TIGER ROARS
Tigers are the largest, most powerful,
and perhaps the most loved of all the big cats.
Yet, over the past century, their numbers have declined by 95%.
Our team has spent two years following one tigress
with her cubs, as she attempts to rear them.
Her problems come not just from the natural world
but from having to do so at close quarters with us.
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in the heart of India.
A rich tropical jungle.
ANIMAL CRIES
MONKEYS SCREECH
At the base of this cliff...
..a secret cave.
Hiding within is a tigress known as Raj Bhera.
Two weeks ago, she chose this cave
in which to give birth to her new family.
This is her daughter, Biba.
BIBA MEWS
And these are her first rather unsteady steps.
Biba has three brothers.
The four of them together are the next generation
of this tiger dynasty.
Raj Bhera is one of the most formidable predators on Earth.
But her cubs are vulnerable
and will remain so for the next two years.
It will take all her strength and skill as a mother
to protect and provide for them,
if she is to raise them to adulthood.
TIGER ROARS
BIRDS CHEEP
This forest has everything a tiger family needs.
Plenty of fresh water.
Dense thickets for concealment.
And open grasslands full of prey.
DEER CRY
DEER CRIES
After two hungry weeks confined to the den with her cubs,
Raj Bhera needs food.
She is an experienced hunter.
But her prey are always on high alert.
DEER CRY
Fortunately, she knows how to disappear.
VARIOUS ANIMALS CRY
DEER CRY
Even with her experience,
most hunts end this way.
MONKEY CRIES
But now she faces a dilemma.
As evening draws in,
leaving the cubs unprotected in their den could put them in danger.
The night shift are already on the prowl.
A sloth bear.
TIGER CUB CRIES
CRYING CONTINUES
It will kill cubs if it can find them.
CUBS CRY
RAJ BHERA GROWLS
SHE GROWLS
SHE GROWLS GENTLY
CUBS CRY
Once the den has been discovered, it's no longer safe.
She needs to move her family.
DAWN CHORUS OF ANIMAL CRIES
The family are safe at a new den.
An experienced tigress like Raj Bhera may know
half a dozen hideaways like this.
Even though she failed in her hunt,
the cubs are as hungry for milk as ever.
CUBS MEW
CUB MEWS
For a tigress to feed and protect
as many as four young is a relentless challenge.
CUBS CRY
It's unlikely that she will be able to raise them all.
And in India today, there are new pressures,
making it harder than ever to rear a family to adulthood.
Raj Bhera's territory is just big enough to support her cubs,
but she's surrounded by territories held by other tigers.
And all are encircled by human settlement.
BIRDS CRY
There are about 80 tigers in Bandhavgarh.
This is an unusually high density.
TIGER GROWLS
Competition for space is intense.
TIGER ROARS
Scarred faces are evidence of battles between rivals.
To keep her territory secure,
Raj Bhera regularly patrols its 12-mile-long boundary.
MONKEYS SCREECH
Each time she sprays, she's marking a line
that other tigers know they cross at their peril.
Territory marking in the midday heat is hard work.
She needs to cool off.
An amorous male peacock.
PEACOCK CRIES REPEATEDLY
PEACOCK CRIES
PEACOCK CRIES CONTINUE
PEACOCK CRIES
PEACOCKS CRY
PEACOCK CRIES
CUBS MEW
Every day, she has to strike an almost impossible balance...
..dividing her time between hunting,
scent-marking her boundaries
and nursing her cubs.
For now, the demands of her young family must take precedence.
Her cubs have reached the stage when they start exploring.
Although even walking hasn't been completely mastered.
CUBS MEW
Differences between the cubs are beginning to appear.
The three brothers are caught up in a rough and tumble.
CUBS MEW
But their sister, Biba, holds back.
She is smaller and not as strong as her brothers.
And these differences will only become more apparent
as they grow older.
MONKEY CRIES
Two months later,
and the family have left the den for good.
The cubs are now strong enough to follow their mother.
She must now start on their education.
She shows them around her territory...
..and most importantly, introduces them to a new diet...
..meat.
The cubs have doubled in size,
so that she has to hunt even more frequently
to provide for their growing appetites.
Since the birth of her cubs,
Raj Bhera has not been able to patrol her territory
as regularly as she did.
And that has given a rival an opportunity.
This is Solo, Raj Bhera's adult daughter.
And she is trespassing on her mother's lands...
..some of the richest in the whole of Bandhavgarh.
She may be unaware that Raj Bhera is hunting here.
Normally, adult tigers avoid each other...
..because fights, even between mother and daughter, can be fatal.
But now, Solo appears to be testing her mother.
GROWLING
Faced with Raj Bhera's confident advance,
Solo immediately defers, rolling on her back like a cub.
She's not old enough or strong enough
to challenge for the territory...
yet.
Raj Bhera is still the ruler here.
But Solo has issued a warning.
With their territory secure,
the family can relax together.
The cubs are now spending more and more time
developing their coordination and agility.
