The “Queen mother” of royal Bengals, thought to be the oldest surviving tiger in the wild, has died in a northern Indian national park. Machali, aged about 20, was the star attraction of the Ranthambore national park and one of the most photographed tigers in the world. It was a natural death linked to her age,” Ranthambore tiger project director Yogesh Kumar Sahu told Agence France-Presse. About half the tigers in Ranthambore are descended from Machali, named after the Hindi word for fish for her distinctive facial markings. Another iconic Indian tiger, Jai, is feared to have been poached after disappearing on 18 April from the Umred Karhandla wildlife sanctuary near Nagpur in central India.

Source: The Guardian August 18, 2016 10:53 UTC