After a thunderstorm and light rain overnight, the air was fresh and cool in the morning of March 11, 2011. Hulooo brothers congregated next to the gates. We separated Hulooo and let him into the passage leading to the tree camp and opened the gates between him and Madonna. Hulooo took a step into the Tree Camp where Madonna had been guarding her gate and was met by a half hearted roar, after which Hulooo went to quench his thirst as if hiding his embarrassment. Then they behaved as if nothing unusual had happened.
After a bit of milling around, Hulooo went to the big tree after which this camp is named and started sniffing all that interesting scents the tree has collected from Madonna. He hugged it and rubbed his face against it with such indulgence and dedication, following up by an abundant spray at it. After he left the tree Madonna soon followed and hugged it and rubbed her face against the tree with even more enthusiasm, before spraying it with equal care. Things are looking good between the two of them, sexually!
Initially Madonna was charming, stretching herself out belly-up in a seductive manner. Hulooo wandered around absent-minded. But just when I thought he was less interested in Madonna, thundering roars interrupted the morning tranquility when Madonna and Hulooo engaged in a show of force, standing up. But both suddenly flopped to the ground, growling. The cause of this? Apparently while no one was paying attention, Hulooo went up to Madonna and bit her butt! What an impolite act! So in his superficial absent-mindedness, Hulooo had been scheming.
Hulooo decided to keep a safe distance from Madonna while she continued grumbling for the next 15 minutes. After a while Hulooo approached her but was quickly deterred by her continued display of unhappiness and he went about sniffing the ground.
For next few days, Hulooo was let out in the evening and let in with Madonna again in the morning. Madonna, as if not forgetting Hulooo's nip on her butt, continued to growl at Hulooo, blocking his entry either into her camp or access to the water tank. However, while growling, she also displayed inviting and submissive behaviour to Hulooo, such as lying on the ground. At no time did she display aggressive fighting posture such as crouching on all fours. And after couple of days, when Madonna had seen that Hulooo was due to be let out of the Tree Camp in the evening, she decided to block his way out by stretching out before the gate as well. It became a struggle for Hulooo to get around her and get out.
By the fourth morning, Madonna decided to go a step further by entering into the passage way and guarding from outside her gate, making it even harder for an Eager Hulooo to get into her camp and checking out her scents.
Hulooo was however terrified of Madonna's grumbles and occasional roars, avoiding at all costs, crossing her path. Madonna would not leave him alone, following him wherever he went. It looked as if on the one hand she is snubbing him but on the other she was interested in him. Sound like a cat?
Both were treading on thin ice though, and all grass turned into enemies. Each of them had on occasion scared themselves with their own shadows.
By fifth day there was less tension. Madonna left enough space for Hulooo to come into her camp. The scent must have now become familiar so Hulooo also spent less time sniffing and hugging that big tree. The two spent time apart during day with just a couple of close encounters. But before the sun set, Madonna promptly stationed herself next to the gate again to block Hulooo's exit!
Throughout all this testing time for Hulooo, Madonna has been showering friendly chuffs towards Hulooo's younger brother Coco through the fence. I decided to put Coco in with Madonna to see the difference of her reactions. Indeed, Coco was met with friendly chuffs when he was let in Madonna's camp in the morning of March 16, but he headed straight to the leftover bones. Afterwards he jumped on top of the shelter and started tearing at the log, managing to get a piece of the leftover PVC cover off. He then jumped into the big tree, sniffing but not rubbing his cheek against nor hugging nor spraying at it. He is not yet sexually mature.
When Coco finally came over to say hi to Madonna, he was met with a roar, but she never growled at Coco as she did at Hulooo. Coco responded with more chuffs instead, catching Madonna off guard. Embarrassed he went off exploring the shelter again and Madonna followed his footsteps, chewing on the shelter’s log and then followed him into the tree. Before we knew it, the two started sniffing and chuffing at each other in very close range, with half-hearted head rubs. But enough came very soon as Madonna absented herself quickly while Coco picked up another bone to chew on.
Just when we thought they would be now taking their positions to sleep through the day, Madonna came STRAIGHT to Coco chuffing all the way until the two touched nose! But when Coco came to chuff at her later, he was met with snarl and growl. It seems that she only allows herself to chase a male but not the other way round. When Coco sheepishly left, Madonna got up and went in search of him again! Such is the whimsical nature of a modern woman - she has to call the shot!
This kind of exchanges occurred several times during the morning observation and the day ended on an amicable note, with Coco eager to get back to his waiting brothers. Maybe Coco will mature faster now that he has experienced Madonna's charming female scent?
It was JenB's turn on March 18th. The two met with friendly chuffs but Madonna became grumpy when JenB tried to play with her repeatedly. However JenB wouldn't give up. Only after a few rounds of unsuccessfully initiating play with Madonna he decided go and investigate the big tree. Initially, like Coco he showed interests in the scents on the tree but not crazy about it. But after a while, he started seriously sniffing the scents on the tree and rubbing his cheek against it, and made a position to almost spray. Maybe he is more mature than Coco who displayed no keen interests in the scents?
The different reactions towards Madonna by the three brothers seem to highlight that Hulooo, being hand-reared by humans and not a having a mother to interact and discipline him the way tiger mothers do, is unable to properly interpret the signals from other tigers, particularly from females. While JenB and Coco do know how to react to a tigress' whimsicalness, Hulooo got scared from Madonna's grumbles and snarls while JenB and Coco continued their friendly chuffing at her. .
Throughout the encounter between JenB and Madonna, Hulooo lay on the other side of the fence watching. Maybe he will learn something?? We need him to act soon.
