The Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris): the story of a Man-eaterSunderban (Beautiful forest

The Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris): the story of a Man-eaterSunderban (Beautiful forests) is a huge estuarine delta region located at the confluence of Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers and the Bay of Bengal sea adjoining the area of southern Bangladesh and the West Bengal, India. This region is the largest mangrove forest of the world, and is home to a number of exotic flora and fauna like the Bengal Tiger, crocodiles, and a variety of other species.The Big Cat is infamous for its hunting abilities, and people living in and around the Tiger Reserves face the brunt of tiger attacks. Kenneth Anderson, a hunter and a writer, found that a Man-eater develops amazing hunting capabilities and patience, and would sometime stalk its prey for hours making sure that the victim is alone and unarmed.In the Indian portion of the forest an estimated 521 people were killed by tiger attack between 1975 to 1989. The Big Cats of Sunderban show an extremely aggressive behaviour which is unique to this subspecies. There are a number of contributing factors that are responsible for the behavioural shift in Sunderban tigers.• The forest is in the coastal zone and water salinity levels vary with the rising tides forcing the tiger to drink this salty water, which makes them uncomfortable and aggressive.• At high tides, water level rises as high as 20 feet washing away the urine used by the tiger to mark his territory. Fighting to protect his territory is the only choice left to him, and this increases his aggression level.• Tigers are known to scavenge on human bodies after cyclones, in the process developing a taste for human flesh.• There is a lack of tiger’s primary food source (deer) in this inhospitable terrain, forcing them to search for alternative food sources. The local people go to the forest to collect woods and honey, also for fishing. It all makes a human an easy target, and many fall prey to the tiger attacks.All that being said, a tiger’s natural instinct is to avoid human beings and the facts are that only 3 out of 1000 tigers will ever become Man-eaters. Jim Corbett, famous hunter, naturalist and conservationist, observed “a tiger that has been compelled through stress of circumstances beyond its control to adopt a diet alien to it… The stress is, in nine cases out of ten, wounds, and in the tenth case, old age.” Tigers are the rulers of the jungle and they deserve our respect and understanding. People are banned from entering the *core areas without valid permissions, a small step in the right direction to minimise human interference in tiger habitats.*Core area - innermost and dense part of the forest where tigers reside in large concentrations.Source: http://bit.ly/1O9AHUjhttp://bit.ly/1FlZwWlhttp://bit.ly/1IsX1YHImage: http://bit.ly/1ydqJOehttp://bit.ly/1aKItpEhttp://bit.ly/1DK4xx3Video: http://bit.ly/1JoJHSShttp://bit.ly/1IsYuOH–RB. -- source link

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