t25 seems like the name of a robot but in rajasthans ranthambore national park the label evokes rare affection t25 is a male tiger that defies a number of stereotypes and has taken the role of the doting father of two orphan cubs when the relationship was recorded last year it made the headlines across the subcontinent because it is extremely rare for a male tiger to show such tendencies more often than not cubs are killed by tigers to eliminate future competition when rishit shroff a wildlife enthusiast from gujarat visited ranthambore recently he could not believe his luck when he came facetoface with the famous trio i believe it was in sector iii of the national park where we chanced upon the tiger and the cubs enjoying a siesta shroff said while the cubs were agile the tiger did not move much we later heard the history of the trio from wildlife experts it was halfanhour of pure adrenalin rush according to rajasthan forest department officials the story began in february 2011 when a tigress codenamed t5 died of septicaemia near her tail at that time she had two cubs aged around four months the cubs disappeared after the demise of their mother forest guards started putting plates of goat meat in kachida valley a hilly area in the forest and deployed trap cameras which get activated when a thread attached to them is disturbed to their delight forest officials found the cubs healthy and taking meat willingly a debate started then about the future of the cubs said a forest official clearly they were too young to fend for themselves and could easily fall prey to another tiger or wild animals in may 2011 to our astonishment we saw a tiger later identified as t25 accompanying the cubs in camera captures first we feared that the tiger might kill the cubs as is the general tendency but later we realized that the tiger was actually protecting the little cats from danger and had even started taking them around on wild trails m d parashar a renowned wildlife photographer and tiger lover from ranthambore told toi that the story caught the fancy of wildlife enthusiasts across the country it is unheard of for a male tiger to take cubs under its wing he said we have seen a complete group with male and female tigers and cubs but never a lone male with cubs on observation it was also found that t25 had reduced its territory to protect cubs from fatigue male tigers never set their eyes on cubs they father parashar said it was all the more astonishing that the cubs are now more than a year old it would be interesting to see what happens when the cubs turn two the age at which they will start living independently he saidvery vulnerable when young born blind tiger cubs are completely dependent on their mother for the first few days their eyes open when