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Just before dusk on a warm spring evening, villagers from Ambaulim in Goa, a state in southwest India, carry coconuts and chickens as they follow a drummer from the Sateri Temple to the nearby jungle. It is the seventh day of Shigmo, an annual religious festival, and they are preparing to perform an ancient ritual of tiger worship. When they arrive at the statue of a tiger deity in an area known as Vagrea Pan, they offer it their fruit and fowl, hoping that the tribute will inspire the god to protect their cattle from the tigers on the outskirts of the village. Ritual tiger worship is common throughout Goa, but it is practiced in other parts of India and Asia as well. Though it’s nowhere near as widespread as…

Western Nepal Sometime at the turn of the 20th century—it’s impossible to say exactly when—a female Bengal tiger attacked and killed one of the Tharu, hunter-gathers who inhabited the floodplains known as terai in western Nepal. Followers of a syncretic mix of Hinduism and animism, the Tharu revered tigers as benevolent guardians and embodiments of the forest’s power. Now one of their sacred animals had turned against them. What had the Tharu done wrong? No doubt they were trying to answer that question when the tiger killed again … and then again. These early attacks were never documented—the Tharu are primarily an oral people—but we know that they happened because they kept happening. For almost a decade, the tiger that became known as the Man-Eater of Champawat hunted humans with…

Of course, you know that tigers and your tabby are related—they’re both cats, after all—but how similar are they, really? To answer that question, we need to start at the very beginning: Both tigers and domestic cats are felids, the family of cats that evolved from insect-eating forest creatures known as miacis millions of years ago. Over eons, the felids split into three subfamilies: the felinae, the machairodoninae, and the pantherines. Domestic cats belong to the felinae family, while tigers are pantherines, or big cats. Tigers and domestic cats evolved in very different areas: Tigers likely originated in northern China, while your cat evolved in the deserts of the Middle East. Crucially, our house cats’ early ancestors were bold but not aggressive toward humans. Because of their boldness, they weren’t…

Just before dawn on a hot June day in 2019, Collarwali, a 13-year-old Bengal tigress, leads her four cubs from their den in dyke no. 1—an island in the Pench River—to hunt in Central India’s Pench National Park. Now that the cubs are six months old, meat is the mainstay of their diet, but Collarwali hasn’t had a kill in three days. The cubs—her eighth litter in 11 years—will starve if they don’t eat soon. It’s an unusual situation for Collarwali. Known as the Queen of Pench and the park’s resident “supermom,” she has given birth to a total of 30 cubs—a world record and proof of her superb hunting skills. As the daughter of Charger, a notoriously aggressive male, and Badimada, who averaged one kill in every three attacks…

The Eye of the Tiger Tigers’ mysterious beauty has inspired artists since time immemorial. William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” focuses, in part, on the animal’s eyes: Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies, Burnt the fire of thine eyes? A Roaring Success A Siberian tigress (opposite) and a Malayan tiger made their feelings known. “When a tiger roars, the sound will rattle and paralyze you,” said Elizabeth von Muggenthaler, a bioacoustician from the Fauna Communications Research Institute in North Carolina. “Although untested, we suspect that this is caused by the low frequencies and loudness of the sound.” Humans can hear frequencies from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz, but tigers can make…

Bath Time Sita, a female Bengal, cleaned one of her cubs in Bandhavgarh National Park, India. Cubs are born blind and entirely dependent on their mother. They survive on nothing but milk for the first two months of life, after which their mother starts adding fresh meat to their diets, leaving the cubs alone while she goes out hunting. Maternal Instinct A tigress carried her cub in her jaws while changing dens in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India. Tigers change dens frequently, transporting their cubs from one place to another to confuse potential predators. Since the physical act of carrying cubs is similar to killing prey—both actions involve clamping jaws around necks—first-time mothers need to be particularly careful. Springing into Action A Bengal tiger cub ran in Bandhavgarh National…

Staking His Claim A tiger prowled Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India. A male tiger can command a territory of up to about 40 square miles, while females can claim up to almost eight square miles, depending on the habitat and subspecies involved, according to Tigers World. When it comes to territory, a tiger needs basically three things: prey, hiding spaces, and water. Branching Out A juvenile Bengal rested on a tree and two Bengals chased each other (opposite) in Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India. Tigers can’t climb as high as some of their more agile, sleek, and smaller prey, such as leopards and monkeys, which can avoid death by escaping into the upper bows … as long as they can stay aloft until the tigers leave. Tigers…

Snow Day White tiger cubs wrestled in the snow. The result of a recessive gene trait among Bengals, blue-eyed white tigers have reportedly been seen in the wild since at least the 15th century. The appeal of their striking appearance has led to inbreeding in captivity, often by crossing Bengals with Siberians. For the most part, tigers like warm environments, but Siberians are uniquely adapted to life in the frozen wastes of Russia’s far east. The Name of the Game Two Bengal cubs playfully faced off at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India. Tigers learn to hunt by studying their mothers’ techniques and by playing, an activity that becomes increasingly serious as they grow older. Cubs are generally ready to hunt on their own at 18 months. Sibling Rivalry…

In May 1997—the height of monsoon season in central India—a Bengal tigress known as Machli gave birth to three cubs in Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, India. One of the female cubs was named after her mother because she had inherited the fish-shaped mark on Machli’s face (machli means “fish” in Hindi)—and the legend of the world’s most famous tiger was born. From the moment she was first spotted in the park, Machli II (hereafter referred to simply as Machli) captivated visitors with her unique mix of attributes. Though she was a relentlessly fierce hunter, she was calm, even-tempered, and comfortable around people. “Tiger behavior is evolving and it was best reflected in the case of Machli,” said R.N. Mehrotra, former field director of Ranthambore. “She understood the importance of…