NEW DELHI: India\u00b4s most famous tiger, photographed by thousands of tourists over the years at a popular northern wildlife park, died on Thursday, days after the ageing animal stopped eating.
\nMachli had been the star attraction of Ranthambore National Park for years because of her seemingly calm nature and penchant for posing for cameras, and she even had her own Facebook page.
\nBut Machli, the longest-surviving tigress in the park at the age of 20, had been slowing down in recent years and had lost her teeth.
\nShe was found starving and laying on her side this week near the park\u00b4s boundary in Rajasthan state, sparking constant care by vets and park staff.
\n“We were trying to provide her treatment but she died. It was a natural death linked to her age,” Ranthambore tiger project director Yogesh Kumar Sahu told AFP.
\nEndangered Royal Bengal tigers live on average for 10 to 15 years.
\nHer death made national headlines in India, while saddened fans took to social media to pay their respects to the “lady of the lake” and the “queen of Ranthambore”.
\nFeatured in wildlife documentaries, she was once filmed successfully battling a four-metre (14-foot) long crocodile, according to the park\u00b4s website. Machli, the Hindi word for fish because of shaped markings on her face, also had 11 cubs over the years whose offspring make up almost half the park\u00b4s tiger population.
\nHer death comes as a massive search continues for another much-loved tiger in the western state of Maharashtra who disappeared from a wildlife sanctuary in April.
\nIndia is home to more than half of the world\u00b4s tiger population with some 2,226 of the animals roaming its reserves, according to the last count in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI: India\u00b4s most famous tiger, photographed by thousands of tourists over the years at a popular northern wildlife park, died on Thursday, days after the ageing animal stopped eating. Machli had been the star attraction of Ranthambore National Park for years because of her seemingly calm nature and penchant for posing for cameras, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n