Machli after a fish-shaped mark on the left side of her face. And her face is an internationally known one. There have been many documentaries shot about her life and her prowess over the Ranthambore National Park. The continuous spotlight on her made her quite a star and she is very calm around tourists who visit the national park. Some conservationists snubbed her calm behaviour as “tourist-friendly” as she is known to pose for tourists and makes for a valiant model. Such was her popularity that it drew people from far and wide, again and again, to see her.
But she did not become a star just by posing. She is a fierce fighter and doting mother. She once challenged a 14-ft long crocodile, and won. While most tigresses have two or three litters in their lifetimes, Machli had five litters. She was a muscular tiger who was also surprisingly agile on her feet. In her early years, she took on several larger males when they threatened her or her cubs. She was so ferocious that most male tigers feared her.
To read the whole article written by Susmita Mukherjee on India Times, click here.
