[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

I am getting 'this video is private' message when I click the last video...you might need to change the settings

Can you pls check now - i have changed the settings and it should be visible now.

[fazalaliadil]

Sachin,

The 4th video footage (in the first second) shows the tigress making a decisive leap out of the water hole when the boar was about eight feet away.

Before the initial attack the tigress clearly braked, possibly realigning/ repositioning for the final attack or a momentary hesitation, realizing the full size of the boar and that she was directly in front of him. Since she was already committed and determined she relentlessly continued the onslaught.

This is the moment that shocked the boar and by the time it could recover they were face to face, about a couple of inches from each other with direct eye contact.

The boar counter attacked with two powerful upward swing of its neck twice (in the first second of the video) that just missed the tigress's chest and went above the right shoulder...these could have changed the balance, had it landed where it was intended for.

Notice, how smartly the tigress planted her claws into the sides of the boar in their very first second, which gave her near complete control over the boars and her dynamics.

Once she planted her canines on his neck, she was smart enough to keep herself behind the line of fire of the boar. This again changed as per your stills when the boar pushed her into the bamboo brush.

Thanks Sachin and Annu, hungry for more.

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by Manuuj

I can almost hear the groans of the professional wildlife photographer who with his million dollar budget and equipment fails to even witness such stupendous action far from recording it with such perfection.

I have known of a group that spent weeks camped inside Ranthambore just to catch the first ever live kill by a Tiger on film. It was after most of the crew had been recalled after weeks of fruitless filming that they finally managed to get those ever elusive shots.

I have visited Corbett almost every year since 1983-1984. I have seen a tiger twice..only twice in almost 30 years! A live kill is impossibly rare to witness. I mean impossibly rare.

Brilliant luck there Sach.Sri! The pictures are jaw dropping!! I had goosebumps at one point. The tigress seems to be quite a poser i must say. Even with an angry bear fighting her for its life she has time to look into the camera!!

All the same its inexperience put it in some mighty precarious situations. It was almost as lucky as you guys that day. Only the poor Boar came out the worst for it.

I cant even imagine the noise and excitement that all of you must have felt as you witnessed this drama of life and death. My congratulations for keeping your cool and my heartfelt gratitude for sharing those moments with us all.

Looking forward to the video.

Thanks Manuuj . I think you should think about visiting some other national parks also, Corbett is a gorgeous park but i believe that sightings in Corbett and not so frequent owing to the dense undergrowth and abundance of waterholes.
I have been to corbett twice and managed to see tigers 2 in my last visit, but i must confess that the tigers in corbett feel to be more "wild" than their counterparts in the other national parks that i have visited. Even the guides and drivers are afraid to approach the tigers and maintain good distance.

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Wow Sachin, those are probably the most interesting wildlife captures that I've had the opportunity to view. I guess the boar was darn unlucky as it tried to do all the right things to save itself but still became Tiger fodder! But then, I gotta admire the tenacity of the Tigress. Awesome!

Thanks mate. Appreciate the compliments

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Sachin,

The 4th video footage (in the first second) shows the tigress making a decisive leap out of the water hole when the boar was about eight feet away.

Before the initial attack the tigress clearly braked, possibly realigning/ repositioning for the final attack or a momentary hesitation, realizing the full size of the boar and that she was directly in front of him. Since she was already committed and determined she relentlessly continued the onslaught.

This is the moment that shocked the boar and by the time it could recover they were face to face, about a couple of inches from each other with direct eye contact.

The boar counter attacked with two powerful upward swing of its neck twice (in the first second of the video) that just missed the tigress's chest and went above the right shoulder...these could have changed the balance, had it landed where it was intended for.

Notice, how smartly the tigress planted her claws into the sides of the boar in their very first second, which gave her near complete control over the boars and her dynamics.

Once she planted her canines on his neck, she was smart enough to keep herself behind the line of fire of the boar. This again changed as per your stills when the boar pushed her into the bamboo brush.

Thanks Sachin and Annu, hungry for more.

Thanks FAzal bhai for this detailed analysis - i believe she even tried to catch the boar's throat but got dislodged in the initial moments of the attack and yes when she finally managed to get on top of the boar she was careful enough to grip it firmly with her paws and keep out of the range of its tusks that might have injured her - perhaps fatally.

There are a couple of more videos that i have to upload still - working on them and will upload shortly. But i must warn you guys that one of them is very gory and should be watched at your own risk

[sach.sri]

The final link in this saga, the last 2 videos. These are from when the tigress was trying to finish it off and the boar was fighting back.

