Cub of famous tigress (Arrowhead) crouching towards a deer!_ Ranthambhore NP, India

            In the early winter morning we realized that cubs are hiding in the grass near Padam talab. While we waited on the track for the cubs to appear in open, we felt that one of the alpha cubs of Arrowhead is getting interested in something opposite to our vehicle. In a fraction of second the cub got up and took the stance, started crouching and hiding in grass and steadily approached the deer. We took hardly any time to realized that it has actually thought of hiding behind our vehicle to ambush the deer.  

Our driver (had earlier bad experience with famous tiger called Sultan charged his vehicle rigorously) got scared and took the vehicle ahead. The cub's cover got blown and had no chance but to attack the deer, nevertheless it did not lose the steam and approached the deer steadily but deer saw her in time and bang... alarm calls back to back, whole jungle became alive!! Sight one can not miss for life... Cub stood there dejected and probably thinking about the next strategy but definitely not disappointed!

Some animals like tigers do the crouching action before attacking their prey suddenly and unexpectedly. In fact they seem waiting insidiously until the appropriate moment for attacking and (usually) the poor prey is not aware of their presence. 

Crouching is an essential hunting skill, it keeps tiger hidden under the grass and shrub till very last moment before the final ambush attack. While crouching tiger takes aggressive but very slow and extremely cautious forward movement. Sometimes it moves fast, sometimes it takes almost a  minute before moving even one step. Cubs practice crouching the most with all the animals and siblings they get during their free time and when mother is not around, this helps them honing the predatory skills, which then becomes the single most essential survival skill throughout the life.

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Taken on: January 19, 2020

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Camera: Nikon D500, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, 300mm (=450mm), ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D500
Lens:	300.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	300mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm)
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Saturation:	High
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 24.1 (Windows)
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