Machhali turns 20

It was nearly a month ago when Machhali, the world's most photographed tigress, enthralled tourists at the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. With growing age, her sightings are becoming few and far between, but as it is widely believed that she has turned 20 this year, her long survival has won her another distinction: the world's oldest tigress in the wild.
While experts are surprised over her longevity , there are some `wild' theories on how she has managed to live so long when the maximum age of a tiger in the wild is 14-15 years. RN Mehrotra, the state's former chief wildlife warden claims Machhali has defied tiger behaviour in Ranthambore forest innumerable times over the years and it may be the key to her survival.
“I witnessed an incident in 2011 that I still find hard to believe. I remember seeing Machhali and one of her daughters ­ T-17 together, strolling towards Padam Talab in Ranthambore. We followed the two tigresses.What we saw next was quite shocking: tigers behaving like humans,“ Mehrotra said. “Machhali having lost two of her canines in a fight with a crocodile to save her cubs was unable to hunt properly .T-17 had killed a deer and brought her mother to her prey , so that they both could eat it.How would explain this behaviour? It was unbelievable,“ said Mehrotra.
At 20 years, all her four canines are gone now. So how does she hunt? “People say forest department gives her baits.They tie a calf to a tree so that she can kill it and eat, but it's not happening every day . What we saw in 2011 may still be the key to her survival. We have come to know that she is eating leftover of her daughters who have territories adjacent to hers,“ said Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, a member with the national tiger conservation authority who was with Mehrotra to witness the incident.