This video is with the tigress and the boar behind bushes - when the boar pushed the tigress into the bushes

MAH07438 - YouTube

Final video - tigress ripping on the flesh on the back of its neck and biting into it in full gory details

MAH07475 - YouTube

This is the end of the hunt sequence. Thank you all for having patience with me and liking it.

This thread though is not finished - many more pictures to share, will continue.


to be contd...

[amitwlele]

@Sachin - This i believe is going to be one of the most viewed TL on Tadoba on TBHP. Awesome captures. Sincere thanks for sharing it with us.

You seem to be lucky with sightings. Should accompany you on your next trip to the jungles.

[needmorebhp]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Disadvantages Tigresses.

Got herself In the most vulnerable position during initial combat, thus continuously exposed to the deadly, infamous boars canine lunge.

If I am not wrong, going for softer regions of neck on the bottom is associated with lions, specifically African. Lions hunt in packs and that allows them to control the prey from above and below.

Tigers, specially younger ones are not associated with attack on underbelly and soft of neck as they generally go for prey smaller in size.

Just my observation after keenly watching big cats on Nat Geo and Discovery.

[gd1418]

I would like to correct you on this. Tigers, like Lions, too hunt the same way. They first trip the prey with a powerful forepaw swipe and when it tumbles down, grab the neck and choke it to death.

This Tigress was inexperienced & immature and when it lunged at the boar, the boar didn't have time to react, turn around and run as it had not seen or smelt the Tiger at all. So it was a head-on.

While the under-side of the neck & underbelly of the Boar is soft, the top part is tougher than anything that you can imagine. Ideally the Tigress should have choked it to death and start eating from the rump, instead it started ripping the hair, tore open the skin and start eating while the Boar was alive all along.

I would've loved to see the end of it but for the paucity of time Sachin had to leave the battle half-way.

All said, I salute the spunk of this Tigress cub who took an immense risk to her life & limb to overpower this adult male Boar.

I've been a witness to a carcass of an adult male Tiger in Corbett that in its fight with a Boar lost its life. Its belly was torn open by the tusk of the Boar. It is another matter that the Boar too didn't survive.

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

If I am not wrong, going for softer regions of neck on the bottom is associated with lions, specifically African. Lions hunt in packs and that allows them to control the prey from above and below.

Tigers, specially younger ones are not associated with attack on underbelly and soft of neck as they generally go for prey smaller in size.

Just my observation after keenly watching big cats on Nat Geo and Discovery.

[Trojan]

This is simply superb, it was like watching Discovery or Nat Geo, Sachin you are indeed very lucky, seeing the tiger in its element and capturing it as perfectly as you did is just mindblowing.
The tigress would have learnt some very tough lessons if the boar would have got one of his moves in the right place, this kill for her age is surely going to boost her confidence, having being successful in putting down one of the most stubborn and fearless creatures in our jungles, thank you very much for sharing these wonderful pics and videos.

Cheers,
Trojan

[ashphil]

Sachin,
It's been raining tigers on the Team-bhp site for some time now. I thought that those guys were really lucky to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. You are the luckiest of the lot to witness such an awesome sight. Rated 5 Star!
regards,
Ashok

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@Sachin - This i believe is going to be one of the most viewed TL on Tadoba on TBHP. Awesome captures. Sincere thanks for sharing it with us.

You seem to be lucky with sightings. Should accompany you on your next trip to the jungles.

Thanks Amit. This is such a momentous event that i would like a lot of people to view it, but it is still not there.

You are welcome anytime to join me in Safari, luck does play an important part, but it is also the high number of Safaris that contribute. Just to put things in perspective - i did not have any tiger sighting from Nov 11 till we saw tigers in Pench and then followed by Tadoba and Ranthambhore.

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

If I am not wrong, going for softer regions of neck on the bottom is associated with lions, specifically African. Lions hunt in packs and that allows them to control the prey from above and below.

Tigers, specially younger ones are not associated with attack on underbelly and soft of neck as they generally go for prey smaller in size.

Just my observation after keenly watching big cats on Nat Geo and Discovery.

AS GD Sir has already pointed out - grabbing the neck after the prey falls down with a swipe of their paw is the modus operandi. Even in this episode, if you watch the attack video - you will see that she put her paws on the neck to take a stranglehold - but the boar got out of it by twisting its head and then she was left with no choice but to attack the back of the neck.

