The Topaz of Panna
The meandering Karnavati river flows through the heart of the emerald forest, is dotted with imposing escarpments, caves, gorges and other geological formations. The lifeline of Bundelkhand, over a decade, witnessed a bloodbath. This was where evil reigned - merciless and unsparing, masquerading in plain sight as humans. From one of the most isolated tiger conservation landscapes, the tiger that existed in this landscape even before the neolithic era, and before the earliest humans evolved from the hominids, was slowly vanishing.
While arrangements were being made and plans executed, prior to 2009, to rope in two tigresses from Bandhavgarh and Kanha to correct a skewed male-female ratio at Panna, all the resident and indigenous tigers were exterminated to human greed and apathy. Panna, once home to gargantuan tigers such as M-91, Madla (M-125) and Hairy-foot became tigerless.
What started in mid - 2009 was an uphill task - to repopulate an entire tiger reserve, the future of which was far beyond uncertain.
Two Tigresses were flown in by Indian Armed Forces Choppers, from Kanha and Bandhavgarh respectively, whilst a tiger (male) was translocated from Pench via road.
At Bandhavgarh, a tigress from the penultimate litter of Chakradhara female, descendant of Charger, was translocated. She came to be known as T-1 at Panna.
At Kanha, a tigress known as Budbudi female was identified as a suitable candidate. But on the day of translocation, the tigress couldn’t be traced. With time ticking – chopper on standby and political and local pressure mounting (opposing translocation to Panna), another tigress was captured instead. She was Indri female that shared its lineage with behemoths of Kanha – Konda, Limping male and Gaur Singh tigers. This tigress came to be known as T-2 at Panna.
At Pench, a male tiger, sibling of the famous Collarwali and BaghinNullah female, was translocated and it came to be known as T-3 at Panna.
After a few days of his arrival at Panna, T-3 started moving southwards towards Pench – a behavioral trait termed as homing instinct. In over a month, he traversed through densely populated human habitations and covered 442 Kms. He was tracked and brought back to Panna. Ironically, he sired most of the cubs at Panna (around 32 of them).
These three tigers from three different parks and unrelated to each other (perhaps separated genetically and linealogically from each other by decades, if not centuries) could, in theory, establish a healthy gene-pool at Panna.
With a good grassland management which translates to good deer and ungulate population, and the location of the park (at the northern tip of the central Indian tiger conservation landscape, which favours Cope’s rule – animals of same species are larger when moving away from equator towards poles) and genetic material from leviathans of three different national parks, the size of a few Panna tigers is staggering.
P-243 is one such fine specimen that derives its genes from T1, T2 and T3.
But there is much more enigma to this tiger than his immensity alone.
P-243 was born in 2015 to T-2 and P-111. P-111 is one of the first males that was born in Panna, post the re-introduction of tigers.
In February of 2013, P-111 probably killed the cub(s) of T-2 and mated with her, for the first time. T-2 was observed to have eaten the carcass of its own cub. Cannibalism (preying of species by same species) is non-existent in tigers, but this incident brought to light a different aspect of tigers. Tigresses (and most megafauna) are so protective and possessive of their cubs that they wouldn’t want the cubs to be handled by other predators or even humans, and sometimes resort to cannibalism.
Nothing much was known of P-243 till he started taking care of his own cubs from P-213-32 tigress when she died to chronic illness. Time after time, tigers (males) exhibited extreme doting behavior, proving the obsolete theories that males don’t involve (providing food, teaching to hunt etc.,) in raising the cubs.
On 15th May 2021, P-243 was at the cremation site of his mate, P-213-32 tigress. The next day, he even visited the site where the tigress breath her last. On 21st May, P-243 killed a sambhar and provided it to his cubs, 3 males and 1 female: P-213-32(21), P-213-32(22), P-213-32(23) and P-213-32(24).
P-243 provided invaluable insights into the life of male tigers, as he was constantly monitored by the forest department (while he was taking care of his cubs).
P-243 then mated with P-142, P-652 and P-653 females. He had skirmishes with P-241, P-271, P-431 and P-621 males. His sibling P-241 gave him a gash on his forehead, following which P-243 also came to be known as Tilakdhari (the one who wears a tilak).
As the sun sets over the vibrant and enchanting emerald forest, an exquisite sapphire tinge descends over the surrounding while the scintilla of topaz, in its vibrant orange hues, roams the path from where it once vanished.
