JV and THE BIG CATS

Newsletter 156
26/01/18

Instinct versus Learnt

I have wondered for many years what is instinct and what is learnt in the Tiger world. 

In August 2015, the male Tiger, Mahindra left his territory and found the male tiger Sariska sleeping. He killed him on the ground with a bite behind the ear. 

At the same time Sariska was the father of a litter of cubs which included the male cub Bird. (Bird is named because of a pattern of a flying eagle on his forehead). 

Bird’s mother, Tibo, was now left with no protection for her cubs (The litter was Bird, Shamilee and Oksana). 

I fully expected Mahindra to kill Tibo’s cubs which is the norm for male tigers who are not the father. However, Mahindra took over the father role of Tibo’s cubs and protected them. (The reason is that Mahindra is Tibo’s brother and therefore he is genetically invested in her cubs). 

In short Mahindra spared Bird's life when he took over the father role. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why Bird four years later would turn on Mahindra, his foster father and assist Sunderban, the territorial male, to kill Mahindra. 

In the dark the two male tigers, Mahindra and Sunderban, engaged in a brutal fight. It appeared to me that the two male tigers were evenly matched. The balance of power shifted when Bird entered the fight. (Bird is 225 kilograms in weight and bigger than both Sunderban and Mahindra. However, Bird is only 4 years old and not as experienced at fighting). I would have thought Bird would have sided with Mahindra, but he supports Sunderban instead. 

As Sunderban attacks from the front, Bird goes to the rear and bites Mahindra through the spine, effectively crippling him. Now Sunderban is able to overpower Mahindra and throttle him to death. 

The questions I ask are, how at the age of 4 years old, does Bird know that a spinal bite will render Mahindra helpless? Does Bird instinctively know that Mahindra killed his father Sariska and he is taking revenge? Why does Bird not side with the male tiger that effectively saved his life when Bird was a cub? 

The answer I believe lies in none of the above. Bird has formed a coalition with Sunderban. (Bird became bigger than Sunderban before he dispersed and Sunderban was unable to expel him from the territory.) 

When Sunderban could not expel Bird from the territory, he did the expedient thing, he formed a coalition with him. Sunderban suffers from cryptorchidism (This is a condition where the testicles sit inside and not outside the male’s body). 

Sunderban mates with females, but his stamina is not at the level of other Male Tigers (The cryptorchidism has left Sunderban with low levels of testosterone.) 

In recent matings, as Sunderban tires, Bird has been able to take over the mating and inject his genes into the system. 

If Mahindra had won the fight, Mahindra would have monopolized the mating and there would be no opportunity for Bird to mate. Therefore, it is in Bird’s interest to kill Mahindra, not Sunderban. 

I would like to thank all of you who stayed in the Tigress Julie Lodge in 2017 and invite everyone to visit us in 2018.  

2018 Promises to be a bumper year photographically. 

I urge you all in 2018 to try to cut down on your use of plastic and also explore ways of moving our motor cars away from fossil fuels. 

Wishing you a Healthy New Year. 

Tread Lightly on the Earth
JV

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Tibo produces white cubs

Hello Friends 

Dispersal is always the most dangerous time for tiger’s cubs. (Tiger cubs disperse between 20 & 30 months) In the case of Bird, his considerable size meant he was larger than the dominant male Sunderban. (Bird weighed 225 kilograms at age 30 months) 

After all three of her cubs had dispersed, Tibo (the white tigress) came into estrus and began mating with Sunderban. 

After the first day of mating, Bird joined his mother Tibo and Sunderban and watched the mating from a distance. On the third day it became obvious that Sunderban was tiring. Bird now joined the mating and on one occasion I filmed Bird and Sunderban biting Tibo’s neck simultaneously. 

I was not that concerned, because Tibo was extremely aggressive towards Bird, frequently attacking him viciously. 

Towards the end of the third day, Sunderban was exhausted. (Sunderban suffers from cryptorchidism and has low levels of testosterone and his stamina is low.) 

As Sunderban faded, Bird become more and more aggressive towards Tibo, eventually overpowering her and mating with her. Although Bird only mated with Tibo a few times, Tibo was already ovulating from the multi copulation with Sunderban. 

When a white tiger (a white tiger has 2 white genes) and a carrier mate (a carrier has 1 white and I normal gene) then 50% of the cubs will be white.

On the 12th of December 2017, Tibo gave birth to 2 white cubs and one normal coloured cub. 

The cubs are presently in a beautiful den site in close proximity to Seatao’s dam. 

The photographic opportunities are outstanding as all three cubs are confident and becoming habituated.

None of these cubs will be allowed to breed. The two males will be vasectomised, and the female will be sterilized.

 

Tread Lightly on the Earth
JV

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Rodney Drew

Rodney Drew is a 57 year old graduate professional engineer and project manager with an MBL from Unisa who spent 30 years at a private Johannesburg mine design and engineering company, culminating as an executive director on the main board of the company which had by then globalised by acquiring a number of other international engineering companies. 

Rodney and his wife Lorna have 3 daughters and have always spent holidays traveling extensively off the beaten track through Southern Africa. He has traveled to India many times on business, always keeping up to date on the plight of the wild tiger while there. 

Rodney and JV met at Tiger Canyon in 2009 when Shine, Sunderban and Zaria were being hand raised. He and his family returned to TC 10 more times over the following year to experience the thrill of the tigers. In 2013 Rodney bought the farm next door to JV to expand the land size and gain access to the Van der Kloof Dam. In 2014 the Drew’s enabled the introduction of cheetah to TC. Then in 2016 Rodney packed up his corporate job and moved to the Free State with his eye on becoming a partner in the TC vision, financing and project managing the completion of the lodge on the canyon.  

Over the last year Rodney and JV concluded discussions to join forces to professionalise and expand TC; Rodney finally getting closer to his dream of owning and running a wild life game farm. On 13 Dec 2017 the two men signed a partnering agreement which brought together their land, their respective expertise, the tigers, their love of the big cats and their vision to create a respected private tiger reserve in Africa on previously unproductive farming land. 

Thus a new era for TC begins with JV handing over the management reigns to Rodney. In the near future Rodney hopes to fence off new tiger areas, market TC extensively to improve occupancy levels, upskill the present staff, bring in other partners to increase the TC footprint and build more bedrooms so that the viability and credibility of the project is enhanced.

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Celebrating Tigers

I have great pleasure in announcing that the book "Celebrating Tigers" is out.

Alex Kirichko is the photographer for all world class pictures.

This is a book that every photographer, conservationist and wildlife enthusiast should have in their collection.

Tread lightly on the earth
JV 

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Sapiens

For anyone interested in the future of planet earth and the human species, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is a must read.

Tread lightly on the earth
JV

 

Expensive Cats

Manana the Hunter