I haven't been to India for a while, so my (obsessive) fix is to browse the images of the previous trips.

April 2015, our first game drive, around 9 am, and we meet an adult female with her 3 cubs. This is a female - Arrowhead.

She is performing a a sort of 'sniffing" called the the flehmen response. With the assistance of my buddy Dr. William Rapley, helping me determine the exact term, we found some websites go into detail on the how and why a cat (along with many animals) performs this recycling of air through a duct called "nasopalatine canals". These ducts cycle the air to the vomeronasal organ, which functions as an auxiliary olfactory bulb.

Basically, they are using this extra "sense" to monitor various chemical stimuli, such as pheromones. A way to determine the neighbors moods, or chemistry.

Normally, I do not get to scientific with my work, I just enjoy the beauty of nature. So with this interesting pose, I thought it worth while to investigate, and explain, she wasn't venting anger towards us, but she was doing her own bit of research.



Royal Bengal Tiger in India

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D800 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/640s f/4.0 at 360.0mm iso1250