Mother Tiger Makes The Internet Smile With The Way She Checks On Her Cubs

Netizens let out a resounding “aww” in unison after watching a video of a mother tiger checking on her cubs to make sure they were not lost in their lush green habitat. The moment was captured in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where the backdrop of the Nilgiris and the Geddai Dam created the perfect setting for the heartwarming video.

The clip was shared by Supriya Sahu, Indian Administrative Officer and Principal Secretary of Environment of Tamil Nadu, according to Indian Express.

The three young tigers seemed a little lost as they kept their eyes on the path their mother took. The camera then shifts to capture the mama tiger, who looked back at her kids almost like she was checking in on them to make sure they weren’t far behind.

“Tiger Country - looks like a mother teaching her three teenage kids. Look at the discipline and the way she checks on them,” Sahu wrote on Twitter. “Seen near Geddai Dam....”

The video garnered more than 30,000 views within a day of being shared on Twitter. Many commented on the video and were moved by the relationship between mother and children, which is a bond that not only humans but also the most ferocious of the wild enjoy.

“Beautiful shot taken,” said one comment while another said, “seems they are on some really special mission.”

“These kids know their mom means business so better to behave,” another comment said.

A similar incident, reported earlier this year in June, showed the relationship between a male tiger and four little cubs, according to Hindustan Times.

The male tiger began taking care of the cubs after their mother passed away due to a prolonged illness, according to the forest department officials of the Panna Tiger Reserve in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.

“The forest department observed the tiger and the cubs for a month between May 20 and June 20 by setting up cameras in the territory of cubs and found that the tiger killed animals and left [the prey] for the cubs,” US Sharma, the field director of Panna Tiger Reserve, said at the time.

The cameras captured the tiger roaming around but saw that he did not stay apart from the cubs for more than two days. “The tiger made all the kills away from their territory and brought the dead prey for them,” the field director said. “On May 21, he killed a sambhar and shared the kill with the cubs. On June 6, the tiger killed a cow early in the morning a little distance from the cubs’ territory, but it did not eat it.”

It was a rare sight for wildlife experts to see the male tiger caring for the cubs. “Such a phenomenon was seen in Ranthambore many years ago but is a rarest one,” said SK Mandol, former chief warden of the forest.