And they do that through play.
A wild boar.
BOAR SNORTS
It could be on the menu of an adult tiger.
But one of the male cubs is being a little ambitious.
Perhaps not yet.
CUB HISSES
Winter arrives in Bandhavgarh.
DEER CRIES
The cubs are nine months old...
..in their adolescence...
DEER CRIES
..and the neighbours are beginning to take them more seriously.
CUB GROWLS
DEER CRIES
Raj Bhera has done well to keep all her cubs alive so far.
Typically, only 50% of tiger cubs survive to adulthood.
LOW GROWLING
But now, the family relationships are changing.
RAJ BHERA GROWLS
RAJ BHERA ROARS
She no longer lets the cubs eat first.
She has to teach them that one day
they will have to provide for themselves.
Once she has had her fill, her sons dominate the carcass.
It's only when they have finished
that their smaller sister, Biba, gets her chance
to feed undisturbed.
VARIOUS ANIMALS CRY
BIRD SQUAWKS
Alarm calls warn of an intruder.
This time, it's an adult male tiger.
He's a third bigger than Raj Bhera and much more powerful.
This is the cubs' favourite water hole.
TIGER LAPS WATER
Mother and sons...
..sleep off their meal.
But Biba heads off alone.
TIGER LAPS WATER
Adult male tigers sometimes kill cubs,
so to approach one is a huge risk.
TIGER GROWLS GENTLY
Unless, of course, he's your father...
..the only male in the forest
who would never harm her.
Tiger fathers rarely meet their offspring...
..and he doesn't seem keen to get acquainted.
But while he is patrolling the forest,
other males will keep away and the cubs will be safe.
For everything else, the cubs depend on Raj Bhera.
She still has to provide for the whole family.
BIRDS CHEEP
It's summer.
Over the next few weeks,
the searing heat will suck the moisture from the land.
Temperatures soar to over 45 degrees...
..and Bandhavgarh has to endure the worst drought in a decade.
VULTURES SQUAWK
It's a good time to be a vulture.
The water holes in Raj Bhera's territory become magnets
for the park's thirsty inhabitants.
Normally, langurs spend most of their time
out of reach in the trees.
But during the drought,
they must risk crossing open ground to get water.
Once the braver adults make their move,
the rest of the troop follow.
Out of their comfort zone, they're nervous.
No danger here...
..as far as she can see.
DISTANT ANIMAL CRIES
But you can't drink and watch all at the same time.
DEER AND LANGURS CRY
Here in the heart of Raj Bhera's territory,
these water holes become the focus of the family's life
throughout these driest months.
It's not just prey that are drawn here to the water holes.
A new trespasser.
It seems this tigress is wary of pressing her claim today.
But it's clear there are now more rivals
for Raj Bhera's hunting territory.
TIGER ROARS
And now, distant roars signal further trouble.
TIGER GROWLS
TIGER ROARS
Solo, Raj Bhera's adult daughter, is mating for the first time.
TIGERS ROAR
She will soon have her own family with new mouths to feed.
And it's not long
before she's back hunting deep in her mother's territory.
DEER CRY
She is poaching.
The year-old cubs are practising their hunting skills on each other.
Capturing prey requires power and agility...
..as well as the skills of ambush and attack.
Their survival will depend on mastering the ability to kill.
BIRDS CHEEP AND SING
But for another eight months,
their mother must continue to provide...
..and she's having to work much harder now.
Even a kill as big as this won't last the family
more than a couple of days.
Her sons are the first to every meal...
..and jealously guard their share.
Biba is forced to wait.
LOW GROWLING
TIGER ROARS
She will be lucky if she gets anything more than scraps.
Leaving her well-fed brothers behind...
LANGUR CRIES
..Biba tries to hunt for herself.
She's watched her mother do this many times.
Stalk...
..and drop.
She has mastered the technique of becoming invisible.
But she doesn't yet have the size or strength to strike.
THUNDER ROLLS
Strong winds signal the arrival of the monsoon.
RAIN LASHES DOWN
The abundance of water means
that for most of the forest's inhabitants,
the good times have returned.
But the monsoon is the worst time for Raj Bhera and her family.
Her prey are no longer dependent on the water holes.
They're now free to disperse throughout her territory.
They will be much harder for her to ambush.
A few weeks later,
near the western boundary of her lands,
there has been a fight...
..and Raj Bhera is injured.
A serious injury to a mother tiger can mean starvation for her cubs.
Biba is invariably the last
to benefit from her mother's hunting.
She needs to fend for herself, and to do that,
she must find her own territory away from her brothers.
But where can she go?
Every other territory is already occupied.
She's forced to search outside Bandhavgarh altogether.
Her mother will never see her again.
The male cubs are also going hungry.
They, too, are trying to fend for themselves.
The deer are too alert for novices.
DEER CRY
With the demands of three adolescent male cubs
and increasing hostility from her rivals,
Raj Bhera is facing the greatest ever threat to her dynasty.
