Queen of Tigers: Natural World Special Natural World

She is the most famous tiger in the world.

I named her Machli.

I've spent 13 years following her incredible life.

TIGERS GROWL

The greatest fighter I've ever seen...

..and the greatest mother.

She came to rule over Ranthambhore National Park...

..became its queen...

and founded a dynasty.

Now she's old and frail, she doesn't have much time left.

TIGER ROARS

I've come to find my old friend for one last time...

to say goodbye.

Even in my personal life, I've always tried to go

and see people before they've died and not go to their funerals.

That's just the way I prefer it.

It seems to me it makes a lot more sense.

What a character. What a character!

She has given me a lifetime of memories.

TIGERS GROWL

This is her story.

I've come back to Ranthambhore National Park in India

to find Machli for the last time.

Little did I know,

when we first met, that she would change my life for ever.

How's it going, buddy?

'My constant companion during that time

'was a local guide, called Salim.'

Good to see you, buddy.

'In fact, I met him just about the same time I met Machli.'

-Excellent. Can't wait.

-Chalo.

'He always keeps an eye on her during my absence.'

Ah. Good to be back.

'We've done this so many times together,

'this place feels like my second home.'

I guess my life changed completely

when I got a phone call one afternoon,

offering me the chance to go to this place, Ranthambhore, in India.

I'd never heard of the place.

A few weeks later, I arrived.

I was a relatively inexperienced wildlife cameraman.

I knew very little about tigers.

Salim, back then, didn't really have much of an idea, either.

'We had to find a tiger

'that was at an interesting stage in its life.'

How fresh do you reckon these footmarks are?

They are from the morning.

But there was one tigress that we found - she was only 18 months old.

She had just left her mother, she was striking out on her own.

Her mother had already kicked her two sisters

out of this territory,

but it didn't look like Machli was going anywhere.

'My Hindi wasn't great.'

If I'd known she was going to become the world's most famous tiger,

I probably wouldn't have called her "Fish",

cos it's not the best name for a tiger I've ever heard.

There was something about her - she was just...feisty,

so we decided to follow her.

In many ways, she became my jungle guru, my jungle teacher.

And through her, I met her mother.

Now, she at the time ruled this lake area.

Yet this youngster, her daughter,

was walking round the place like SHE owned it.

I knew there was going to be a showdown to win this prime

lakeside territory.

As I followed her, it became obvious that these two

were on a collision course.

TIGER GROWLS

Her mother seemed both surprised and disgusted to see her there.

TIGER GROWLS

And Machli wasn't giving way.

TIGER ROARS

TIGERS ROAR

Machli got a nasty nick on her chest.

Her future depended on winning these battles with her mother...

..and over the next few weeks,

I witnessed several of these encounters.

The final clash was set to take place amidst the palace ruins.

Machli's mother was still laying claim to these ruins.

Machli knew this was serious.

TIGER GROWLS

But Machli wasn't giving up any ground.

TIGER GROWLS

TIGERS ROAR

BIRDS SQUAWK

Seeing Machli dethrone her mother

made me realise that she was going to be something special.

Her mother disappeared soon after that.

Machli, through her skills as a fighter,

had become the queen of one of the world's prime tiger territories.

You have that combination of fort, cliffs, lakes, wildlife every place.

It's beyond our imaginations.

Seeing Machli move through this landscape

was just a dream for a cameraman.

All the animals constantly reacting to her.

BIRDS CHIRP

There's nothing, no place like it in the world.

No place like it in the world.

Now, 13 years on, I can't wait to catch up with my old friend Machli.

We've travelled this road so many times and it always looks different.

And right now, there's been a good monsoon this year,

so the vegetation growth has been really, really strong.

And although that's really good for the animals,

it's good for the deer, and for all the things tigers want to eat,

it's going to make actually spotting tigers kind of difficult.

They've so many places to hide.

But at least, with Machli, we know her, we know her so well

that we've a pretty good chance of tracking her down.

