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15 years ago, the tiger was a highly endangered species with no more than 5,000 living in
the wild throughout the whole of Asia.
40 years earlier, there had been 40,000 in India alone.
Hi I'm George Page for Nature and this is Ben Zoo.
A five year old Bengal tiger.
He's one of 1,500 living in zoos around the world.
In most of Asia, the tiger is still in trouble.
Two subspecies became extinct by 1970.
But in India, the tiger is staging a comeback.
Because of a unique wildlife program called Project Tiger, which in 1972 began to set
up tiger reserves in India's ever shrinking forests.
Now there are 4,000 tigers in India, more than double the number of just 10 years ago.
Man has always been awed by the tiger and afraid of it.
The largest and strongest of the big cats.
A female tiger with cubs is one of the most dangerous animals on earth.
And that's the subject of this week's remarkable film by Indian filmmaker, Naresh Bhati.
Bhati did most of his filming from the back of an elephant.
The only animal a tiger will not attack.
But at one point, when the mother tiger was away, Bhati got off his elephant in order
to get closer shots of the cubs.
The mother returned and Bhati barely escaped with his life.
Usually the mother hides her cubs in very dense bush.
So in Bhati's film, we will see something that only a handful of people on earth have
ever seen.
A mother tiger in the wild raising her young cubs.
The world's most beautiful cat.
The supreme predator in complete harmony with its environment.
This is the story of the Indian tiger living and breeding where it belongs.
Our
film follows this tigress as she raises her cubs to become fierce, independent rulers of
the jungle.
The early morning mists give the Indian jungles an eerie, mysterious cloak.
The wildlife awakens to meet another day of feeding and surviving.
Jackal pups play until they sense danger.
They seek safety in the family burrows.
Cubs do most of their hunting in the early morning or late evening.
Swamp deer are the first to sound the alarm.
Chittals too sense that danger lurks nearby.
They move forward to scan the grasslands, sending the forest air to locate the hunter.
The weak, sickly or young are easier to bring down.
In this case, a chital fawn falls to the tigress, killed by strangulation.
Tigers seldom eat where the kill is made, preferring to take it to a safer spot.
Langurs often fall victim to tigers, so they're in a continual panic as the tigress feeds.
Tigers always begin eating their kills at the rump.
There's one portion of the deer that's discarded, the rumen sack of the stomach, wherein grazing
animals, vegetation is broken down by microorganisms.
Even so, the skin of the sack is sometimes eaten.
The more tender parts of the fawn are in the neck region.
These are saved for the cubs, hiding close by in the grass.
Estimates vary, but most authorities agree that at the turn of the century, Indian tigers
totaled about 40,000.
By 1972, the figure was less than 2,000, and the Indian tiger was facing extinction.
The downfall began in the days of the British Raj.
Tiger hunting was a pastime enjoyed by both wealthy Maharajas and white hunters.
Hundreds of beaters drove the tigers towards the hunters, and the number of tigers killed
was enormous.
The Maharaja of Surguja said his take was 1,050 only.
What more damaging than hunting was the destruction of habitat, which affected not just the tiger,
but all wildlife.
Large areas of India's wilderness were lost to modern development.
Then after independence, firearms became available to everyone, and poachers took an enormous
toll.
This confiscated haul of leopard and tiger skins was worth a fortune.
The number of tigers fell drastically.
The seriousness of the situation was brought to the world's attention at a meeting in
New Delhi of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Indian government banned tiger hunting, but an end to the killing would not solve
all the tiger's problems.
The late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appointed a special task force to determine what the
tiger needed to survive.
What the tiger needed was space, room to live free of human harassment.
Almost 90% of India's forests were gone, and human settlements fragmented what was left.
If tigers were to survive, where could they live?
Project Tiger was designed to provide the answer.
Corbett National Park, named after a famous hunter turned conservationist, was selected
to launch the project, situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, its ideal tiger country.
The Ramganga River flows through the park.
The gharial, a rare fish-eating crocodile, is found here.
The male has a hump on the tip of its long, narrow snout.
The forest is also home to a large population of wild elephants.
Project Tiger is an important conservation initiative for more than tigers.
If tigers are to be saved, protection must embrace the entire ecosystem.
Initially, nine areas were selected as tiger reserves.
Tigers are found throughout the country in a wide diversity of climates and habitats,
ranging from near desert to salty mangrove forests.
On the delta of the rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra is the Sundarbans, where all plant and animal
life, including the tiger, have adapted to salinity in order to survive.
The fiddler crab elbows its way out of a muddy burrow at low tide, watched by a kitten of
the fishing cat.
Water monitor lizards scavenge along a muddy path.
