Deep within the wilderness of the forest reserves, often there are animals who get famous for their uncanny achievements and their lives are narrated as legends after their demise. 

Tigress T-15, popularly known as ‘Collarwali’ or the Queen of Pench, is one such big cat who was bid an emotionally charged final farewell at her home Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Collarwali, who had birthed 29 cubs, died on January 15 at the age of 17 and was cremated with full honour yesterday.

There wasn’t a speck of detail about her cremation which differentiated her last rites from a human. 

Shantabai Saryam, a popular leader of the local forest-dwelling adivasi community, lit the funeral pyre of the tigress while forest officials, along with the zila panchayat (district village council) member Ramgopal Jayaswal, offered floral tributes and garlands to the mortal remains of the tigress.

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Despite the growing human-animal conflict in the country, forest dwelling communities revere a tiger and believe it to have divine powers. They believe that the tiger is the key to a forest’s healthy existence.

T-15 was the first tiger in the Pench Tiger Reserve to be radio collared for identification, thereby earning the name ‘Collarwali’.

“She was born in 2005 and gave birth to 29 cubs from 2008 to 2018. A total of 23 cubs were raised by her who successfully advanced to adulthood,” Vikram Singh Parihar, former field director of the Pench Tiger Reserve, who had closely monitored Collarwali’s movements ever since she was introduced to the forest, told Gaon Connection.  

“She was radio collared in 2008. Her contribution in increasing the number of tigers in Madhya Pradesh is immense and unparalleled. We are all moved by Collarwali’s death,” he added. 

“What was unique about her was her extraordinary fearlessness around human beings. Usually, a tigress is most fierce when she sees human beings interacting with her cubs but Collarwali was always found to be quiet when her cubs were attended by the forest officials,” Parihar recalled. “Even when she was in the vicinity of the humans, her behaviour didn’t aggravate and it seemed like she had an air of command,” he added.

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An outstanding protector

It’s not merely the achievement of giving birth to 29 cubs that earned the tigress the title of a ‘supermom’. Forest officials informed Gaon Connection that in the ruthless dynamics of the forests, the survival rate of a cub is not more than 50 per cent. 

With 23 of her cubs surviving to adulthood, the collar wali was respected as an highly skilled caregiver and an extremely successful protector of her children.

Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, a veterinary doctor of wild animals in the Pench Tiger Reserve, told Gaon Connection that the T-15’s achievements are rare.

“Such tiger moms are extremely rare. The contribution of T-15 in ensuring that Madhya Pradesh has the highest tiger population in India is immense. Several of her progeny are now maintaining the tiger population,” Gupta told Gaon Connection. 

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The veterinary doctor stated that although the exact number of her contribution to the tiger population in the reserve is hard to tell, an estimate could be made by comparable achievement of another tigress of Panna Tiger Reserve which is named as T-2.

“T-2 is sixteen-year-old and has given birth to 21 cubs  after her seven pregnancies. These 21 cubs have further led to the birth of seventy two to eighty tigers in the Panna Tiger Reserve. A comparable number of tigers owe their births to Collarwali if not more,” the vet said.

According to the 2018 wildlife census report titled Status of Tigers, Copredators and Preys in India, Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers in India — 526 and is closely followed by Karnataka with 524 tigers.

T-15’s connection with Panna Tiger Reserve

One of the progeny of T-15 was brought to Panna Tiger Reserve on January 22, 2014. The Collarwali’s daughter is continuing her mother’s legacy and has given birth to 17 cubs so far. Named as T-6, her contribution to the tiger population in Panna Tiger Reserve is immense.

Also Read: Tiger T-23 and its tale

The significance of Collarwali can be discerned from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s post on Twitter in which he honoured the deceased tiger mom.

“Known for her contribution in making Madhya Pradesh earn the title of ‘Tiger state’, I pay my tribute to the super tigress mom collar wali on her demise. The queen of Pench Tiger Reserve, her roar will always be echoed in the forest’s wilderness,” the chief minister stated.

Read this report in Hindi