Ajit Huilgol pp – Master of Light

⭐⭐⭐ competitor

Ajit Huilgol

India

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Noor (T39) had not eaten for over a week, and was beginning to look very famished. On top of that, she had three hungry cubs to feed as well. They had been weaned off her milk a long time ago, and were accustomed to eating only meat that their mother had so far unfailingly provided. The situation was getting desperate. Even the forest department was contemplating intervening soon if she failed to make a kill soon. They did not have to. Noor crept up behind an unsuspecting sambar stag and, after a brief struggle, managed to bring him down. Then, she did a remarkable thing. Even though she had not eaten for such a long period, she dropped the sambar carcass, and went looking for her cubs that she had hidden away over two kilometres away! She brought them all back, and only then did she join them in the feast. Location: Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India Species: Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) No bait was used to make this image.

The mother cheetah (on the right) was showing her cubs how to hunt by bringing down an impala fawn on the Masai Mara plains. She had half-killed the prey and wanted to see how her cubs would finish off the job. The cubs had other ideas, however, and started to run with the staggering impala fawn. Fearing that the fawn woud get away, the mother intervened and caught it by its throat. One of the cubs picked up the other end of the fawn and began a tug-of-war. The second cub seemed to me to be acting as an umpire in this macabre scene. No bait was used. Cheetahs are listed as decreasing in the IUCN red list. Place: Masai Mara, Kenya

An Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) wandered into my farm on the outskirts of Bangalore City, Karnataka, India, one late morning. This is unusual because pangolins are nocturnal in nature. I suspect that some dogs or humans must have stumbled on to its burrow and disturbed it. In these parts, the pangolin is highly prized for its so-called medicinal benefits, and is hunted down to be boiled in water to extract its scales. It is illegal to hunt this animal and it is protected in the Indian Wildlife Act as a Schedule 1 species. I picked it up and examined it for any injuries. Thankfully, there were none. It was then handed over to the Forest Department to be relocated to a safe place. Location: Bangalore outskirts, Karnataka State, India No bait was used.