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Order: Carnivora, Family: Felidae

Distribution: Eastern Asia, very fragmented

Size: Up to 260kg

Interesting facts:

• Recent genetic studies suggest that all tigers of the Asian mainland are indistinguishable, voiding the old "Siberian" and "Bengal" subspecies; however, the Sumatran tiger is believed to be distinct
• India is the only country in the world where both tigers and lions still survive
• In prehistoric times, tigers were found in Alaska, but the species has never lived in Africa

Sightings:

I've seen the king of the wild four times, all in the sal forests of Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. My first three encounters were from elephant back but the fourth was from a jeep.

I remember that game drive well enough. Mornings start early in the forest and one is obliged to wrap up in multiple layers of clothing, even with balaclavas, to avoid getting chilled in the back of an open jeep. The excess, of course, then needs to be removed as the sun creeps higher and the risk switches to overheating instead. But a small jeep gives a much more intimate experience of the forest than the pop-up top safari vehicles often used in Africa.

Our target that morning was the chowsingha, the four-horned antelope that can prove stubbornly elusive in Kanha's dense undergrowth. After a full week in Kanha, we had seen most of the larger wild mammals and learnt invaluable skills for locating carnivores in poor visibility habitats - which I ended up using, years later, to find wolves in Canada. We had seen three tigers from elephants, but seeing one jeep-side seemed to out of the question.

Hours, days spent travelling Kanha's dirt tracks, listening for alarm calls, watching and waiting...yet when it happened, it was so completely unexpected. This tigress was untracked, unsearched for, just standing by the side of the trail. We had no knowledge of her presence at all until her stripes became visible in the tall growth. She was quietly sniffing the undergrowth and coolly indifferent to her audience, befitting a giant cat who, under natural circumstances, has no enemies except her own kind. She did not even look at the jeep but crossed the road slowly behind us, marked a bush, and padded on.

Tigers make their own rules as to how they will be found. The forest is theirs, as is a rare grandeur and magic.

Things to Look For:

Locating tigers in the forest often requires considerable bush skills. Their massive pugmarks (tracks) are unmistakable, but it is the alarm calls of chital - axis deer - and langurs which frequently betray their presence. Skilled guides and mahouts rely heavily upon jungle sounds to locate tigers. However, as my encounter above shows, they are not always revealed in this manner.

The tiger's size and stripes make it unmistakable.

To date I've found this species in:

• Kanha National Park (India)
• Ranthambhore National Park (India) - sign only