New Delhi: On 12 May, the safari trails of the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve were lined with jeeps packed with eager tourists. Word had spread that the previous day, one of Panna’s celebrity tigers, Mr India—named for his elusive nature and limited sightings—had been spotted after four months.
From early the next morning, vehicles swarmed to the site where he was last seen. Drivers and guides were careful not to make any noise that might scare the big cat away. But true to his name, Mr India was not seen that day. That’s just the way he operates—making an appearance only to disappear for months. In fact, that is how tiger P-621 earned his name.
“He is the most difficult to spot. He was first named ‘Golu Ram’ because of his size, but we renamed him Mr India because he would disappear for months and then be seen for a few minutes on some lucky day,” said a forest official at the Panna Reserve.
Naming tigers is common practice not just in Panna but in tiger reserves across India. Some are named for specific physical features; others earn their monikers based on behavioural traits and sighting patterns.
One of the most popular tigers, known as Machli worldwide, was officially T-16 of the Ranthambore National Park. The 19-year-old became the poster child for the government’s tiger conservation programme.
Her agile walk and piercing gaze made her the most photographed tiger in the world. Forest officials remember her calmly walking toward safari jeeps, posing at leisure until visitors got their perfect shot.
When Machli passed away, it wasn’t just the forest officials who mourned—visitors and residents from nearby villages did too. She was given a respectful funeral: her body covered in flowers and carried by forest officials to be buried.
“She had been sick for a while before she died, but she had shown grit and survived [illnesses] before. We thought she would fight this illness too, but she didn’t,” said Sudharshan Sharma, who was the divisional forest officer at Ranthambore Tiger Reserve at the time. He added that her passing felt like a personal loss for the forest staff.
This might sound like a heartwarming relationship between a tigress and her guardians, but it’s for this very reason that government and wildlife experts advise against naming wild animals.
In fact, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) prohibits the practice of naming tigers.
Officially, tigers in India are assigned a unique code—a combination of letters and numbers. The letter corresponds to the reserve where the tiger is located, followed by their number in the sequence of birth or identification.
Ranthambore tigers follow the T+number format, while in Panna, identification codes begin with P. If Ranthambore has 10 tigers, for instance, they are numbered T1, T2, T3, and so on. A newly born cub is given the next available number. Even if a tiger dies, their number is not reassigned.
“The tiger conservation project, or any wildlife conservation project, needs to be carried out scientifically and objectively. When you start attributing human-like qualities to wild animals, conservation decisions can become biased,” said a senior official from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
He acknowledged that Machli once became an ambassador for India’s tiger conservation efforts, but said that now that the tiger population has remained stable for the past few years, it’s a good time to move away from the practice.
Despite strict instructions to local forest officials to avoid naming the inhabitants of their reserves, the practice continues. For officials and local residents, it is just an easier way to identify the tigers and build an aura around them—something that helps attract tourists.
It is also natural for staff to develop a bond with the animals they spend so much time observing.
Why name wild animals
In 2021, Panna Tiger Reserve lost one of its most famous tigers, Heera. After being electrocuted, his mutilated body was found with his peeled skin floating in a lake.
Experts say this is one of the dangers of naming tigers in a reserve. The aura around alpha tigers is incomparable. Names like Gabbar, Charger, Ustad, and Bajrang create a ‘hero-like’ image, making them prized targets for poachers. The remains of named tigers fetch a higher price on the black market.
“The culprits did not admit to killing Heera with criminal intent. He apparently died from being electrocuted on their fence, and they thought his skin would fetch a good price. But then they panicked and tried to drown it,” said a forest official from Panna.
Wildlife experts also point out that anthropomorphising wild animals builds emotional bonds that can make conservation decisions harder.
In situations involving human-animal conflict or animal rehabilitation, communities tend to react more strongly when the animal involved has a name. In India, tigers are officially identified by the T-series format followed by a unique number, which also reflects their count.
Human-wildlife conflict experts Amy Dickman and Alayne Cotterill, in a blog post published on Lion Landscapes, wrote that people often fail to realise “as beautiful and impressive as big cats are, they are also extremely challenging to conserve, and they can and do destroy lives and livelihoods.”
“The killings of known individual animals, such as Cecil the lion, Avni the tigress, Voortrekker the elephant, or Rafiki the gorilla, create intense media and public interest, and often a clamour for knee-jerk responses and policies, such as not killing man-eating animals, or using lethal force against poachers,” they argued.
Experts also noted that when specific animals are names, they tend to draw attention away from the larger goal of conservation.
“The entire existence of a wildlife reserve starts revolving around one or two animals. They become the heroes. People start believing that only those animals matter, and the larger aim of preserving the population as a whole is lost,” said the ministry official.
Also Read: Why tiger reserves see ‘less deforestation, carbon emission from forest loss’ than protected areas
Can ignite feelings of conservation among locals
Some rangers in Maharashtra’s Tadoba National Park see things differently. They say that naming the tigers, though unofficial, has ignited a sense of connection between local residents and the park—and may have even helped deter poaching.
“Some animals have been named by local villagers. They observe their movements and behaviour constantly and often inform the forest department if an animal hasn’t been seen for days,” said a range official from the park.
Tadoba has been home to popular tigers like Maya, Matkasur, Choti Tara, and Sonam.
But the park has also drawn attention of the authorities due to this practice. In 2019, the Tadoba forest department issued a special notification banning staff, visitors, hotel owners, and guides from naming any animals.
After the death of Meera, the cub of ‘Tadoba Queen’ Maya, the park’s field director, NR Praveen, said, “Naming tigers is linked to emotions. When a tiger dies, people make a hue and cry. Some 10-12 tigers are named in the park and are frequently spotted, but for us, every tiger is equally important.”
However, India has made an exception to its no-naming policy with Project Cheetah. The cheetahs brought from Namibia arrived with names—Oban, Savannah, Siyaya, and Elton—based on their previous habitat. In India, they were renamed Pawan, Nabha, Jwala, and Gaurav.
The government even held a public competition to assign Indian names to these African cheetahs.
Environment ministry officials said the reasoning was diplomatic. India wanted to honour its relationship with Namibia and South Africa for contributing the cheetahs to the project.
“Firstly, India is introducing cheetahs to a new habitat, and that requires a certain level of involvement from the public. Secondly, these African cheetahs are currently not completely wild, so they do not fall under the NTCA directives,” the ministry official said.
(Edited by Prashant)