Living with Tigers

Valmik Thapar first went to Ranthambhore in 1976 at the age of twenty-three. He was a city boy unsure of what lay ahead. When he entered the forest which would go on to become one of the last strongholds of wild tigers it had a profound effect on him changing his life forever. For the next forty years he studied nearly 200 Ranthambhore tigers spending every waking moment in close proximity to these magnificent animals. Of the various tigers he observed a handful became extra special and it is these which come to glorious life in this book. They include Padmini the Queen Mother the first tiger the author got to know well; Genghis the master predator who invented a way of killing prey in water the first time this had been observed anywhere in the world; Noon one of his all-time favourites who received her name because she was most active in the middle of the day; Broken Tooth an exceptionally gentle male; Laxmi a devoted mother whose methods of raising her cubs revolutionized tiger studies; Machli the most famous tigress in Ranthambhore and several more.