Tigers and the Case for Free Sex

Two of the three Royal Bengal tigresses of the Sunderbans that were fitted with Rs 4.5 lakh radio collars have had them removed by their lovers.

Two of the three Royal Bengal tigresses of the Sunderbans that were fitted with Rs 4.5 lakh radio collars have had them removed by their lovers. The third, who hasn’t, is single. These collars, weighing a kg and consisting of a high power transmitter with a powerful battery, were fitted onto tigresses that had strayed into villages and were captured. The collars were to keep track of their movements. For the first couple of days, the department officials received the signals, and then it went static. “When we retrieved the collars, we saw pug marks of not only the female, but also a male tiger in both cases,” says Sunderbans Tiger Project Field Director Subrata Mukherjee. “We suspect the tigers took off the collars from the tigresses,” Mukherjee adds. Wildlife experts say the collars may have interfered with the big cats’ lovemaking.

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Jaideep Mazumdar