自然世界：老虎女王. P4 - 自然世界：老虎女王.UMMU.NET_4

Matchley knew what she was doing, that's for sure. It's as if she was saying goodbye to her two boys. Because that was the last time I ever saw them together as a family unit. When the two cubs suddenly disappeared, I started to get worried. There'd been rumours when Bumburam disappeared too that poaching was starting again in Ranthambore. It's periodically been a huge problem in this part of the world. It turned out that poaching was to blame for the disappearance of at least one of Matchley's first set of cubs. Around this time, poaching accounted for up to 25 tiger deaths in Ranthambore. And in the neighbouring tiger reserve of Sariska, every single tiger was killed by poaching. Ranthambore is a major religious site and pilgrims flock here in huge numbers. In fact, over Matchley's lifetime, perhaps 10 million people have come into the heart of her territory. She knew how to disappear when she needed to disappear, and perhaps she was able to detect benign people from dangerous people. Although I'd like to believe she had some sort of sixth sense and knew how to avoid poachers, the truth is she probably survived because she lived in the most heavily protected part of Ranthambore. Cattle grazers would sometimes come into her territory during the monsoon, but she avoided eating cattle and hence avoided coming into conflict. Clever girl. Perhaps she learned from her mother who had survived a similar poaching crisis during the early 90s. Our search for Matchley is taking us deeper and deeper into the park. Fresh pug marks. The female pug marks have become more consistent around a little gorge called La Carta. I'm pretty sure now this is where she's got to be. Very quiet. Peaceful place, isn't it? She must be sitting quietly here somewhere. It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet. She has always loved this place. She was born here, and I'm quite sure that this is where she's going to die. Worst places to die. It's one of the most beautiful little bits of the planet as far as I'm concerned. She's brought me to so many beautiful places on our journey together. Ranthambore won't be the same without her. By the time Matchley's first cubs had left her, she was about four and a half years old. Irony of ironies. That male that she fought and that male that she could have been killed by, he had now become the dominant male of this area. There was this amazing sort of reversal in his fortunes, I suppose. She now had to go and befriend him. He was to become the father of her second litter. In the second litter, there was one male and one female. But this time, that family was able to be raised in the security of having the dominant male around. So that changed everything for her. It became a much more straightforward sort of raising of the family. She raised four litters with two in the first, two in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth. She's been a wonderful mother and by far the most successful tigeress in Ranthambore. I think one of the keys to Matchley's success was her ability to manipulate males. I witnessed an incredible example of this when she was rearing her third family of two cubs. She came round the corner and there in front of me was the most amazing sight. Matchley fast asleep on the road, the most relaxed I'd ever seen her. As were the cubs. And then the cubs, as cubs will do, started to get a little bit bored. So one of them got up and started wandering down the road. So I thought, I'll follow. And then I noticed the cub was looking slightly alert, slightly anxious. And I looked into the bushes at the back and there was another tiger. It was a great big male head. If there was no relationship between these animals, the tiger could get up and kill that cub easily. So it was a moment of great tension. This was the first time I had ever seen the tiger we called X-male because we knew he existed but we never saw him. I was absolutely holding my breath. As soon as he looked up, the cub's posture changed immediately and he quickly moved in. Right up beside the tiger that was obviously his dad because they started playing with each other. So this was the first time I'd ever really seen a tiger family together. And from a cameraman's point of view, it was mostly hidden slightly behind the bushes, but for me, it meant absolutely everything. This was a moment I'd always wanted to witness. It was happening right in front of me. Now, male tigers have big territories and they will have several females within their territory, possibly several families. And it seems to me that they patrol and visit each of those families on a regular basis. Now,Matchley, it seemed, was allowing this male in to share kills with her. From her point of view, if she gives almost a reward for him being in the area, he's more likely to come to that area on a regular basis. And hence, her cubs will be protected from the intrusions of other males. I'm sure it's something that happens with tigresses generally, but it seemed that Matchley was very, very good at establishing relationships with males throughout her life. She's a smart girl, and that relationship she's had with males over the years has really fascinated me because it's something we really didn't know an awful lot about. Her last litter, three female cubs, all raised successfully. This was the perfect situation, rant and boar, three female cubs on the lakes. It was almost like a mirror of what Matchley had been through. That's how she'd been brought up. She had held sway in the lakes for almost a decade, and her life as a fighter was beginning to take its toll on the aging tigress. One thing that a tiger needs to successfully kill is good, strong canines. They are known as the killing teeth, and Matchley was starting to lose her canines. Each time I saw her, I could see her physical prowess was ebbing away. This queen was about to lose her crown to one of those closest to her. My feeling was that one of these daughters had just inherited a bit more of Matchley than the other ones. Ironically, Matchley's success at controlling and reproducing with alpha males had resulted in this incredibly powerful daughter, a worthy rival with all her cunning and aggression. She was ready to kick Matchley out and take over the lake territory. First, she had to defeat her sisters, starting with the youngest and weakest.