JOIN US5 books on tigers
International Tiger Day is on July 29. These wild cats and conservation programmes around them have been the subject of many books.
‘Metrolife’ picks a list of such books by Indian authors.
A Decade with Tigers: Supremacy · Solitude · Stripes
Author: Shivang Mehta
A photographer’s take on popularity of tigers — the book is a tribute to those tigers who were ‘ambassadors’ of Indian wildlife. The volume records male tigers and tiger mothers and their survival tales, along with images shot by Mehta.
The book also addresses the changing scenario of tiger photography and includes expert opinions about the need for innovation and creativity, while portraying the national animal.
Available: Amazon and Bookish Santa
The Way of the Tiger
Author: Karanth Ullas
The book talks about human fascination for tigers, why we should save tigers, their predatory ecology and behaviour, evolution and genetics, research and census methods, threats in the past and now, facts, and policies needed to reverse the decline of the wild cats. Unlike various prophecies, the book adopts a positive approach, with a message of how tigers can be saved with timely action and knowledge.
Available: Amazon and Flipkart
The Untold Stories of Indian Tigers
Author: Nikhilesh Shrikhande
A unique way of telling stories of tigers, The Untold Stories of Indian Tigers, has stories of Indian tigers of Ranthambore and other tiger reserves. Photographed several times and some popular in the history of Indian tigers, this work tells their tales, which are touching and engaging with facts and fiction.
Covering myriad emotions, the work includes a mother tiger’s pain when her young one lies motionless because of poisoning by poachers to the brave story of a tigress fighting a crocodile to save her hunt for her family.
With photographs and apt words, the work focuses on the balance of life and wildlife protection.
Available: Amazon, Flipkart, and Punya Publishing
Tiger Fire: 500 Years of the Tiger in India
Author: Valmik Thapar
The book chronicles the best of non-fiction writing, art and photography on the grand animal, including the first written description of an encounter with a tiger by Mughal emperor Babur in the sixteenth century.
It includes contributions from Babur, Akbar, Jim Corbett, Hugh Allen, George Schaller, Kim Sullivan, Tejbir Singh, Dharmendra Khandal, among many others. The photographs and accounts brought together in this book cover 500 years of the animal in detail. From stories of tiger hunts to attacks on humans, fights with other wild animals, the book has it all.
Available: Amazon and Flipkart
The Rise and Fall of the Emerald Tigers: Ten Years of Research in Panna National Park
Author: Raghu Chundawat
Renowned conservation biologist Raghu Chundawat studied the Panna tigers from 1996 to 2006. He recorded their movements, feeding habits, and reproductive behavior, in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. He oversaw a revival of the tiger population with the support of the national park management. But when the park management changed, the poisoning and poaching of the tigers in Panna increased. Chundawat blew the whistle on this decline and fought to save the tigers by petitioning the government to step in. The book also includes stunning photographs.
Available: Amazon and Bookish Santa