Tigress who birthed 29 cubs in MP's Pench Tiger Reserve dies at 17

 Collarwali, the legendary tigress of Madhya Pradesh’s Pench Tiger Reserve in Chhindwara district who earned the title of super mom after giving birth to 29 cubs, died on January 15 evening aged 17 after a prolonged illness, officials confirmed.

Ashok Kumar Mishra, field director, Pench Tiger Reserve, told The Indian Express the post-mortem revealed multiple organ failure due to intestine blockage resulting from old age as the cause of death. “Her intestine was blocked with mud and hair,” he said.

She was the first-ever tigress to be radio-collared at Pench. After the collar stopped functioning, she was again radio-collared in 2010 and that's how she earned her name Collarwali or T15 tigress.

Collarwali had first given birth to three cubs in 2008, but they could not survive. For the last time, the tigress delivered four cubs in 2018, which took the number of her cubs to 29. Officials told news agency PTI that they feel this number could be a record.

“There is hardly any record of a tigress giving birth to five cubs at one go (in 2010). She raised all of them," Dr Aniruddha Majumdar, a scientist with the State Forest Research Institute, said.

Of the total number of 29 cubs, 25 survived, the officials at the reserve added.

Collarwali was born as one of the four cubs to famous tigress T-7 in 2005.

Taking to Twitter, Madhya Pradesh minister Dr Narottam Mishra expressed condolences, saying: "Last salute to 'Super Mom'. The news of the death of 'collarwali tigress' of Pench Tiger Reserve - who gave birth to 29 cubs - is sad. Madhya Pradesh's identity as a 'Tiger State' is due to the significant contribution of this super mom."