And this most unlikely looking country is found the world's largest single population
of royal Bengal tigers.
Tigers are solitary until the female comes into heat.
She announces her condition with soft contact calls, often moaning.
The resident male is quick to respond.
Both sexes have well-defined territories, signposted by scent marks left on trees and
bushes.
During the mating season, these marks also advertise a female's readiness to mate.
Once contact has been established, the male adopts a passive attitude, because the female
may be aggressive at first.
Males can be twice the size of females, and out of the mating season, they can be dangerous
competitors.
Eventually, she's convinced of his good intentions, and mating takes place.
At the conclusion, the female turns in a mock attack, an act that's common throughout the
cat family.
For a week, the one week of estrus, the pair remains close together.
The tigress needs the stimulus of repeated copulation before she will ovulate, so mating
is frequent, occurring as often as 50 times a day.
After mating, the male and female go their separate ways.
The pregnant tigress is now on her own.
Following the success of the first nine tiger reserves, two more were added in 1978 and
79.
By 1987, there were 16, covering about 10,000 square miles.
In the center of the country is Kana National Park, home to our tigress and her cubs.
It's a varied landscape, with sparsely wooded grassy plateaus and slopes of dense tall trees
and bamboo.
The valleys below are cloaked in great groves of sol, an important timber tree which blooms
in summer.
The challenge for Project Tiger was to manage the park, control poaching, and protect it
from fire.
The Indian government gave five million dollars, and the World Wildlife Fund raised another
million to buy vehicles, equipment, and communication systems.
With the help of modern technology, park personnel gained far greater control over poaching and
forest fires.
wir David
Some forest fires are started by villagers to promote better grass for their cattle,
but this destroys the undergrowth, sometimes killing many young birds and animals, even
tiger cubs.
In another greener part of the forest, pre-monsoon rains have fallen.
Our tigress has given birth to her cubs, born after a gestation period of 14 to 15 weeks.
Blind and helpless at birth, their eyes open when they're about 10 days old.
Caring for her young is a full-time occupation.
She must guard them against predators.
Leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, and even snakes will take them at this age.
This is an unusual sight the tigress has selected for her cubs.
More often they're found in rocky shelters or caves.
Now she moves them to a safer spot in thick bushes.
The male plays no part in raising the cubs.
She has to provide for their every need, as well as hunting food for herself.
She watches for prey patiently but intently.
The chitals are unaware of the danger lurking in the grass.
Facing into the breeze to hide her own scent, she stalks closer.
But the odds are very much against her.
The first warning, a lapwing's alarm, is picked up by others.
Although we regard the tiger as the supreme hunter, only one out of every 10 to 20 stalks
is successful.
And she's not the only hunter in the forest.
This leopard is made a kill, but is uneasy.
Leopards always avoid tigers, and with good reason.
Our tigress will not tolerate a leopard in her territory, especially when she has cubs.
The tigress's highly developed sense of smell draws her toward the kill, a possible source
of food.
The leopard hurriedly bites off chunks of meat from the belly of its chital.
Reluctantly, it abandons its kill to the tigress to avoid a confrontation.
The tigress drags it away to a safer spot.
Though this is only a small deer, tigers are capable of moving large kills weighing up
to 1,100 pounds.
Discarding the stomach sack, the tigress carries the carcass closer to her cubs.
A crested hawk eagle calls to its mate.
They often scavenge the leftovers of tiger and leopard kills.
All tigers have their own territories in the forest, which they announce in many ways.
Both sexes spray particular bushes or trees to scent mark their boundaries.
Scratching tree trunks has a dual purpose, keeping the claws in good condition as well
as signposting the territory.
And this tigress is raking up a heap of leaves to mark her territorial boundary, which may
encompass eight square miles.
A male's territory may range from 25 to 40 square miles.
The availability of prey determines the size of the territory.
Very few wilderness areas remain in India, which are large enough to support a population
of tigers.
One of the problems facing Project Tiger is competition between prey species and the domestic
cattle of villagers living within the reserves.
In order to create tracts of land big enough to ensure the tiger's survival, villagers
and their cattle would have to be relocated.
It was a painful and drastic decision.
But once the cattle are moved away, these forest clearings will again become grazing
ground for wild animals, prime tiger habitat.
People who had lived and worked here for generations were persuaded to move to other lands in less
sensitive areas.
They were given alternative sites for their fields and cattle and were also provided with
timber and financial compensation to build new houses.
These measures are now being extended to many more tiger reserves, but it's a slow process.
In all, 33 villages have been relocated so far.
A posse of vultures is a good indicator of a tiger kill.
