See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC Published: 22:53 BST, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 22:56 BST, 7 June 2026
Rating:Tiger Island (BBC1)What does a tiger kitten play with in the wild instead of fluffy balls of wool? The answer isn't as cute as you'd hope.As scientists watched via drone camera on Tiger Island, one of the cubs was having fun with a ball of elephant dung, spinning it round like a pet with a toy.But the tale of the Bengal tiger cub and its two siblings turned less cute still, when a massive male invaded their territory, intending to mate with their four-year-old mother, Mala.Male tigers don't make good stepdads. This one killed two of the cubs — and, to the horror of the film crew, devoured their remains.The hovering cameras were able to capture all sorts of behaviour, some of it never seen before, in such detailed close-up that we could have been sitting in a tree just a few feet above the animals. The hovering cameras were able to capture all sorts of behaviour, some of it never seen before Until now, it was believed tigers were so solitary that a mother and daughter would fight to the death rather than share territory Even the big-cat biologists were nonplussed at times, in the first hour-long episode of this two-part documentaryEven the big-cat biologists were nonplussed at times, in the first hour-long episode of this two-part documentary. As the marauding male began to threaten other litters, two females — a mother and her adult daughter, nine-year-old Goma and Jugini, aged six — paired up to defend their cubs.Until now, it was believed tigers were so solitary that a mother and daughter would fight to the death rather than share territory. Yet here these two were, baby-sitting each other's broods, so the other could hunt and eat.'This is not what it says in the textbooks,' marvelled naturalist Dan O'Neill. 'You just don't imagine that there's things to learn still about the most iconic animal on the planet.' Doorbell of the weekend A boy with two donkeys went trotting through a town, chased by soldiers in busbys, in a marvellous antique automaton, on Hidden Treasures Of The National Trust (BBC2). The device was invented to alert its owner to visitors. That beats an intercom. It helped that this tiger colony in the wetlands of Nepal was surrounded by villagers who support conservation efforts. In return, the tigers ignore the people as they collect firewood or herd their cattle, and in the past decade, the tiger population has nearly tripled.As well as the four drones, the crew used all-terrain vehicles including one automated vehicle with a camera like a cannon on board. The tech enabled the team to track and approach the animals far more closely than ever before.With so much extraordinary footage, it was a little frustrating that so much of the show was devoted to the reactions of the scientists themselves, as they watched the live pictures on screen or inspected their camera traps.This time could have been better spent showing us the wealth of other wildlife on the island, including the greater one-horned rhinoceros who wore his slabs of leathery hide like plate armour. We only saw him when he ambled too close to the film truck.Drones are so cheap, the film quality is so high, and the animals seem so oblivious to them that there's no limit to what we'll be able to film in future. I hope wildlife documentary makers can fill the skies with cameras.
