Drone footage has captured what experts believe is the first recorded case of a tiger caring for another mother’s cubs in the wild.

The world-first moment was filmed in Nepal as part of the BBC wildlife series Tiger Island, which follows wildlife filmmakers and big cat specialists studying the lives of tigers in a remote area of western Nepal. Tiger Island focuses on a small island covering about 1.5 square miles within a river system that supports one of the highest concentrations of tigers in the world.

According to a report by BBC Wildlife Magazine, the team spent two months observing the animals and identifying individual tigers by their unique stripe patterns. Using drones, the filmmakers followed the tigers’ movements across the island and documented an unexpected interaction between two mothers and their cubs.

Tigers are usually considered solitary animals, with the main exception being a mother and her cubs. However, the drone footage captured a female tiger named Goma looking after three cubs that belong to another female Jugini. At the time the aerial footage was recorded, Jugini was elsewhere feeding.

“They are supposed to be incredibly territorial,” Dan O’Neill, a big cat scientist working on the series, tells BBC Wildlife Magazine.”Females do not cross paths unless they absolutely have to, they don’t share cubs, they don’t share parenting duties.”

Goma, who has two cubs of her own, was seen looking after a group of five cubs in total during Jugini’s absence. The footage suggests she temporarily took responsibility for all of the young tigers while the other mother was occupied.

“I have never seen this kind of thing, one mother leaving her cubs with another, this is definitely something different,” Manju Mahatara, a local tiger guide who worked on Tiger Island, says.

Researchers think this unusual behaviour may have evolved as a way to deal with threats from male tigers, with one mother staying alert over several cubs while the other goes off to feed. The two adult females featured in the footage, Goma and Jugini, are also believed to be related, with Goma possibly being Jugini’s mother.

Although Jugini is not often seen in the same area as Goma, the filmmakers noted that when they do come across each other, their interactions appear calm and non-aggressive.

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