The Tiger Resting

Central India · nature

A tiger lies in the shade of low scrub, head up, watching. Not sleeping — paused.

Tigers spend most of their lives either lying down or walking. Watching one rest is not nothing — it's the same animal that hunts, just operating in a different gear. The stripes break up the body in a way that is genuinely uncanny when you see it in person; from a few metres away the cat dissolves into the dappled light, then resolves again when she turns her head.

This one was a young female, lying off the side of a forest track with her head up and her front legs crossed neatly. She had heard the vehicle from a long way off and chosen not to move. We watched her for about three minutes. She didn't break her gaze. When the driver finally rolled forward, she still didn't move. Tigers don't have to. The forest is theirs whether or not anything else is in it.

View on site · Full gallery · Instagram