Captured in a camera trap in 2005, experts had then said the tigress was 5 years old. (Representational)
An old tigress has been missing from Uttarakhand's Rajaji Tiger Reserve for a year and all efforts to trace her so far have failed.
When captured in a camera trap in 2005, experts had guessed its age to be five years. Going by that, the tigress should be 21 years old now, which is considered the upper age limit for any big cat in wild conditions, officials said.
Rajaji Tiger Reserve Director Dharmesh Kumar Singh admitted that the tigress has reached its upper age limit and no evidence of its presence in the wild has been found so far.
A 21-year-old tigress named Machli in Rajasthan's Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and famous all over the world as Lady of The Lake had breathed her last in the presence of the reserve authorities.
Despite becoming helpless, old and blind Machli was taken good care of by the reserve authorities.
In a similar instance, a 21-year-old male tiger named Munna at Madhya Pradesh's Kanha Tiger Reserve was first kept in the buffer zone of the reserve when it grew old. It was then shifted to a Bhopal zoo where it died while being looked after by the zoo authorities.
However, Rajaji Tiger Reserve authorities have not been able to trace the old tigress missing for a year.