But, of course, she's an old lady now, her habits are changing,

so actually tracking her down, having a good look at her,

is not going to be that easy.

Just have a listen for a minute.

There are a lot of animals in this area

and if she was to start moving, we'd soon hear about it.

'They'd all start alarm calling.'

It's so quiet around here these days.

I'm pretty certain Machli doesn't come here any more.

Very quiet.

So Machli was at a very interesting stage in her life now.

Inheriting the territory that you grow up in is a massive advantage.

It means that Machli already knew every nook and cranny of this place.

CROCODILE HISSES

But she was relatively inexperienced,

and she still had to learn to deal

with the other creatures found in her territory.

Sloth bears - one of the most aggressive creatures

you're ever likely to come across.

BEAR GRUNTS

TIGER ROARS

BEAR GROWLS

She knew when to retreat and picked her battles well.

She was gaining experience all the time.

And in a way, we were both learning our trades together.

Her home range was absolutely full of prey,

but that can be a disadvantage, too.

Salim, if you spot her, just give me a shout.

I think she's coming...

'It only takes one animal to spot her...

'and the element of surprise is gone.'

She's going, Colin.

But she's not giving up.

Her favourite food.

WARTHOGS SQUEAL

She's still got a lot to learn.

What is the next thing that's going to be on a tigress's mind?

That's meeting a male and having a family.

As luck would have it, there was this beautiful, perfectly handsome

big male tiger called Bombooram, who came calling one Christmas Day.

And she got very excited at this, and she was going round,

she spent days roaring, roaring, roaring.

She had picked up his scent.

She knew he was in the area.

And then I shall never forget the day.

TIGER ROARS

I was listening to this roaring.

And she stopped, and in the distance I heard an answering call.

TIGER ROARING

That was to be my Christmas present.

Unbelievable!

It was the first time I had seen a male and female together

and I could see the difference in size.

He totally dominated her in size. Beautiful, big male.

TIGER GROWLS

MONKEY CHATTERS

TIGERS SNARL

Couldn't believe it. So excited.

And they started mating right beside our vehicle,

and they did it repeatedly for days and days.

It's a great sight to see.

By choosing the dominant male,

she'd selected the best genes around.

Bombooram was well known to be incredibly powerful,

so hopefully, any offspring they had together would inherit

those same characteristics.

TIGERS GROWL AND ROAR

There was a very good chance that the next generation was on its way.

'Another day, and still no sign of Machli.

'I'm really pretty certain she doesn't come here any more now.'

She's changed her habits so much.

She's not moving round any way near as much as she used to.

She used to use these forest trails all the time,

because they were the easiest way of moving through the park.

And if she's lying down quietly under a tree,

there's no evidence as to where she is.

Have you seen Machli anywhere?

Any of you guys seen Machli?

No?

'The park guards confirm my suspicions.

'Machli has been evicted from her territory,

'almost certainly by one of her daughters

'from her fourth and final litter.

'This means she will be more reclusive and harder to find.'

Machli was, one day, seen coming from the bush

and making this little call.

GENTLE GROWLING

And I had never heard it before because I had never seen

a tiger family before, where there were small cubs.

It's a very gentle little call that the tigress makes for her cubs

to say, "Come on, follow."

So Machli stepped out onto the road

and out came these tiny little cubs with her.

My future was sort of mapped out for me.

The fact that she had these cubs, my job was then to follow

those cubs for as long as I possibly could and watch them grow up.

So Machli had produced two cubs, she'd gotten them

through the first monsoon, and they were now about a year old.

As a first time mum, that's pretty impressive,

cos I'm sure lots of first time mums lose their first cubs.

So Machli was already proving herself as something special.

THEY GROWL

She taught me so much about this place.

And in many ways, we were at a similar stage in our lives.

When she became a mother, I became a father, so we had that in common.

I've got two wonderful little male cubs, two beautiful female cubs,

and through my work here, by following Machli,

she's put food on the table, given me shelter, all that sort of thing.

So I'm grateful to her for that.

