Amazing Jungle Lore - The Tiger & The Bison - Coexistence in Harmony

One Hot Summer!

Guests Ansi & Micheal UK

Courtyard House Kanha

Kanha National Park - Central India 

Little could I imagine whence I stopped the safari jeep at Nakti Ghati (a large water body) as to what would transpire.  Wild safaris at Kanha National Park turn electric at any given moment but more so if you know the place well and the movement of the animals.   

Albeit, I knew this was the area of a huge male, we actually stopped to get a glimpse of birds as well as admire the lovely and pristine landscape. Kanha landscape retains its pristine glory, frozen in time and space whence our prehistoric ancestors roamed in the wilderness. The tigers in this area are less seen...one reason being less vehicular movement. Hence it is at such places that surprise sightings take place. 

Confined to our jeep, I was photographing the creatures of the wetland, and my guest was busy admiring the surroundings. Well, we were in no hurry as some jeeps zipped past us. 

"Let them go," I blurted to the guide and the driver. "We are in no hurry!" 

My movements during the safaris are sometimes heavily labored as I try to capture the essence of every nook and corner...in jungle parlay, it means a niche habitat. 

Those who have never been to Kanha should visit the Nakti Ghati water body if they ever do. We were heading towards the Kanha Meadow in order to see the tigers which we had located in the morning. And so after the brief, we decided to move ahead. But as soon as the driver placed his fingers on the starter I  stopped him. 

"A sambar alarm cry," I whispered. 

Now, this is a sure-shot sign of a tiger's presence for these large Asian deers' are rarely alarmed by small predators or spooked, and not often surprised by jeep movements. 

"It could be a leopard," my driver whispered back. Well, I had seen tiger pug marks often here and I was expecting one to arrive to drink. Anyway, we decided to wait, the alarm cries continued intermittently stopping for a brief - now and then. 

In order to track tigers one needs incredible patience and the time-tested quality of all experienced naturalists and forest guides. There is a deep urge to move ahead in order not to miss the imagined. Ha!    

"Let's shift the jeep back to the bunch of trees behind us, I instructed the driver." He did. 

In the case of tigresses most of them are very very shy and if you are not inconspicuous or dead silent they never emerge as has been my experience. 

The alarm cries were confusing emerging from different directions but all close by. This made us think that a tigress was trying to move stealthily away from us after having seen the jeep. They usually do before we can spot them. 

Well, we stayed put, and silent. Nothing happened, and the forest guide suggested that we move ahead without losing any more time. We waited for almost half an hour. But I had an inclination that whatever it was a tiger or a tigress it had moved behind us. So I instructed the driver to move behind us to about twenty yards and wait for at least five minutes. Well, we did not have to wait that long. For from behind the faraway bushes a huge male tiger emerged walked coolly towards us, crossed the road, and headed towards the water body. These creatures, the male tigers are bold and dominant, they rarely flinch a muscle in presence of man.



Can you imagine what transpires in your mind and body whence you sight a tiger like that? If you cannot then join me on a tiger safari and bet on your luck and my tracking. Both are essential. Anyway, my guests were busy with their mobile cameras, and I with my Sony Bridge Camera busy making a video.   

We knew that the tiger (with a gash on the right brow) would move toward the water in this summer heat. And so we moved back to the wooden bridge at Nakti Ghati and found the tiger immersing back first into the water. It had managed to frighten the sambar and spotted deer but a group of bison (Gaur) persisted. 

Normally the snorting bison (blowing wind from their nostrils) move away to avoid being close to this magnificent predator. But this did not happen. 

An Amazing Spectacle! A Spirit of Coexistence!

There were two behavioral surprises here. One, the tiger nearly always moves away from the huge bison. In fact, most of the guides do not look for the big cat in the vicinity of the Gaur. The second surprise was that the bison kept a safe distance from the predator. This time they stayed close busy quenching their thirst.

None of this happened as we watched absolutely stunned. The distance between the tiger in water and the gaurs was perhaps not more than five yards. And both were quenching their thirst peacefully without any apprehension. I have captured this sighting in my videos and inserted them here.

In wild, energy is a crucial life support element to be preserved, the bisons having noticed the mood of the male tiger were at ease and did not scamper away. They could see him well and hence could scamper if any aggression did take place. That saves energy!

There was no show of aggression as both had one purpose quenching thirst in the heat of the summer. The bison, as usually all females were in a group, so less chance of being attacked. Anyway, the carnivore was not on a hunt. 

The moral of the story lives in harmony with a spirit of coexistence in diversity.  

We watched the spectacle in peace for a long time as the tiger often raised his huge head to look at us now and then. In absolute silence and privacy, we waited a long time enjoying the ethereal moment, and then turned back to the gate to make a timely exit.

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Uday Works as Sr.Naturalist at Kanha National Park in India
He loves to blog on Indian Wildlife and Tiger Conservation
Contact: pateluday90@hotmail.com
Mob:9755089323

Bisons of Kanha

Bos Gaurus
The coarse grazer belonging to Family Bovidae is one of the most impressive mammals of Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The animal is found widespread in intact forest habitats where interference of man is minimal. Like the tiger bison or gaur as it is called in Hindi cannot tolerate human interference and usually becomes locally extinct due to disease carried by livestock of the settlers. Competition for food is another factor in the species loosing ground.   

This did not happen in Kanha, thanks to large area and mountainous region that gave these animals enough space. The Barasingha suffered the most with extensive loss of habitat. The bison is a local migratory animal and sticks to its forests in vicinity. 

The bisons are less seen during the winters in the plains and meadows of Kanha. The coarse grazers get enough to forage on the  table top mountains and are content to stay there in the dense confines. But as water levels decreases with passing off of winter, and leaf shedding begins these animals start migrating to lower areas. Herds can be seen in forest confines and the grassy meadows during the early morning hours and late evenings as the heat increases.   

They are sighted from February in larger numbers. The animal is a gregarious species which live in small heards to larger herds of 40 to 50 heads. The matriarchal system prevails with dominant males keeping to the fringes or away from the herd in non breeding period.  The herd consists of  young females, males and fawns. 

In winters mating occurs on hillside and the fawn are born during May onwards. The dominant males often engage in a tussle and various display of aggression before courtship to take control of the herd with female in estrous. 

The population increased substantially after trans location of villages in the core zone. The species suffered extensive loss after my visit in 1976. This was due to foot and mouth disease or rinderpest and many animals died during the prevalence. In recent times gaur can be seen in Kisli Range as well as in the buffer zone around Indri Camp. Herds now cross over at the road to Mukki near the villages in the periphery. These animals are always susceptible to disease prevalence among the live stock there.     

The conservation efforts as whole has paid of  for this species. The increasing number would need new grounds for  the gaur and these would be the buffer. The forest canopy is not dense here and the region  is open to man animal conflict.