Dollar Comes Visiting

Ranthambore National Park - Dollar the T25 Male Update

Ranthambore is Buzzing with action once again- Dollar male aka T25 is back at lakes almost exactly after a year, not sure if this is a desperate measure due to receding water levels in the park OR an annual ritual he has been following for the last few years since 2012.

While his last visit in 2017 was brief and lasted little more than 2 days, we will only come to know of his intentions over the next few days. He looks in good shape and could give stiff competition to young T86 who is still recuperating post a deadly fight with T95.

He was first sighted around lakes in the monsoon of 2012 and subsequently in October 2012 by yours truly at Rajbagh and ever since his visits were brief but frequent.  At that point, it looked like he was a serious challenger to Star Male aka T28 who was then the dominant male of the Lake area. They both had common interests – first T17 and then her T19. At times these girls were seen flirting with both boys within a gap of a few hours. I had written a blog post about this love triangle in June 2013, you can read the post here. There were not many reported sightings in 2016 and also most of 2017 except for 2 days as mentioned above.

Not much is known about his early life – he probably was born to Gilai Sagar female and not T22 as it is mostly believed until recently when an old photograph of T22 with her 3 cubs – T23, T24 & identified as T34 was published in a book written by Daulat Singh Shaktawat, ACF who had recently retired after 3 decades of service at Ranthambore. He was first sighted around 2009 & got into the limelight in 2011 when it was discovered that he was taking care of 2 female cubs of T5 after her death. This was probably the first ever documentation of a male tiger taking care of cubs fathered by him in the absence of their mother and even protecting them from other tigers (his famous fight with T17).

If this turns out to be just another ritual (brief outing) OR stays back to claim the prized area of lakes…watch out this space for more updates.