Originally Posted by Trojan

This is simply superb, it was like watching Discovery or Nat Geo, Sachin you are indeed very lucky, seeing the tiger in its element and capturing it as perfectly as you did is just mindblowing.
The tigress would have learnt some very tough lessons if the boar would have got one of his moves in the right place, this kill for her age is surely going to boost her confidence, having being successful in putting down one of the most stubborn and fearless creatures in our jungles, thank you very much for sharing these wonderful pics and videos.

Cheers,
Trojan

Thanks Trojan. She should grow up to a formidable beast - in the pack of 4 she showed the initiative and courage to take on one of the most stubborn animal and came up trumps! Thanks for liking the pics and videos.

Originally Posted by ashphil

Sachin,
It's been raining tigers on the Team-bhp site for some time now. I thought that those guys were really lucky to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. You are the luckiest of the lot to witness such an awesome sight. Rated 5 Star!
regards,
Ashok

Thanks Ashok for liking and voting. This is something that we will cherish for life

An update is long overdue - but due to work and busy schedule (went to Sariska in the weekend, for my last safari before the jungles close for monsoons) - i could not sort out the pics and upload. Will resume shortly.

to be contd...

[vibbs]

This is an amazing capture of an amazing tigeress. At just 16 months age, this tigeress has taken on and killed a fully grown wild boar. Even grown up tigers are wary of Wild boars as they have the weaponry and strength to seriously injure even the biggest cats. Really amazing I must say.

[sach.sri]

So - what has happened to this thread? Is this closed? Why is the owner not updating it?

I know that you would be having these and more questions - i am sorry as i had been very busy lately and could not update the thread regularly.

Also - the question of sorting through thousands of Tiger pics, to find out the ones to share. To my eyes, more than 80% are good and i want to share, but have to think about the people looking at the pics

In any case, continuing with the TL.

The killing of the wild boar that we witnessed on our first Safari in Tadoba was a real good thing - not only because we saw it happening in front of our eyes, but also because - after that, for 2 days these 4 cubs were there and the tourists were assured of "tiger" sightings.

So our routine was - goto Ambepat first on entering the jungle to check out the cubs and click some more of their pics, and then go elsewhere to explore other areas.

On one such drive, we were passing the Tadoba lake (it is a huge waterbody and quite full even at this time of year), this lake has a lot of crocodiles which one could see basking on the shore - and we got to see yet another very usual sight, which i have never seen till date. I have always seen crocodile basking in the sun.















Looks like it was a very bad time for wild boars in Tadoba. Just yesterday a tigress killed one wild boar and again today we saw this crocodile making a meal of this wild boar. I was lucky enough to get some nice pictures of the sequence.

Also saw this beautiful honey buzzard looking for fish on the shore of the lake.








Tadoba treated us very well, we saw many new and wonderful things - this has been my best trip to any jungle till date.

to be contd...

[sach.sri]

On this day, as was our routine - we had gone to ambepat first to check out the cubs. One new development was that the jungle guards had now restricted access to the site and it was a circular queue with each vehicle getting 5 mins with the cubs and then rotating.

So, we had our 5 mins in the sun (so to speak) and decided to go and check out Katezari area as there were 2 tigress families frequenting that area.

It was while we were on our way to Katezari that we saw the crocodile and the buzzard posted earlier.

I have a fascination with birds as well - and in my fascination of clicking those pictures, we missed Yera Anna or tedi poonch Tiger by 5 mins :(

Clicked some more birds while waiting for tigers at Jambewad, a waterhole near Katezari

Egret in breeding plumage


Yellow footed green pigeon




Paradise fly catcher - female


Colorful Indian Pitta or Navrang








Having waited there for sometime, with no signs of the tigers coming - we decided to return back to Ambepat for some more of tiger pics. It is amazing how one can never be satisfied with the Tiger sightings and pics - we always want more!

to be contd...

[sach.sri]

Originally Posted by vibbs

This is an amazing capture of an amazing tigeress. At just 16 months age, this tigeress has taken on and killed a fully grown wild boar. Even grown up tigers are wary of Wild boars as they have the weaponry and strength to seriously injure even the biggest cats. Really amazing I must say.

Thanks Vibbs.


------
Continuing with the TL

The tiger cubs at Ambepat were having a feast of the wild boar that was killed last day - and the tourists were having a field day clicking their pictures.

Infact, not only the tourists - even the jungle guards were clicking and recording. One of the guards - on foot and with a laathi even went closer to the cubs while trying to record only to get a growl from the cubs to which he hastily retreated

Time for some more pics....

Relaxing...


Gorging on the boar




I see you...




Awesome Canines


Looking at us






Side view with full stripes


to be contd...

[Subrat Seet]

Nice pictures of Indian pitta and tigers too. Great.
Subrat