Sitara

T-28 aka Sitara was called so because of a five point star mark on his left eye. Tiger lovers would remember Sitara because of his memorable fight with Machali, Lady of the Lakes, in early 2009. During early 2006, T-27, the Gilai Sagar female mated with T-2 tiger, the X-male, and gave birth to two male cubs, T-28 and T-29.

These territories were not accessible to the visitors as they consisted of a few motorable tracks. But later, during early winters of 2008, Sitara was first noticed by the tourists around the area of Berda. He soon extended his range up to Lakkara and also covered the lake area of Jhalara and Nalghati. He became one of the few dominant males of Ranthambore and acquired the areas of Nalghati, Jhalara, almost the entire Mandoop plateau, Lakkarda and the three lakes (Padam Talao, Raj Bagh and Malik Talao).

The twist in the tale began when the famous Machali, T-16, and her two daughters, T-17 and T-19, acquired one of his territories, and the legendary war between the two occurred in early 2009, the war which favored Sitara and ultimately he was the winner. Slowly Machali made her peace with Sitara and both made space for each other.

The interesting part of Star Male's story of reigning is that he ultimately mated two of Machali's daughters, T-17 and T-19. Machali finally acknowledged Sitara's supremacy when T-16 killed a large male Sambar deer and the rowdy Star male snatched her kill, leading to the legendary fight.

As fate would have it, the Star Male aka T-28, died in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve on 20th March 2018. Its body was found in a field in Chhan village in Khandar area. Post mortem revealed that it was suffering from gastric torsion in the upper region.