Latest News, June 2025

Wildlife enthusiasts, photographers and tour guides have been mourning the death of the legendary tigress of Ranthambhore, T‑84, Arrowhead. The tigress passed away on Thursday 19th June at the age of eleven after a long and difficult battle with bone cancer.

Arrowhead was born on 2014. Her name was inspired by the distinctive arrow‑shaped mark on her left cheek. She was one of four cubs in a litter to the tigress T‑19, Krishna, the daughter of the famous T‑16, Machhli. Unfortunately, one of the cubs was lost, so Arrowhead was raised with her sister T‑83, Lightning and her brother T‑85, Packman. The father was believed to be the male T‑28, Star Male.

Arrowhead eventually became the dominant tigress of the core Zone 2, 3 and 5, the prime prey areas around the lakes near Rajbagh and Padam Talab, an area her mother and her famous grandmother T‑16, Machhli once ruled. Arrowhead became internet famous when a video captured her hunting crocodiles near the lake, a trait unique to tiger behaviour, but a testament to her hunting skills.

During her life she raised ten cubs across four litters. It was during our first visit to Ranthambhore in March 2019 that my wife and I had the privilege of a sighting of Arrowhead with her two three‑month‑old cubs from her second litter in Zone 3 of the park. The park authorities would eventually call the cubs T‑124, Riddhi and T‑125, Siddhi.

Our first sighting of Arrowhead with her two cubs during our visit in March 2019. The cubs would later be named Riddhi and Siddhi.

When we visited the park again in March 2020 the two cubs were approximately fifteen months old. Though we found them both exploring the area on their own they would not become independent from their mother till they were around eighteen to twenty four months of age.

We visited the park again in April 2023 and were fortunate to have a sighting of Riddhi, but not Siddhi. this was the last time we would see Arrowhead who we found lying peacefully on a riverbank in Zone 2. She rolled over on her back, legs splaying in the air while she attempted to snatch flies buzzing around her head. This is the last image I can remember of her, and a nice one.

The last sighting we had of Arrowhead in Zone 2 during our visit in April 2023.

When we visited Ranthambhore in April 2025, Riddhi had three sub‑adult cubs on the verge of seperation from their mother. Arrowhead also had three sub‑adult cubs, two females and a male born in May 2023.

One of Arrowhead's sub‑adult cubs.

Due to Arrowhead suffering with a bone tumour she was struggling to hunt for herself and her cubs. She had also started to loose weight and as a result the forest officials out of concern started to feed the family.

During our visit as I noted in the 2025 April Trip Report a seven‑year‑old boy was killed by a tiger when visiting the Trinetra Ganesh Temple within Ranthambhore National Park with his family. The culprit was the sub‑adult daughter of Arrowhead, RBT‑2057, Kankati. In May the same tigress was responsible for the death of a forest ranger near Jogi Mahal in Zone 3 of the park. In June her brother, RBT‑2509 was also implicated in a fatal attack on a sixty‑year‑old caretaker, a long‑time resident of the historic Jain Temple inside Ranthambhore Fort.

There is a lot of conjecture as to why the attacks happened. It is believed that the tigers could have been hungry, because in the first two incidents the tiger stayed with the victims, and the forest rangers had to drive it away to recover the bodies. As mentioned earlier, because Arrowhead was struggling to hunt, the forest department was feeding the cubs and because of this the tigers could have become accustomed to relating humans with food. Prior to the second attack by Kankati it was noted that Riddhi's cubs were reported to be active in the same area and because of a strong competition for food Kankati might have taken the easier option of targeting humans. This is conjecture only, but nonetheless a series of unfortunate events.

In early June before Arrowhead passed away her three sub‑adult cubs were relocated to other tiger reserves. The female RBT‑2507, Kankati was moved to Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve, her sister RBT‑2508 to Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, and her brother RBT‑2509, to an enclosure at the Dholpur‑Karauli Tiger Reserve. Due to the tiger population thriving in Ranthambhore and the increased human‑wildlife conflict, these moves were part of a conservation effort to help keep the cubs and the local population safe.