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May 24, 2005

The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans

You may remember last week when I wrote about the The Earth's Last Wildernesses. In particular, I mentioned the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, with it's man-eating tigers. You might remember that I suggested further reading on this subject...

The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans opens with a chilling narrative of some Indian honey-collectors slipping illegally into the Sundarban Tiger Reserve to make their living. I've run across these stories everytime I find a source on the Sundarbans, where tigers reside in unparalleled numbers. Men risk their lives to collect honey and chop wood to bring to market. On this particular night, a huge tiger swims up to the boat and makes off with one of the men! Thus opens this book devoted solely to these unique man-eating tigers.

The Sundarbans are a tangle of flooded tidal forest, and only (somewhat) accessible by boat. Tiger footprints are everywhere along the banks as you float along. Pink dolphins swim along, and crocodiles gape. This is a tidal forest, and changes so drastically that mapmakers must survey and redraw their maps every three years! If you think the tiger is your only worry - you're wrong. The saltwater crocs are the same color as the water, venomous sea snakes slither about and many dangerous sharks swim in the murky waters.

Author Sy Montgomery attempts to discover the answer to the question: Why do these strange saltwater-drinking tigers, who love to swim, eat people? What makes these tigers man-eaters, unlike their relatives? They display several behaviors unlike other tigers in the wild. For example, they always seem to attack from the back, leading villagers to wear masks on the back of their heads to help confuse the tigers. Is it a matter of encroachment of people into tiger territory, the decline in other food sources? Are the tiger populations sickening and looking for the easy meal? Regardless, the tiger populations are declining so much that many of the species are endangered or extinct.

This book has a lot of great information about the Sundarban man-eating tigers as well as the people who live with them. It covers not only the ecosystem in which they live, but the myths, legends and real-life encounters of the people; this makes The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans special. The only disappointment I had was that although the book contains superb photography, the Royal Bengal tigers photographed were all captive tigers (zoo!). I appreciate that some close-ups of man-eating tigers might not have been wise, but after going on about how prevalent they are in the Sundarbans, I expected to see a picture or two of our striped friend in the wild along with the other Sundarban footage.

Posted by sorsha at May 24, 2005 8:41 AM