Madhya Pradesh’s famous ‘Collarwali’ tigress passed away on Saturday at the age of 16. 

The tigress will be remembered as the ‘super mom’ of the Pench Tiger Reserve. She holds the record of giving birth to 29 cubs in a period of ten years. Twenty-five of them have survived. 

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests PCCF (Wildlife), Alok Kumar, said that they had been monitoring the tigress for the past few days and it appears that she died because of age-related ailments. “Usually, it is an organ failure like in the case of humans. However, the exact cause will be ascertained following a post-mortem,” Kumar added, The Indian Express reported. 

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Naturalist and wildlife photographer at Pench told the newspaper that Collarwali, fondly known as ‘Queen of Pench’ and ‘Pench Princess’, was last spotted on January 14 when she had come to drink water at her spot. “She came to the water stream and was so weak that she could barely walk. She rested near the stream and did not move for around 2 hours. At that point, there were 42 vehicles inside Pench and all of them saw her,” he said.

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Dr Aniruddha Majumdar, a scientist with MP State Forest Research Institute, informed that she had been injured severely over the years while defending her territory. “A tiger does not generally live beyond 12 years as it becomes difficult for them to defend their territory. However, in the case of Collarwali, she dominated the prey-rich base of the core zone in Pench, raising her cubs there. But, over the years, she was injured seriously while defending her territory,” she told The Indian Express. 

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The tigress was named Collarwali by visitors for her radio collar. “The glory of Collarwali still lives on as one of her cubs, a tigress, who was relocated to Panna tiger reserve, has also given birth to five cubs in one litter. Other male cubs of Collarwali now dominate Pench and its adjoining territory in Maharashtra as well. She is the pride of Madhya Pradesh,” Majumdar said, according to the report.