Just how important has the life of one individual tiger been over her lifetime?
Never has a tigress’s life been so well documented; so many films made of her, such a multitude of books and column inches published on her. Never was a single animal been awarded a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for services to nature’ and never has an individual tigress been recognised with a postal stamp in her honour. She is the icon of her species, representing both the vulnerability of her kith and kin, as well as being the poster girl for India's conservation efforts. TOFTigers charity calculated that she has generated over $130 million in direct park fees and visitor revenues over her 10 years of dominance at the heart of the reserve - probably ten times this in indirect revenues.
Machali’s life is undoubtedly charmed. She was immensely lucky to be born, live and thrive in one of the very few parks in India where food was never an issue, water was always plentiful and protection was mostly good, and where thousands of people depended on her survival for their own livelihoods.
Machali however had to be remarkably tolerant. Tolerant of the millions of pilgrims who walked through her territory every year, come rain or shine; tolerant of the hundreds of daily visitors that wanted to catch a glimpse of her; tolerant of the researchers, photographers and filmmakers who wanted to stick lenses into every facet of her life; tolerant of the endless labourers who worked on the roads and tolerant of her human protectors who lived their lives alongside hers. They all have become part of her living landscape; and she did not mind – and was no less wild for her forbearance.
Nevertheless Machali has faced the same dangers and dramas that every tigress faces. Dangers from her own species in the form of testosterone fuelled males fighting for her affections and their own territorial control; dangers from other females challenging for her rich kingdom; dangers from the other carnivores and poisonous creatures of her forest home; dangers from poachers who twice in her life decimating many of those tigers and tigresses who she knew, including many of her own family. Her fame did not mean she was immune to these daily trials, disasters and dangerous pitfalls, but rode them just the same.
She is the Sachin Tendulkar of global fame, the Princess Diana of motherhood and the Nelson Mandela of tolerance, all rolled into one.
She survives today, as an honoured, venerable seventeen year old tigress, as a matriarch, as a great grandmother and as a unique testament to her endangered kind.
The only question now is will she be afforded a state funeral on her death ?
