Panna Tigresses Await Male Company, Officials Study Incest Impact
Bhopal — It will be another four weeks before two lovelorn tigresses at the Panna national park in Madhya Pradesh are able court male company. The delay, according to reports, was caused by a DNA test that proved that the male tiger, identified for the purpose, was a ‘relative’ of one of the tigresses.
Deferring the relocation of the male, wildlife officials have now asked experts at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to comment on if the offspring would bear a substantial impact of the ‘mating’ between the tiger couple that was recently found to belong to the same gene pool.
Officials say that if the impact was not found to be substantial, the male would be moved to Panna in the near future. But if the experts suggested otherwise, another matchmaking exercise would be conducted to identify a suitable male for the position.
The male was originally scheduled to arrive at the park, from the Bandhavgarh national park in the state, on Friday.
The WII report based on the DNA profiles of the two big cats is expected to take at least a month.
