Pugmark of the tiger

Tiger is the king of the jungle in India. Nothing sells or infuses excitement like the tiger does.  Realms of realms of paper have been written on the tiger by all sections of the society from conservationists, naturalists, journalists, research scholars and other laymen.Understood, that the sight of a tiger does bring a rush of adrenaline into the system. But it is a pity that most of the people are so fixated on sighting a tiger that they loose out on nature’s other beautiful aspects.  Even seasoned naturalists, who have encountered the Tiger in the wild, on numerous occasions loose track of all other things when the tiger comes into view.

Though this time around, I am also equally to blame ; ) my intent was on seeing my favorite female (a tigress – read more here) in Bandipur. I was told that my girl’s cubs were all grown up and most of the times they were sighted in the tourism trail itself. While I did not see her nor her cubs, it was a pleasure to see Bandipur’s thriving flora and fauna. It was in this scenario that I saw the below.

It was so heart warming to note that the pugmark was fresh and it clearly indicated that the king was around. We followed the pugmark hoping that it would eventually lead us to sighting the female and her cubs, but in vain. Nevertheless I am equally happy to note that a lot of others have seen her along with her cubs, all ready to form their own territories.