November 29, 2023

Wednesday, 11:30 PM

Tadoba Jungle Camp,

Near Moharli Gate,

Tadoba-Andhari 

Tiger Reserve,

District Chandrapur,

Maharashtra

India

We went into the Moharli Zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve today morning, and got to know of another aggressive tiger called Chhota Dadhiyal. He is Chhota Dadhiyal simply because his dad was the original Dadhiyal, and for no other reason, for he is among the biggest male tigers in the area. And we did get to see him today. He is certainly as physically hefty as they had told us he was. 

When we saw him, he was trying to block the way of Chhoti Madhu (I am assuming he is ‘Chhoti’ because her mother was the original Madhu, going by the same logic that makes Chhota Dadhiyal ‘chhota’). Chhoti Madhu already has young cubs, which could be the reason she didn’t seem interesting in mating with the junior Dadhiyal (but that’s just a guess). Things did not get aggressive and there was no fight between the tigers, thankfully. And I also got a few good pictures of Chhota Dadhiyal, too.

In the evening, I interviewed another forest official and the interaction was very informative. It will be a part of the Vlog for today (to be uploaded in a day or two). And the complete interaction will go live later as part of our ATR Interactions segment. Today’s Vlog is now live.