Animals can display maternal affection not just for their offspring but even for those belonging to others. An example of this has come up in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanjay Dubri National Park and Tiger Reserve in Sidhi district where a tigress is looking after three cubs belonging to her dead sister and also training them in hunting.

This maternal aunt tigress, T28, is the star attraction of the reserve because of the way she is taking care of the cubs belonging to her sister T18, who died in a train accident.

Talking about T18, Y.P. Singh, Field Director of the reserve told PTI: “We received information that a big cat was lying near railway tracks in the reserve’s core area of Dubri range on March 16 this year. A forest department team reached the spot and found it was tigress T18.” She died the next day.

Concerned about the safety of her cubs, search parties were sent but by then one of the four cubs had been killed by an adult tiger. They were seen with their mother’s sister T17 and her cubs but later they separated from her.

“After 10 days of tracking, these orphaned cubs of T18 were seen with another mausi (mother’s sister) – T28 – also born to Kamli,” informed Singh. Since they have been regularly monitored and found to have mixed well with the cubs of T28.

What is noteworthy is that T28 going beyond taking care of the three orphans also taught them hunting before her own cubs. “Now, these cubs of T18 are able to hunt independently after being trained by T28 and they share prey with other siblings,” observed Singh.