I look back upon this time as being my halcyon days in Ranthambhore.

Being able to have that opportunity to watch a tiger family

growing up around the lakes and to have had that lucky break, really,

of choosing the right tigress.

I mean, I don't know how many times I've thought to myself,

I could easily have chosen another one who'd moved off

and set up a territory some place else.

I just happened to choose Machli.

Cubs are with their mums for about at least 18 or 20 months.

It's a long period of time and you have to feed them during that time,

and as they get bigger, you have to supply a lot of food.

So she became an expert hunter.

BLEATING AND ROARING

She seemed to hunt extremely efficiently.

From a cameraman's point of view,

she normally hunted extremely, behind a bush!

That's the nature of tigers.

Everyone would say to you, "Did you get a kill, did you get a kill?"

"Ah well, I got the beginning of it," or, "I got the end of it."

But don't ask me if I got a kill.

It's not the most interesting thing tigers do, anyway.

It's always fascinated me how a tigress tells her cubs,

how she tells them, I don't know,

but she tells them to, "Stay there, I'm going off hunting."

She wouldn't have a chance if she brought them with her.

And it's very important, too, that she leaves them in a safe place,

and it's important that the cubs learn to stay there.

And Machli was incredibly good at this.

It was just another example, really, of what a great mother she was.

Close to the water, in the reeds, they were well hidden,

so no other predators could find them,

because they were really too young to defend themselves.

The cubs were able to enjoy a wonderful time,

because Machli had provided them with safety and security.

In her absence, they used to get up to all sorts of mischief.

CROCODILE GROWLS

Sharing this domain with crocodiles, another apex predator,

meant that they often came into close contact.

THEY HONK

Other than large male tigers,

crocodiles were the one true adversary for Machli.

They terrorized the lake waters from above and below.

And always took advantage of stragglers.

It was around this time that Machli took them on at their own game.

This incredible footage shows her killing a fully-grown crocodile,

and confirmed to me that she was no ordinary tigress.

She was the true queen of the lakes.

SHE ROARS

Everything had been going really well for Machli until then.

She'd learned how to deal with her mother.

She'd learned how to deal with her sisters.

She'd set up an exclusive territory right around the lakes,

probably the best territory, in terms of prey,

in the whole of Ranthambhore.

And the biggest, most powerful male around had fathered her cubs.

But soon afterwards, Bomboo disappeared,

and none of us were quite sure why.

There was a worrying threat that it may have been poaching...

but one thing we knew for sure,

Machli's life was going to change from this point on.

A new male was going to move in, and he could be a serious threat

to Machli's cubs.

My worst fears were realised

when I started finding huge male pugmarks

getting closer and closer to Machli's territory.

I came to this spot one morning, like any other morning,

I used to pass through here every day...

when I suddenly saw the new male, at last,

had come to the very heart of Machli's territory.

He was investigating what was going on here.

The cubs were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in.

Over the next few weeks, I started to see this male more and more.

We called him Nick.

And a new challenge for Machli was,

how was she going to deal with this new male?

He was young and inexperienced,

but he was still huge, compared to her, and a real danger.

And he tracked her down, he tracked her down relentlessly.

He just knew where she was.

TIGERS GROWL

And he was clearly in the mood for mating,

and, even more worryingly, he knew where those cubs were.

So Machli had an incredibly difficult challenge on her hands.

She was up and down on the ground,

making sure she wasn't available to him,

positioning herself very carefully.

He was sniffing in the scent.

He was trying to work out exactly what was going on with her.

And as he walked towards me...

he seemed very on edge.

TIGER GROWLS

When this had been going on for some weeks,

I came back to this very place,

and I saw Machli looking very anxious indeed.

The male was circling her.

Then they came to this, almost like an arena.

It was made for a fight, and she just lunged straight at him.

TIGERS GROWL

And she beat him.

It didn't last very long, but tiger fights cannot last long,

because they would seriously injure each other.

But what was amazing, at the end of the fight,

both Machli and the male bowed to each other.