Our tigress is guarding last night's kill, a male sambar deer.
The sambar is India's largest deer, weighing more than 450 pounds, almost as much as she
does.
Usually tigers remain on guard close to their kills, protecting their next meal.
A resident male tiger has been attracted by the smell of flesh or perhaps by the vultures.
The tigress quickly moves from the kill to avoid what could be a dangerous confrontation
with a much larger male.
But he doesn't seem interested.
Taking advantage of the tigress' departure, the vultures descend in a frenzy on the carcass,
but not for long.
The cubs are now about three weeks old, eyes open, active bundles of soft fur.
Leaving her kill to the male, she returns to them and finds that a family reunion has
occurred in her absence.
Remarkably, a cub from her previous litter has returned, a most unusual occurrence among
tigers.
A tigress usually doesn't breed again until the cubs from her previous litter have become
independent.
Normally, it's two years between litters, but this large cub is just over a year old
and not yet self-reliant.
The tigress and her cubs recognize each other by their individual scents.
No two tigers' stripes are alike, and experts can identify a tiger by the pattern of markings
on the face and head.
The older cub, although underdeveloped for its age, dominates the young ones, and if
it stays, they would be deprived of some of their mother's milk, putting them in jeopardy.
кол夠
The tigress still has work to do on the sleepy youngsters.
The navel, where the umbilical cord was severed, has to be kept clean and free from infection.
As the monsoon approaches, the tigress moves her cubs from the bushes to a higher spot.
It will be too wet for them here during the rains.
They're sleepy and easy to move.
She carefully lifts a cub, placing it behind her canines.
They're picked up by the neck and carried one at a time to a secure spot, more sheltered
from the rain.
They move about just about everything together.
It's the height of the monsoon rains in central India.
Life in the forest changes.
Here gather in large herds to graze the new lush vegetation.
Even during the monsoon, the river flows clear.
Soil erosion is negligible here.
All 16 tiger reserves have core areas
in which human interference is minimized,
where there are no forestry operations,
nothing to upset the course of life and death in the forest.
A spider takes a grasshopper.
Another spider ends up in the clutches of a wasp,
taken to feed its larvae.
Old tree trunks made heavy by rains fall to the forest floor.
Fungi sprout on decaying matter, enriching the soil.
Seeds germinate in the warmth after the rains,
providing a rich food source for the langurs.
These sol seeds used to be collected for their oil.
Now they're left to the langurs.
So Project Tiger, which set out to protect the tigers of India,
now protects all forms of life, from the lowliest to the loftiest,
with the tiger at the peak of the food chain.
By now our tiger cubs are three months old,
looking like overgrown domestic kittens.
The large cub from the previous litter has disappeared.
He's now probably able to fend for himself.
There's still another three months of suckling
before these cubs take to eating meat.
For now, milk is their main diet,
although they'll often have some regurgitated meat as well.
Playtime for cubs is really training for their future.
The mother encourages them to pounce on her twitching tail,
and they playfully bite twigs and other objects
to help their teething.
Despite all her training and care,
it's not often that more than one cub from each of her litters
survives to maturity.
Two of the cubs are lively, but the third, the weakest one,
doesn't join in their play.
It's limping.
The right hind leg appears swollen.
Flies, too, follow its footsteps. It's been injured.
As evening approaches, the tigress's attention is diverted.
It's time for large predators to hunt.
The forest echoes with alarms of barasinga, the swamp deer.
It's not the tigress causing concern to the deer, but a leopard on the prowl.
The tigress sets off in pursuit,
since her cubs could be in danger from the intruder.
The next morning reveals that our tigress had, in fact, killed the leopard.
She proudly guards her kill,
an event seldom seen in the wild and never before filmed.
Although conflicts between big cats can often be fatal,
it's unusual for them to actually eat one another.
However, large tigers have been known to eat smaller ones.
Licking its prey is not a matter of hygiene.
The tigress is using her raspy tongue to fold back the fur and expose the flesh.
Nearby in a dried-up river bed, another predator, another source of food.
The keelback, a snake about a yard long, seems to have made a mistake.
Normally, a toad would be swallowed head first,
but here the snake is trying the other way around,
allowing the toad to inflate itself.
Because the snake's jaws are not jointed,
it can open wide and eventually swallow the toad.
In the comparative safety of the crevices among the rocks,
the cubs cry out for their mother.
She has no choice but to leave them here while out hunting,
once again exposing them to danger.
Spending for herself and her family is a tiring business.
She sleeps lightly.
She must always be on the alert.
Flies torment her.
They too are in search of sustenance, her blood.
Grooming, keeping the fur and skin in good condition,
is vitally important to all animals.
