The icon, Machhli, might have been domesticated but the myth of the wild is allowed to perpetuate because the show must go on. Machhli, the most famous tigress we have known, passed away on August 18 in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan. It stated that at 19 years, Machhli was the “oldest tigress in the wild”. Wild tigers die regularly in the forests of this country. What looks at first as a contradiction — a cared-for star animal who was the most famous ‘wild’ tiger in the country — might not be one when the lens is changed.

Source: The Hindu August 22, 2016 20:25 UTC