“Hope is, believing in the ability of the young
minds to make this world a better place…”
The quote is by me
& that’s what I felt when I looked at faces in front of me, when I
finished my sharing about Tiger Conservation & its importance for us in
front of some five hundred plus students @ Maharashtra Public School,
Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)! If you feel this is one more sharing about my
tiger passion filled emotions then you are not wrong but it’s not about what I
feel about the tigers it’s about what these kids felt after my presentation
about the tigers & that’s what I thought should reach to as many people
because their emotions about tigers was being reflected in their questions
& it was flowing like a flooding river or tsunami of questions will be a
better term to explain. Before that let me tell you a bit background about it,
we at Jungle Belles (an organization run by Hemangi Vartak & Aarti Karve
& their team) works to make women & younger ae kids of all age group
aware about wildlife & carries many initiative one of which was an audio
video presentation about our national animal i.e. Tiger, on occasion of
fifty years of Project Tiger celebrations (Please google if you don’t
know what Project tiger is). Under this initiative JB team goes to different
schools/ educational institutes (on their own cost) & explain about
Project Tiger & importance of conservation of tigers & wildlife at
large & make them aware about not just forest depts’ or NGO’s efforts but
these kid’s responsibility towards the wildlife conservation cause!
Recently JB team got
an invite for the presentation from Maharashtra Public School @ Sambhajinagar
(Aurangabad), I took opportunity to be part of the team for two reasons,
one was as Hemangi the leader, was unable to travel for her home front duties
& second was it’s a challenge for me as the audience was some five hundred
plus kids at one go with age group ranging from seven years old to
fifteen years i.e. 2nd std to 9th std, at a time! To my
surprise Principal Ms. Ipsita Chaudhari herself has visited many forests
& was very enthu about this exercise & so was all other staff. I
won’t bother you about the presentation as you can war=tch it on YouTube link
& the end of the sharing but what’s most interesting thing about the event
was the flood gate of questions post presentation! Not only the kids (all of
them) were silent & keenly listening & watching the presentation (a
rare thing) but very eager to ask their questions about the tiger & trust
me some of them bowled me totally, though this is how we learn through teaching
& I thought of gathering these question-answers as the sharing to make
others also realize the power of young mind in conservation, so here we go…
1.Can you make a tiger your pet?
This was cute &
only a child can ask this question, I told yes you can make a tiger pet but if
you love & care for your pet & want it to be happy then you should do
what it wants & a tiger wants to be in the forests, so you can become a forest
officer or make career in wildlife & then you can make tigers pet & be
with them all the time & take care of them by protecting them!
2.How do you get inspired for tiger conservation?
This, I replied as I
am from Vidarbha, where forests & tigers both exists since long, so I was
lucky to be able to see a tiger in wilds as a kid & that’s why fall in love
with it as that’s one sight which rarely someone won't love & you get inspiration
from what you love to see, that’s how I got my inspiration about the tiger
& this is what they too should go to the forests, to get inspired!
3.Are people over Taobao not afraid of the tiger, doesn’t it eat them?
This was a tricky
question as how do you explain to someone to love something which eats you up,
right? I told them in Aurangabad everyday two/three people die because of
two/four-wheeler accidents & in Pune the figure is five to six people every
day but do we stop walking on road or driving a two-wheeler or a cycle, no was
the answer! I said, the same way, we take proper care & learn to live,
that’s what we do with tigers, we keep safe distance & follow rules of the
forest then we don’t have to be afraid of the tigers, is the way which Tadoba
people have learnt!
4.How do you measure the age of a tiger?
Tigers age is measured
from the stripes on its body as well its pug mark & it’s done with constant
surveillance in the forest!
5.Why doesn't mother tiger (tigress) fight for her cubs with another
tiger (male) when it kills her cubs?
Super interesting
question as I told them about male tigers killing cubs from other male tigers.
I replied, tigress is the bravest mom, just like their mom & she does fight
with all her strength even with male tiger which is bigger & stronger
than her, yet sometimes she has to retreat for her own life so more cubs will
be born!
6.Why can't a tiger run fast?
This question was the
outcome of me telling them that a tiger gets lucky once in thirty plus attempts
in hunting deer or wild-boar! I said, its sheer physics, had tiger been able to
run fast it would have been light weighted & then from where the strength
to kill the deer or wild boar would have come to it, that’s why a tiger is
heavy & can’t run fast, that’s how nature designs every species, with a
purpose!
7.How big in size Maya tigress is?
Here ,I fumbled for a
second but used judgment & said nearly 11 ft from nose to tail, my guess
& judgement & weighed approx. 170 kg! ( And I was right to much
exact)
8.Is it compulsory to name tigers in the forest?
This was an outcome of
curiosity as I was mentioning names given to the tigers in my presentation. I
told them , it’s important to tag the tigers for keeping proper count, though
forest dept recognizes tigers by numbers such as T1, T 12 etc. but locals give
them the names depending on their convenience or similarity with something.
Like Mataksur is the name given to a male tiger because his head was like a
Matka (A big clay pot)!
9.Why don’t tigers live in packs or groups like lions?
This was a super
question & the kid may not know as this question is the subject of study as
it relates to survival instincts of the tiger by nature! Though I said, its
individual species nature & the kind of forests we have doesn’t permit that
behavior for big animals like a tiger! It’s easier for dry & savannas type
forests where lions live that way!