Any tiny pinprick wounds must be kept clean
in a climate where infections develop quickly.
The same applies to the paws and claws.
A small wound here could become a running sore
and produce lameness.
A lame tiger could be doomed.
The injured cub has become much worse now.
The wound is swollen, the skin is broken.
We can only guess how it was caused.
Leopard attack, the quill of a porcupine,
or a cut on a sharp rock.
The tigress seems quite indifferent to the injured cub.
The only remedy would be constant licking
to keep the wound clean.
It's almost as if the tigress realizes the cub is doomed.
But she must move.
She's thin and hungry.
She must hunt again for herself and her family.
Two cubs follow her slowly.
The third limps behind.
Then for two weeks, the tigress eluded our film crew.
One day, the cub was found abandoned.
The crew reported the condition and location of the cub
to the park officials.
A search team arrived, keeping a lookout for the tigress.
The vets and rangers found the cub dead.
The surviving members of the family
were found fit and well.
The cubs are a male and a female.
Their play is getting less gentle.
It's almost a contest of strength.
The aggression they will need when they hunt for themselves
is developing with each passing day.
Part of the Project Tiger plan requires improvement
of water sources for wildlife.
A small reservoir is being built in a place
where it will collect water during the monsoon.
The Indian government's investment in Project Tiger
has been enormous.
Their commitment to the reserves is now over $30 million a year.
Members of the Baga tribe used to work, live,
and hunt in the forests.
Today, they find employment in various conservation efforts.
During the summer, many animals will
be attracted to this man-made water hole
as natural ponds dry up.
Winter.
The jackal pups are full grown now.
They howl along with their mother
to proclaim their territory.
Our two cubs are now six months old.
Until they're a year old, they're at the mercy
of many predators, especially male tigers.
They must stay close to mother for her protection.
The elephant grass in the meadow has grown and bloomed.
It's a sanctuary for the cubs.
The male cub shows distinct aggression to the film crew,
although the tigress is quite calm.
Our camera team had been out of the park
for the four months of the monsoon
when the area was inaccessible.
During that period, the cubs had not
seen the once familiar elephant team carrying the film crew.
The remains of the abandoned village
will soon disappear into the returning forest.
Since the villagers and their cattle were moved out,
chital and swamp deer have moved in to graze
where crops were once grown.
In 1970, only 66 swamp deer remained in Kana.
Their very existence was threatened,
partly due to overgrazing by domestic cattle.
With the pressure removed, they have recovered and now
number about 500, another endangered species that
has benefited from Project Tiger.
With more prey becoming available,
other predators move in.
This python has swallowed an entire chital.
The meal will take at least a month to digest.
Our tigress, too, has moved into this rich area.
Her cubs are over a year old and showing
all the signs of maturity.
They now accompany her on hunting trips.
The quarry is a group of swamp deer.
With young of this size, she must either hunt
for larger prey or else hunt more often.
As the cubs watch, she stalks, keeping a low profile,
working into the wind.
She selects a possible target, a weak or inattentive animal,
and moves closer.
Tigers do not run down their prey.
They stalk to within a few yards,
then explode into a final burst of speed.
There's distress among the deer.
A young swamp deer stag is brought down by the tigress,
and the hungry cubs quickly join her.
They're allowed to eat first while their mother waits
nearby.
Tigers have an enormous appetite.
They can eat 65 pounds of meat at one meal.
Between the tigress and her two cubs,
this entire carcass will be consumed in one night.
Better to have a full belly now when the timing of the next meal
is uncertain.
Although deer is the most common food,
tigers have been known to kill even young elephants and rhinos.
The antlers of the young swamp deer are covered in velvet,
rich in blood, and therefore a tasty morsel.
The antlers are the most common food,
and the most common food is the
tasty morsel.
Summer has returned.
On a hot day, the family seeks a water hoe.
Tigers have a great affinity for water, not just for drinking,
but for bathing and even swimming if the pool is big enough.
The young male tests the temperature.
He's not sure about going in.
One way of getting over the effects of a big meal is to let the water take the weight off
the belly.
It's now possible to see the difference between the cubs.
The male is much bigger.
One day when the cubs are about two years old,
the tigress will wander away and leave them on their own.
But our cubs still have a year with their mother
in which to perfect their survival techniques.
It's a year later.
The female cub is now a tigress established in her own territory.
The male is also totally independent.
He has learned the laws of the jungle, part of which he now rules.
The Indian tiger has been saved so far, but with fewer than half living in protected areas,
conflict with the growing human population is inevitable.
Can Project Tiger alone ensure the future of this magnificent animal?
Time alone will provide the answer.
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