She takes a drastic step
and leaves the safety of the park in the hope of easier prey...
..cattle in the neighbouring villages.
THEY CHATTER IN OWN LANGUAGE
RAJ BHERA GROWLS
For tigress and people, there is real danger here.
It's a conflict that Raj Bhera cannot win.
RAJ BHERA ROARS
THEY SHOUT IN OWN LANGUAGE
HORN BEEPS
SIREN WAILS
SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE
DAWN CHORUS OF ANIMAL CRIES
Dawn the next day.
Raj Bhera.
She was rescued by the park authorities
and released back into her territory to rejoin her family.
Over the last two years,
she's struggled to raise her cubs safely to this point,
and although she's lost her daughter,
her sons are on the brink of adulthood.
Against the odds, she still has the chance
to secure the future of her tiger dynasty.
A century ago, there were more than 100,000 tigers.
Today, there are only 4,000,
with 70% of them found in India...
..mostly in protected areas, such as Bandhavgarh.
Indian conservationists, like Krithi Karanth,
are concerned about the challenges facing these reserves.
Unlike parks in Africa and the Americas,
parks in India are extremely small,
so tiger populations
in these tiny parks are under huge pressure.
There is a real danger
that we could see this amazing cat go extinct.
Bandhavgarh is home to over 80 tigers,
but as director Theo Webb discovers,
they're not easy to find.
I just saw a tiger which turned out to be red sand.
DRIVER LAUGHS
I'm the stupid one today.
Even the real thing is almost invisible.
So, right here is one of the problems
why we can't find tigers, because they're so well hidden.
If you look in here,
they are so well camouflaged,
especially in this dense undergrowth.
Her stripes blend in exactly with the bamboo.
It's almost impossible to see them.
Local guides have told the crew of a tigress they call Raj Bhera,
who is expecting cubs.
If they can find her, she will be the perfect tiger to follow.
HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
MONKEY CRIES
The guides listen for other animals' warning calls.
Monkey giving alarm.
That's a sign that the tiger's right there. OK.
DEER CRIES
The team can then home in on the tiger.
So we've just come across this tigress.
We heard alarm calls, followed her here,
and it could be our female that we've been looking for.
We've done a comparison between two photos -
one we know is her, and one of our sighting just now.
They're looking similar.
It's pretty much her. Yeah.
It's Raj Bhera.
But where is her den?
A tigress will choose the most inaccessible place to give birth,
impossible to follow in a vehicle.
But the Forest Department have elephants
to help protect the animals against poachers.
And while patrolling the forest, they also search for dens.
Two weeks later, Raj Bhera's den has been discovered.
She's chosen one of the most inaccessible spots
in the whole park to make her den,
which is kind of sensible if you're a tiger.
Now they need to film the family without disturbing them.
Cameraman John Brown positions a remote controlled camera
away from the den.
The specially designed tripod allows John
to retreat even further to minimise disturbance.
He's finally rewarded with an extremely rare view -
cubs just a few weeks old.
Today's been absolutely incredible.
We've had a completely unique view into the life of tigers.
It's been one of the most amazing moments of my career.
I never thought we'd get it, actually,
but I didn't tell anyone else that.
Once the cubs leave the den,
the family disappears into the forest.
Now the crew have to switch to a new technique.
Camera traps, used regularly by the park authorities.
They stake out likely locations, including water holes.
Plenty of the forest's inhabitants turn up...
..but no tigers.
A few weeks later, Theo discovers
that one of the camera traps has somehow become flooded.
Wow.
THEO LAUGHS
Oh, my God.
LAUGHTER
Mystery solved.
And at last, intimate shots of the cubs...
..and eventually, even of their father.
For another nine months,
the crew are able to follow the life of the family
as the cubs grow up.
But then, suddenly, they witness
a very different side to the story.
MEN TALK IN OWN LANGUAGE
So, somewhere over here is our tiger.
In order to find food,
she's coming to these really risky areas
to hunt cattle, dogs, whatever she can find.
So this is really scary for her
and, to be honest, for us as well.
There is no other tiger reserve within 50 miles,
so whenever a tiger leaves the park,
it's inevitable that it will encounter people.
RAJ BHERA ROARS
The Forest Department take control.
Raj Bhera is tranquillised and taken to safety...
..and next day, is returned to her territory.
We've been filming this female for two years
and we've got attached to her.
You know, we've seen her with these two-week-old cubs,
we've seen her lose one cub
and now we've seen her outside the park.
This is the life of a modern tiger.
It's not easy. It's not how it used to be for them.
We need to create more space for tigers to move, breed and disperse.
It is our responsibility to make sure
that future generations of children, including my own,
get to see tigers in the wild.
All the animals we've seen in this series need space in which to live,
and loss of space is a great threat to their survival,
as it is to virtually all other species.
We ourselves, one single species,
have taken over vast tracts
of the habitable surface of the planet.
Surely we should allow those other creatures we share the planet with
to retain some part of their ancient heritage.