Now, I'd seen this very same thing happening at the end of mating,

when there's often aggression.

But this sort of bow seems to mean,

"We've had enough, let's not continue with this."

That's it, the aggression seems to just disappear and they part.

What she had done, she played a magnificent game

of combining seductress on the one hand,

keeping him interested...

interested enough not to hurt her.

But he walked away as the injured party.

He was definitely out of action for a couple of days.

With a pad cut like that, you can't hunt.

She had won this encounter,

and for the sake of her cubs, it was such an important encounter to win.

And this distinguishes second-rate tigers from first-rate tigers,

if you like.

She was the queen of Ranthambhore now -

she could control this dominant male.

These days, I've discovered that Machli rarely uses

these roads like she used to.

Good, fresh tracks.

Nice ones.

'We've been finding sporadic female pugmarks crossing the road

'in a tiny corner of her former territory.'

Yeah, these are fresh, these are fresh.

Go on, go on. Chale, chale.

At last, we've found some physical indication

that we're actually on her trail, and that she's still alive.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy,

because her needs,

her requirements are so different than they used to be.

She's now a tigress just surviving on her own.

So she's keeping a really low profile,

and that's completely opposite of the Machli I knew.

Chalo.

'And although she's in a relatively small area,

'maybe a couple of square kilometres,

'if she doesn't move, she's pretty much impossible to find.

'So I'm starting to get a little concerned as to whether

'I'm going to see her at all.'

BIRDS CALL

Every track and trail in Machli's territory seems to hold some

sort of memory for me.

Some of them now look just sort of empty and desolate,

and you'd think nothing had ever happened there.

This was the spot. Just in here.

But on this particular road,

it looks like a very ordinary piece of road now,

a most extraordinary event happened one day,

one I shall never forget, and probably, for me,

the single greatest thing I ever filmed as a cameraman.

I shall never forget the day.

I'd come in the park that morning and she had gone hunting,

and left the two cubs behind, in cover.

And a few hours later, way in the distance...

I heard a roaring.

TIGER ROARS

And then it got louder and louder, as she came through the lakes.

TIGER ROARS

TIGER ROARS

She came walking towards me, towards me, towards me,

roaring all the way, so I knew she was calling the cubs.

She came right past my vehicle and then lay down on the road.

And I simply couldn't believe what happened next.

I heard rustling in the bushes

and first of all, out stepped the first cub,

and he lay down on the road, quickly followed by the second one.

But they weren't just lying beside her and nuzzling her,

they were actually suckling her.

They were using their paws to sort of stimulate milk production,

like they would have done when they were youngsters.

I don't think anyone had ever recorded a tigress suckling

almost two-year-old cubs before.

Machli knew what she was doing, that's for sure.

It's as if she was saying goodbye to her two boys.

Because that was the last time I ever saw them

together as a family unit.

THUNDER RUMBLES

When the two cubs suddenly disappeared,

I started to get worried.

There'd been rumours when Bombooram disappeared, too, that poaching

was starting again in Ranthambhore.

It's periodically been a huge problem in this part of the world.

It turned out that poaching was to blame for the disappearance

of at least one of Machli's first set of cubs.

Around this time, poaching accounted for up to 25 tiger deaths

in Ranthambhore.

And in the neighbouring tiger reserve of Sariska,

every single tiger was killed by poaching.

Ranthambhore is a major religious site

and pilgrims flock here in huge numbers.

In fact, over Machli's lifetime perhaps ten million people

have come into the heart of her territory.

She knew how to disappear when she needed to disappear,

and perhaps she was able to detect benign people from dangerous people.

Although I'd like to believe she had some sort of sixth sense

and knew how to avoid poachers,

the truth is she probably survived because she lived

in the most heavily protected part of Ranthambhore.

Cattle grazers would sometimes come into her territory

during the monsoon, but she avoided eating cattle

and hence avoided coming into conflict.

Clever girl.

Perhaps she learned from her mother who had survived

a similar poaching crisis during the early '90s.

Our search for Machli is taking us deeper and deeper into the park.

