Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/05/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Love the photos and the narrative. Fascinating! -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+rclark01=comcast.net at leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+rclark01=comcast.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Jayanand Govindaraj Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 9:26 AM To: Leica Users Group; PSM Subject: [Leica] A Tiger Story Just a tiger story as it played out in Ranthambhore last month. A lot of the shots were taken at long distance, through trees, grass, twigs and leaves and then cropped - and the first one has been included for the story's sake. The lighting for the morning shots was also quite difficult - shooting into the sun, with a water body reflecting everything. Anyway, here goes, hope you enjoy the tale: Our first sighting was the female T22, the mother of T24: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0719-Edit.jpg.html Our next sighting, after a few minutes, was the male T24, the dominant male of the southern end of Ranthambhore, dragging a half eaten carcass through the trees, periodically stopping to eat a morsel: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0762.jpg.html When he reached a clearing, it was apparent that the carcass was that of a young Nilgai, a large antelope. It was also getting apparent that T24 had stolen the kill from his mother T22, and they were not together for mating (tigers in Ranthambhore are notoriously incestuous): http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0799.jpg.html It was clear that he was making for Phoota Kot, a water body close by: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0848.jpg.html He dragged the carcass into the water, and entered with quite a splash: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0857.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0864.jpg.html He gave us a snarl or two as a general warning: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0878.jpg.html He then stashed his scavenged kill in the water. Tigers do this both to slow down the decomposition of the meat, and to easier defend it against other tigers.: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_0887.jpg.html After this, his mother also came to the water, probably to try and see if she could get something out of her son - no such luck - his ears pinned back, hair bristling, growling, he saw her off in no time. Unfortunately this encounter was half hidden from our position, and I got no shots of it. We came back in the afternoon, and he was there, cooling off and guarding the carcass. The ears and the body of the nilgai is visible, floating in the water, at the top right: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_1090.jpg.html A last shot - the wind acted up, and a thunderstorm was imminent, and he obviously smelt something!: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Ranthambhore_001/April2013/Rantham bhore_20130418_1143.jpg.html Please see LARGE Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome. Cheers Jayanand _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information