When Maya, a much-adored tigress in India’s Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, abandoned her equally adored young cubs this June, park officials feared the worst. Soon after, Maya was spotted mating with some roving males, seemingly unconcerned about her one-year-old litter. But now local naturalists think Maya’s behavior is actually evidence of a crafty new strategy to help ensure her cubs’ survival: “false mating.”

Like many mammals—including bears, lions and bottlenose dolphins—male tigers will kill the cubs of their rivals whenever they can, so as to precipitate a new estrus cycle and impregnate the tigress with their own offspring. Tiger moms typically seek to protect their cubs from such a fate for 18 to 24 months, before pushing them out to establish their own territories. (Tiger fathers have no role in raising the young, so no help there.)

But the crowded conditions in Tadoba and other Indian national parks are making that increasingly difficult. The ranges of several roving rivals frequently overlap with the dominant male’s, bringing danger precariously close to vulnerable cubs, says Bilal Habib, a carnivore researcher at the Wildlife Institute of India.

“In high-density areas, where there are more males, the best strategy for a female is to try to leave the cubs early, go with the males, and then go back and look for her litter again,” Habib explains. “If she tries to fight with the males, that may be fatal for her and fatal for the cubs.”

The name “false mating”—which occurs among lions and other species—is a little misleading. It refers to actual s*x, just not at the time when a female is able to conceive. (Typically, tigresses go into estrus once every three to nine weeks, and are most likely to conceive during three to six days within that period.) Habib’s theory is that Maya is using s*x not to conceive, but to placate roving male tigers and perhaps make them think they have successfully impregnated her.

Afterwards, she returns back to her cubs, leaving the appeased male none the wiser.

Job done

Sure scrote

Other tiger researchers say Maya’s seemingly strange mating habits are just the tip of the iceberg. Overlapping territories have bred all sorts of unusual tiger behaviors, including more frequent fighting and dominant males apparently tolerating rivals. In some crowded ranges, serial mating with different males suggests the possibility that tiger litters—like those of domestic cats—may even have multiple fathers.

While that shared access might result in greater genetic diversity and prevent rival males from killing strange cubs, it could also prove problematic. High-density areas see more frequent infighting between rival males and territorial females alike, Habib says. And the imperative for mothers like Maya to leave their cubs early could itself have dire implications.

“What we suspect is if tiger cubs in high-density areas are forced to disperse early—at 12, 14 months—that makes their chances for survival very low,” he says. Danger, it seems, comes in many stripes.

Scroticide fricking when?

Nobody:
The high Lich speaking incantations to his skeleton army: pic.twitter.com/IksoVitBUI

— sin at er bayns (@RickJamesFan) November 20, 2022

The note, circulated among Union ministries, underlines that the ancient democratic traditions explain the "survival of the Hindu culture and the civilisation in the face of the 2,000 years of invasions by alien ethnicities and cultures".

“There was no aristocracy in India like, say, in Greece. The Hindu state rarely presented that high degree of centralisation associated with the Roman empire… ,” it said.

“(In India) there was no concentration of the prestige of birth, influence of wealth and political office which made social organisations autocratic and aristocratic,” the note said.

“Whether the existence of two kinds of states janapada and rajya or the two assemblies called sabha and samiti forming essential features of the government – all indicate that the ancient form of governance in India was democratic, contrary to the general belief that it was monarchical,” he said.

Janapadas were republican against the explicitly monarchical rajyas(republican aristocracy), sabha and samiti were prior to state formation.

So much shirk

I unironically can't wait for their state elections.

It's happening. Avatar Vishnu. Trials in stadiums. pic.twitter.com/oUbf6Yo0yN

— Beachstud90210 (@KhalkeionGenos) November 20, 2022

“With the philosophy (Indian) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government works, we have attempted to use the word ‘she’ and ‘her’ in the entire Bill instead of ‘him’ and ‘his’,” said the union minister. He added that this “innovative” move has been attempted in the bill while speaking to the press.

Chudbros we literally can't lose

A section of the proposed legislation reads, “In this Act, the pronouns “her” and “she” have been used for an individual, irrespective of gender.” Meanwhile, an explanatory note of the draft also noted that this was in line with the government’s philosophy of empowering women.

United by friendship

एक मज़बूत दोस्ती

🇬🇧🇮🇳 @NarendraModi pic.twitter.com/uJXRriCVwg

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 16, 2022

Forgot about tweeting. We got married and had a wedding in the beautiful communist run state of Kerala, India pic.twitter.com/SP46RPT0xd

— Olivia Katbi 🌹 (@oliviakatbi) November 15, 2022

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_pregnancy_syndrome

Puppy pregnancy syndrome (PPS) is a psychosomatic illness in humans brought on by mass hysteria. People suffering from PPS believe that shortly after being bitten by a dog, puppies are conceived within their abdomen. This is said to be especially likely if the dog is sexually excited at the time of the attack. Victims are said to bark like dogs and have reported being able to see the puppies inside them when looking at water or hear them growling in their abdomen. It is believed that the victims will eventually die – especially men, who will give birth to their puppies through the peepee. Witch doctors offer oral cures, which they claim will dissolve the puppies, allowing them to pass through the digestive system and be excreted "without the knowledge of the patient".

The syndrome is thought to be localized in villages in several states of India, including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal, and has been reported by tens of thousands of individuals. It is far more prevalent in areas with little access to education. Some psychiatrists believe that PPS meets the criteria for a culture-bound disorder.

Doctors in India have tried to educate the public that this condition is impossible and a superstition. Believing the condition may be dangerous, as a person may have become infected with rabies after a bite, and seeking witch doctor treatment can delay medical treatment. Most sufferers are referred to psychiatric services, but in some instances patients fail to take anti-rabies medication before symptom onset, thinking that they are pregnant with a puppy and that folk medicine will cure them. This misbelief is further compounded by witch doctors who state that their medicine will fail if sufferers seek standard treatment.

I saw a C17 today morning.

Frickers are very noisy the airport is nearby but they are noisy on a different level. Good start to the day though

Marsey, the mascot, features only the colours orange and white but the green is conspicuously missing. This is dangerous for our democracy. Discuss.