10. When we are saving a tiger but they only hunt
us, how will we protect them?
This is again a curious mind about the basic conservation
& miss-concepts or myths as I replied, it’s wrong that the tigers hunt
humans because we are not their first choice of food, it’s mostly by accident
or because of some inability to hunt natural prey a tiger hunts humans, which
they understood!
11. How many tigers are there in the world?
I told them, nearly five to six thousand tigers in the wild but it’s a guess & it’s a tough job to count exact numbers considering the vast expand of forests as well as limitations in conducting census of tigers! For e.g. a Siberian tiger has territory over 1000sq km, so it’s nearly impossible to measure all the tigers in the world!
12. In India, which State has the most tigers?
This, I told them again a guess but Madhya
Pradesh is number one & our Maharashtra is second while Karnataka &
Andhra-Pradesh follows.
13. If there are twin cubs and both are the same then, how do you identify & name them?
This was so typical of a kids mind that made all of us laugh but it was a genuine question! I explained, as the cubs grow, their stripes pattern change & just the way even human twins have different fingerprints the same way every tiger has different stripes pattern which makes us able to differentiate between them!
14. How to capture a picture of a tiger? Does the tiger observe you when you click its photo?
I told them you have to be patient to capture a picture of a tiger & that’s what forest teaches you as there the things happen as per the tiger’s wish only & yes, a tiger is very much aware always of you clicking its photographs & doesn’t mind if you keep the safe distance from him all the time!
15. In the future how will the tiger survive?
This question was the epitome of all the questions & asked by a ten-year-old, I could only reply, guys that’s why we are here & you all are the answer to this question as you all are the only answer we have for the survival of the tiger! If you understand the importance of tigers & feel it must be protected in its natural form then yes tigers will survive, is what I believe!
With that answer, I
concluded the session but there were still nearly thirty plus hands still
raised, wanting to ask the questions! I requested Principal Ipsita madam to
collect their questions & email me & will be sure to reply to them in
my best capacity & I left the school premise with a very happy &
satisfied feeling & with probably the most important tool for the
conservation of the tiger & that is, Hope!
--
After I came back to Pune, to my surprise I received few more questions on email which the school got in their suggestion box, here are they & my answers…
* Who was the first person to research the tiger?
Sanskruti Pawar (5th A)
Unofficially, Mr Jim Corbett was the first person who studied tigers in the process of his job of hunting the man eater tigers nearly hundred years back in the Himalayan forests. This he did not as academical study but what he experienced while observing the tigers he noted it all down which is true even today as behaviour of a tiger. Later many people such as Dr Ulhas Karanth, Dr Valmik Thapar, Mr Rajesh Gopal & such studied tigers with moder techniques & now we know much about the tigers that’s why we were able to grow tigers’ numbers!
* Why are tiger females only to protect the cubs?
(5th C)
Because that’s in the nature of the tigers, that’s how nature has
designed them as they don’t live by family so till the cubs don’t become
independent someone has to take care of them & the job is done by the
mother as she can feed them with milk when cubs are few months old & then
later her territory is smaller in compare to male tiger so she can hunt in
better way. At the same time mom tigress also don’t keep the cubs with her
after they become two years old & more & shoo them away from her area!
* What is the difference between Royal Bengal Tiger & Siberian Tiger?
(5th A)
Royal Bengal tiger is found in India & is smaller in built with area up to fifty sq km as its territory while Siberian tiger is the bigger by size & strength with nearly five hundred plus sq km area as its territory & lighter in colour than Bengal tiger as to get camouflaged on the background of snow! Siberian tigers head & jaw is also bigger with more fur on its skin for protection from cold over there.
* How many tigers are there in the world?
Trisha Lahoti (5th A)
In the world as I mentioned in the lecture there can be or may seven
thousand plus tigers & to my knowledge only eight countries out of nearly
one hundred eighty countries are lucky to have tigers , they are, Russia,
China, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh & India! As I said its
very difficult to count all the tigers even in our country with modern
technology, so exact figure may vary by ten to twenty percent!
* How to join your trips?
You can connect to Jungle Belles at their email id as well contact numbers, junglebelles.pune@gmail.com / http://junglebelles.com / 07756081922
* What is the approximate age of all tigers?
Viraj Motinge (5th C)
Tigers approximate age in wild (in forest) is fourteen to fifteen years & in captivity (in Zoo) its eighteen to twenty years.
* Some people tame tigers but, is the seller doing a good thing or a bad
thing?
Shaikh Saad Ahmad (5th A)
You can’t tame a tiger as by nature its wild animal, there are few cases such as in a monastery in Thailand there are tamed tigers but its said that they are drugged. In our country to tame a tiger or to keep it in private ownership is legally not allowed & it’s a serious crime.
--
You can watch the entire presentataion with Q & A at Youtube links below & do share to make other kids aware...
https://youtu.be/9XEor1L_VVY?
https://youtu.be/CHeHr8rWyyM?
Sanjay
Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right
Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked..
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog links
below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
/ https://junglebelles.in/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave ur name, email id along with ur comment. It will help me to reply ur comment as well improve the blog as per ur suggestions if any... :)
Sanjay