Arch Rivals

Archrival is defined as the principal enemy of an individual. In forest, people would consider predators and prey to be the archrivals. However, the real meaning of archrival in the wild life arena would define it as animals who compete for the same resources, that is shelter prey and water. What made me write this blog of recents incidents where tigers have killed and feasted on leopards. Both of them are top of food chain with advantage of size and strength been with the tiger.I have seen a very interesting battle being played out between these two predators myself. One interesting episode is that between an sub-adult tigress and a mature leopard.

Sometime in the month of May 2022, I was doing Safari in Madnapur buffer area of Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve. I was tracking the once dominant male of the core called Matkasur. After being thrown out of his territory, he was driving in the buffer areas of Tadoba and frequently sighted in buffers. During this tracking expedition, we chanced upon a tigress, hiding in thick bamboo bushes. She supposedly had made a kill of a Sambar deer and was sitting few feet away from it.

Since this tigress was definitely there, we decided to cut out the chase of Matkasur and positioned our vehicle near a water body. Due to the scorching summer heat many herbivorous animals were approaching the water body to quench their thirst. A herd of Indian Gaur came close to the water body, but never went down for the sip. They seemed anxious, looking at one particular direction, and disappeared into the forest. Sometime later, a lone wild boar came to the water body and he too had a very anxious body language. He too came close to the water body many times but did not enter the pool of water. After almost an hour of moving forth and back, he decided to drink water and cool himself. Wild boars enjoy wallowing in mud. This acts as cooling mechanism as well as acts a protection against insects/flies found in forests. However, this dude finish this activity quickly and disappeared into the forest.

The entire Safari time we waited there for the tigress to come to the water body. I was sure that the anxiety of the Gaurs and the wild boar definitely indicated to the presence of tiger. As the closing time arrived, Gypsies started moving off the water body to return to the exit gate. A few gypsy driver’s dared to check the dense bamboo tickets before exiting. Suddenly there was a commotion because one of the gypsy driver saw the tigress sleeping close to the sambar kill. Now there was a chaos of all the Gypsies, because they all wanted to see the tigress.

I instructed a driver to position our gypsy at the end of the queue, so that just in case the tigress decides move to water body, I will get good shots. The driver obliged and positioned the vehicle at the end of the queue. Out of the blue to two Forest workers who are working nearby, climbed a tree, cause they saw the tigress moving. We reversed or vehicle and took the two forest workers in our gypsy. Based on the recommendation, I started searching the tigress through the viewfinder of my camera, and I could see her tail swing around as she was sleeping on the grass. Suddenly she got up and turned around at that very moment. There was a loud thud from the dense bushes. The tigress jumped, and there was symphony of roars and growls around us. The jungle was echoing with those voices. I still get goose bumps remembering it. To find out the cause of the roars and sudden movement of tigress, we started reversing our gypsy and while doing it we saw a leopard climbing on top of the tree.

The leopard had came to the spot with the intention of stealing, the kill made by the tigress. He had almost picked up the kill. However, the tigress was larger in size and more courageous, hence the leopard wisely avoided the fight and climbed the tree to save himself. Both looked at each other, the tigress continued snarling and the leopard continued purring. They look at each other at each other for few minutes as if they were sizing up and deciding next action plan. The tigress loss interest and decided to take the kill people inside the bamboo bushes.

It was a lifetime experience that to see leopard climb a tree which was a few feet away from the Safari route. I got some beautiful shots of the leopard with the blood of the deer on its teeth. Unfortunately it was end time of our game drive and we had to leave. We left the tigress with the kill and the leopard on the tree only to see the tigress the next day, enjoying the meal at same spot.

In the wild leopard and tigers are archenemies and will kill each other if the need be, however, the battle always favours the Tiger because of the size. Leopards are known to kill tiger cubs. In order to reduce competition. This fierce competition is not new to any wildlifer. For I have seen this before in core area of Tadoba where Maya and her 2 cubs Mira and Surya chased the leopard down the Panchadhara canopy. The tigress Maya is also considered single-handedly responsible responsible for reducing the population of wild dogs, who are a threat to tiger cubs and arch enemies of tigers.

In forest with high density of tigers, it is rare to see leopards and such experiences are once in a while. Generally leopards are very adaptable and thrive in absence of other predators. The habitat of Tadoba is an exception to this where you will see the wild spirits, the tiger, the wild dogs and leopard coexist. So next time when on safari at Tadoba be ready to experience the unexpected, Battle of arch-rivals.