Machali (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

for 'fish'; code name: T-16), also known as Machli or Machhli, was a

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

tigress who lived in

Ranthambore National Park Ranthambore National Park is a national park in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It covers a total area of . It is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. It is named after the historic Ranthambore Fort ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She was born in the spring of 1997, and died on 18 August 2016. Machali played a key role in the regeneration of the tiger population in the park in the early 2000s, and was celebrated with titles such as ''Queen Mother of Tigers'', ''Tigress Queen of Ranthambore'', ''Lady of the Lakes'', and ''Crocodile Killer''. She was considered India's most famous tigress and, before her death, the oldest living in the wild. India earned about US$10million per year due to tourists attracted to Machali. She won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of Travel Operators For Tigers due to her contribution to conservation and as a tourist attraction that earned significant income for India.

Life

Machali was born in the spring of 1997, and was the dominant cub in a litter of three females. She inherited her name from her mother, Machali I, who was also named after the

word for 'fish' due to a fish-shaped mark on her face. In her first two years, she started hunting on her own and took over a part of her mother's territory. Tigresses generally have two or three litters. Over seven years, from 1999 to 2006, Machali had five litters comprising eleven cubs – seven daughters and four sons. Machali's offspring increased the tiger population in the park significantly – from 15 tigers in 2004, to 50 tigers in 2014. Eventually, more than half of the tigers in the park were of her lineage. In 2008, two of her female cubs were relocated to

Sariska Tiger Reserve Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an core tiger habitat area of and 322.23 km² of buffer area making 1203.34 km² total area of tiger reserve. It is comprising scrub-thorn arid ...

and successfully boosted the tiger population in that park as well. In early 2014, Machali disappeared from her usual area, sparking a search by over 200 park staff. She was sighted after about a month, and appeared to be in good health. She had survived in dense forest by hunting her own prey, despite having been fed by park staff prior to her disappearance. She was known for her hunting skill and strength, in particular in an incident in 2003 when she fought with and killed a

mugger crocodile The mugger crocodile (''Crocodylus palustris'') is a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, also known as mugger and marsh crocodile. It is native to freshwater habitats from south-eastern Iran to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits marsh ...

. As a result of the fight, she lost two

canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. In the context of the upper jaw, they are also known as '' fangs''. They can appear more fl ...

. She was also known for her ferocity in protecting her cubs from threats such as male tigers and other animals.

Recognition

India earned about US$10million per year due to tourists attracted by the tigress. She won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of ''Travel Operators For Tigers'' due to her contribution to conservation and as a tourist attraction that earned significant income for India. In 2013, the Indian government issued a commemorative postal cover and stamp to honour the tigress for her ecological and economical contributions.

In the media

Machli is considered to have been the most photographed tigress in the world. She was featured in a number of wildlife documentaries, including a 50-minute documentary about her life, titled ''Tiger Queen'', which was aired on the

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

channels. In 2012, the story of Machli was aired on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's '' Natural World'' in an episode titled "Queen of Tigers: Natural World Special".

Later years and death

As a result of her age, Machali lost almost all of her teeth, sight in one eye and much of her strength in her later years. She also lost her territory, as her daughter Sundari, born in her last litter, drove her out of her turf. As she was unable to hunt and kill for herself, park staff provided her with food. This intervention became somewhat controversial; tiger expert K Ullas Karanth commented that it resulted in Machali living longer than she should have, and that truly wild animals should be born, live and die naturally. In August 2016 Machali became critically ill. Due to her great age, it was considered risky for Ranthambore's rangers and staff to treat and aid her as the medications needed could be harmful or fatal. She died on 18 August 2016. She was 19 years old, older than the average 12 year lifespan of tigers in the wild. She was cremated in observance with traditional Hindu rituals in a public ceremony. The last few years of Machali's life were captured on film by wildlife filmmaker S. Nallamuthu. Titled 'The World's Most Famous Tiger', the film contains a two-minute showdown between Machali and her daughter Sundari that ends with the former losing control of the

Ranthambore Fort Ranthambore Fort lies within the Ranthambore National Park, near the city of Sawai Madhopur in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. It is a formidable fort having been a focal point of the historical developments of Rajasthan. The fo ...

and the unusual instance of a former mate joining her in what seemed an act of companionship.

Phylogeny

The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below shows the

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

(progeny or offspring) of Machali with code names and/or nicknames. From 1999 to 2006, she gave birth to at least eleven cubs.

References

External links

{{External media , video1={{YouTube, on9wc57qJKI , T16 Machli on Trail {{! Ranthambore Tigers , video2={{YouTube, 7_gERPEAyFA , Tiger Queen – Own Rules (National Geographic) , video3={{YouTube, uYC_R-tsrEU , Tigress Machli Kills 14 foot long Crocodile , video4={{YouTube, TABMdrMi9Go , Tigress Machli fights male tiger to protect her cubs , video5={{YouTube, WyAdbOYglJ0, Tigers Revenge Wild Animal Documentary 2015 HD - National Geographic Documentary

1996 animal births 2016 animal deaths Individual tigers in India Individual wild animals