Fresh pugmarks. Chalo.

The female pugmarks have become more consistent

around a little gorge called Lakarda.

I'm pretty sure now this is where she's got to be.

Very quiet.

Peaceful place, isn't it?

She must be sitting quietly here somewhere.

'It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet.'

She has always loved this place.

She was born here, and I'm quite sure

that this is where she's going to die.

Worse places to die.

It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet,

as far as I'm concerned.

She's brought me to so many beautiful places

on our journey together.

HE SIGHS

Ranthambhore won't be the same without her.

SHE PANTS

By the time Machli's first cubs had left her,

she was about four and a half years old.

Irony of ironies, that male that she'd fought

and that male that she could have been killed by...

..he had now become the dominant male of this area.

There was this amazing sort of reversal in his fortunes, I suppose.

She now had to go and befriend him

and he was to become the father of her second litter.

In the second litter, there was one male and one female.

But this time that family was able to be raised

in the security of having the dominant male around.

That changed everything for her.

It became a much more straightforward

raising of the family.

She raised four litters, with two in the first, two in the second,

two in the third, and three in the fourth.

She's been a wonderful mother

and by far the most successful tigress in Ranthambhore.

I think one of the keys to Machli's success was her ability

to manipulate males.

I witnessed an incredible example of this

when she was rearing her third family of two cubs.

Came round the corner, and there in front of me

was the most amazing sight.

Machli, fast asleep on the road,

the most relaxed I'd ever seen her, as were the cubs.

And then the cubs, as cubs will do, started to get a little bit bored.

So, one of them got up and started wandering down the road,

so I thought, "I'll follow."

And then...

I noticed the cub was looking slightly alert, slightly anxious...

and I looked into the bushes at the back,

and there was another tiger.

It was a great, big male head.

If there was no relationship between these animals, the tiger could

get up and kill that cub, easily.

So it was a moment of great tension.

This was the first time I had ever seen the tiger we called X Male,

because we knew he existed but we never saw him.

I was absolutely holding my breath.

TIGER GROWLS

As soon as he looked up, the cub's posture changed, immediately,

and he quickly moved in...

right up beside the tiger

that was obviously his dad,

because they started playing with each other.

So this was the first time

I had ever really seen a tiger family together.

And, from a cameraman's point of view, it was mostly hidden,

slightly behind the bushes, but for me, it meant absolutely everything.

This was a moment I had always wanted to witness.

It was happening right in front of me.

Now, male tigers have big territories

and they will have several females within their territory...

possibly several families.

And it seems to me that they patrol

and visit each of those families on a regular basis.

Now Machli, it seemed,

was allowing this male in to share her kills with her.

From her point of view, if she gives almost a reward for him

being in the area,

he's more likely to come to that area on a regular basis

and hence, her cubs will be protected

from the intrusions of other males.

I'm sure it's something that happens with tigresses generally,

but it seemed that Machli was very, very good at establishing

relationships with males throughout her life.

She's a smart girl, and that relationship she's had with males

over the years has really fascinated me,

because it's something we really didn't know

an awful lot about in tigers.

Her last litter, three female cubs, all raised successfully.

This was the perfect situation - Ranthambhore,

three female cubs on the lakes.

It was almost like a mirror of what Machli had been through.

That's how she had been brought up.

She had held sway in the lakes for almost a decade,

and her life as a fighter was beginning to take its toll

on the aging tigress.

TIGER PANTS

One thing that a tiger needs to successfully kill

is good, strong canines.

They are known as the "killing teeth",

and Machli was starting to lose her canines.

TIGER ROARS

TIGER ROARS

Each time I saw her, I could see her physical prowess was ebbing away.

This queen was about to lose her crown

to one of those closest to her.

My feeling was that one of these daughters had just inherited

a bit more of Machli than the other ones.

Ironically, Machli's success at controlling

and reproducing with alpha males had resulted

in this incredibly powerful daughter.

A worthy rival, with all her cunning and aggression.

