- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
‘COLLARWALI’, a famous tigress in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, who had earned the sobriquet of ‘supermom’ for giving birth to 29 cubs, has died, official sources said.
The 17-year-old tigress, which was also called T-15, passed away on Saturday (15) evening, the sources added.
‘Supermom’ gave birth to 29 cubs in eight litters in a span of 11 years – between 2008 and 2018 – the officials added.
Speaking to the Press Trust of India, an official from the office of the principal chief conservator of forests, wildlife, confirmed the veteran big cat’s death without disclosing any further details.
The tigress, which looked feeble due to old age, was last sited on January 14 by visitors at PTR.
According to experts, the average age of a tiger is about 12 years.
‘Collarwali’ was radio-collared in March 2008 but it stopped functioning. She was again radio-collared in January 2010. She became famous as ‘collarwali’ or T-15 tigress in later days, the officials added.
She had first given birth to three cubs in May 2008 but they did not survive. The last time she delivered was in December 2018 when four cubs were born, taking the tally to 29. Officials, who feel that the number could be a record, said 25 of the cubs survived.
‘Collarwali’ was born as one of the four cubs to the famous tigress T-7 in September 2005. In October 2010, she gave birth to a litter of five cubs in a rare occurrence.
The tigress’s contribution towards making Madhya Pradesh the ‘tiger state’ of India with 526 big cats will be remembered by wildlife enthusiasts.
