The whole silence of the entire forest was just broken.
This is not usually how a tiger makes a kill.
My name is Shivang Mehta
I’m a nature and wildlife photographer based out of India.
I’ve been spending the last two decades documenting
wild cards and other species of my country.
This encounter happened in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan in India.
Ranthambore is probably one of India’s very unique habitats,
where it’s a combination and blend of ancient history and natural history.
So the park has got a very unique kind of a habitat with some beautiful lakes,
ruins, monuments and the grand Ranthambore fort in the backdrop.
This is a place where wars were being fought
at one point of time, and in today’s time wars are still fought,
but in the animal kingdom, in the tiger kingdom.
The key character around which this story is revolving is T-19
Krishna, who was the reigning queen of Ranthambore at that time.
I started following Krishna’s lineage
because I was fortunate enough to document her mother,
Queen Machali, the Lady of the Lakes as she was called.
In fact, the most photographed tiger of the world at one point of time.
And she died as
the oldest surviving wild tiger,
so Krishna was much Machali’s last litter.
In 2014, Krishna gave birth to three cubs.
Those three cubs were called Arrowhead, Pacman and Lightning.
Arrowhead and Lightning were the two daughters,
the two female cubs, and Pacmanwas the male cub.
Pacman, in fact, derived his name because of a peculiar mark on his
forehead, which resembled that video game
which children played called Pacman.
All three cubs were very different from each other.
Arrowhead was a much more dominating cub, and the bull cub.
And Lightning was a bit of a bit of a timid tigress.
And Pacman was also bold.
But as in case of all
young male tigers, you know, they
you always used to stick around with his mother.
So sometime in the summer of 2015, in the month of April,
while we were following this family
that day, that morning, you know, it was a very dull morning,
nothing much was happening.
But, you know,
we guys are wildlife photographers,
so we like trying until last moment,
and so I just saw my watch and there’s still around half an hour,
45 minutes for the park to close for the morning session.
So let’s take one more round.
Just when we were going towards the lake area, there was a stretch
which was flooded with around 15-20 vehicles.
All the cameras were pointed in one direction,
and it was very evident that there’s something happening out there.
So we decided to park ourselves
away from this entire crowd.
And the plan was just to wait
for some time and maybe the whichever tiger was out there,
you know, decides to move and we may get some kind of a view.
Just when we were waiting,
you know, I just turned around and saw that
this young bloke, Pacman, you know, he had started stopping a deer.
And, you know, I just quickly changed my lenses
and switched on to a wider focal length because it was too close.
And, he charged at the deer..
Now, when tigers are making
the kill, you know, they normally go in for the neck,
and just choke the prey.
And that’s when the prey dies instantly,
but in this case, the approach of young
Pacman was totally wrong because he got hold of the deer,
but from the backside.
The deer was struggling in his mouth,
and then he dragged this deer to a higher vantage point,
where he tried to suffocate the deer by sitting on top of it.
But still, you know, the deer didn’t die,
and the whole silence of the entire forest was just broken
because of the constant cacophony,
the shrilling sounds of this deer.
You know, this confused tiger, he decided to just flip around
the prey and he started,
you know, eating the deal from the behind side,
and the deer was still alive.
And this entire struggle continued for around 15 to 20 minutes.
That’s when the deer died finally.
The experience was a public display
because, you know, this is not
usually how a tiger makes a kill,
as this inexperienced cub was trying to make,
which I consider it as his first kill, because in so many months,
I had never seen these young cubs,
you know, attempting any kind of a hunt on their own.
Surprisingly, the mother and the daughter,
Arrowhead, they were seen in the vicinity.
I could see them
standing at my location,
but they didn’t do anything.
The mother could have come and helped her son to successfully
complete this hunt, but nothing happened.
As this whole drama was unfolding in front of me
my heart was going through mixed emotions.
On one hand, there was this tiger I had seen as a cub,
and I had followed his journey for 14 months,
and I was so happy to see that he had taken those first steps
towards becoming an independent wild tiger by making his first kill.
And on the other hand,
there were those loud, shrilling sounds,
painful sounds of the deer.
All that pain and agony,
it was very difficult for me to handle.
There are a lot of questions which still remain unanswered,
you know, it is a mysterious world of tigers.
Why didn’t the mother come and support this hunt?
You know, I feel that the tigress was helping the son
to become independent.
When I look back and think about this entire incident,
my key takeaway was learning about
a key human value: being independent.
There are moments in life when one bold step has to be taken,
by every person, and that probably will be the step towards independence.
This male, tiger, this male tiger cub,
had taken that particular step that morning.
And every time I pass through that area in Ranthambore, you know,
those sounds still are quite fresh in my mind
but would have given so much confidence to him to become an independent,
wild tiger living in solitude.
