Among Tigers And Tuskers

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In 1973 wildlife preservationists and naturalists launched the most prestigious and biggest environmental conservation project ever undertaken - Project Tiger. After this, in 1991-92 the Project Elephant was launched to protect this lord of the jungle. Both these animals have been the crowing glory of our forests. This book presents interesting details about the lifestyles, behaviour and social life of tigers and elephants.

Ramesh Bedi had his education as a resident of the jungle-based Gurukul Kangadi University, Haridwar, where, inspired by the beauty of Nature, he was attracted to study wildlife. After completing his education he returned to Lahore (now in Pakistan), but the Partition of the country in 1947 forced him to seek refuge at Haridwar. Here he spent his days in the study of tigers and tuskers of the Himalayan foothills.

While wandering through the forests of Corbett Park, my encounters with tigers and elephants made each day a new experience. In one encounter a magnificent, well behaved and courteous tiger suddenly sprang on my riding elephant on being disturbed while relaxing. In a near-fatal duel between the tiger-king of beasts, and the elephant-lord of the jungle, I managed to emerge un scathed.

I observed the behaviour of both these animals during the mating period about which I shall discuss later in the following pages. Here I shall mention only some of the peculiar traits that caught my attention. Two tuskers fought for full three days over a cow until one of them lay dead.

I noticed that mother elephants stand still as their young ones sleep peacefully between their legs, like human babies asleep in their mothers' laps. A cow-elephant with fetter-locked front legs accident tally fell into the deep waters of the vast expanse of a lake. Her legs were well above the bottom of the lake, but her chains severely restricted her movements. She took twenty hours to cover the three kilometre distance for reaching the shore of the waters-indeed, a Herculean task. She dis played exceptional courage and formidable powers of endurance in surviving the ordeal.

At all hours of the day and night, animals of the jungle barking deer, hog deer, chital, monkeys, wild boars, tigers, elephants, several species of birds and reptiles would visit the reservoir to bathe in it and drink its water. The water and soil around absorbed the smell of their bodies The deer new perfectly well that tigers were visitors to the same small reservoir but kept visiting the reservoir, com pletely undeterred. I concluded that Nature does not discriminate between one species of animals and another. She considers them all her children who have an equal right to drink water. The reservior had become a haven for all animals, where none dared to look askance at a fellow animal, and no fatal incident, or a fight ever occurred.

**Contents and Sample Pages**