19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Learning the survival skills

Mother Tigers often provide fresh kill to their sub-adult cubs to practice the hunting and survival skills. I witnessed one such event in the Bandhavgarh National Park in India. We followed the various alarm calls in the jungle and reached this grassland next to a huge waterbody. It was very late in the evening and the light was fading fast. After almost 10 minutes of waiting I saw this young male tiger coming out from the nearby the dense cover and walking straight to a bush. From there it picked up a hidden freshly killed carcass of a spotted deer, obviously done by his dedicated mother. He then pulled it to the other side of the waterbody.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 05.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2021
Photo Location: Jabalpur, India
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Copyright: © Vinod C.L