She was ready to kick Machli out and take over the lake territory.

First, she had to defeat her sisters,

starting with the youngest and weakest.

TIGERS GRUNT AND ROAR

The first encounter was relatively straightforward.

But her elder sister was bigger and stronger than her.

TIGERS GRUNT AND ROAR

With her two sisters out of the way,

she then turned her attention to her mother.

And Machli was waiting, almost as if she knew what was going to happen.

The tables were turned.

GENTLE GROWLING

BIRDS SQUAWK

Machli's reign was about to come to an end.

TIGER GROWLS

THEY GRUNT AND ROAR

That short interaction was all it took.

A queen deposed by her own daughter.

TIGER GROWLS

Machli was intelligent enough to know when to back down.

This is how she had survived to become something very rare...

an elderly tigress.

SHE PANTS

It was soon after this that she left the lakes for good,

and began her life as a recluse,

avoiding all other members of her kind.

And that's why she's been so hard to find.

People often refer to tigers as being solitary animals,

but in fact, Machli has spent much of her life in the company

of other tigers, with all those families she's raised.

But now she's a very different animal.

Now she's got to avoid all contact with members of her kind.

And that sort of makes me sad,

to think that she's out there now all by herself, all alone.

It's a sad old way for such a dominant tigress to sort of...

for things to end. But...

I hope I get to see her in the next few days,

cos I've a feeling if I don't, I'll never see her again.

I wonder where she is right now.

SHE PANTS

Once she was kicked out of the lakes,

Machli had to find a new way of surviving in her old age.

Making kills was now really difficult for her.

She'd lost all her canines.

But one thing's for sure,

when she was lucky enough to make a kill, she wanted to protect it.

But protecting your hard-earned meal from other tigers

can be fraught with danger.

And there's nothing more dangerous than a marauding male.

TIGER PANTS

She needs to stay out of his way.

I have never seen a tiger look more nervous.

It was really hard for me to watch.

But she still wasn't going away.

The sight of him stealing her kill is just too much for her,

and she lets him know she's not happy.

That is not a good idea.

SHE GROWLS

THEY GRUNT AND ROAR

She just doesn't give up.

A fighter till the bitter end.

After all these years, that feistiness

that first attracted me to her has not diminished in the slightest.

That's what makes Machli so special to me.

It's my final day here.

Strange feeling.

I've been thinking about this day for some time.

BIRDS SQUAWK

I'm sure Machli's in here.

If I was to guess, I'd say that she's been on a carcass,

because I can hear the sounds of crows and treepies in there.

And she should move.

She should move, because it's getting warmer and warmer.

And if I know Machli...

by the time it gets to maybe ten o'clock this morning,

it'll be about 110 degrees,

and she'll move to water,

cos she loves sitting in the water.

But whatever happens, I'm not going to move from this place all day.

BIRDS CALL

I think there's some movement going on, peacock alarm calls.

I think she's on the move.

She's coming, she's coming.

She's coming.

She looks beautiful. Just beautiful.

SHE PANTS

'This whole jungle will be empty without her, that's for sure...

'when she goes, but I'm kind of glad I came to see her now

'and I'm leaving her looking good.

'I have no desire to see her when she's dead.

'I don't need that.

'I prefer just to see her...

'looking healthy, well-fed, well-watered.'

Because this whole...

I guess, you know, we've been on a long journey together,

Machli and I, 13 years.

You know, I'm so glad I came to see her for the last time.

It's like, even in my personal life, I've always tried to go

and see people before they've died and not go to their funerals.

That's just the way I prefer it.

It seems to me it makes a lot more sense.

And to have been able to come back here

and to see Machli still looking in good health...

still at least in a tiny part of her former territory, still alive,

looking good,

and leaving her today, lying in the shade of a jamun tree.

That's the image I'm going to take away from this place.

I'll never have a relationship with another wild tiger like that again.

People say there are more tigers in the forest...

you know, "There's plenty of fish in the sea."

But not for me.

That's a once-in-a-lifetime.

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