Stream with KPBS+ / Premieres Wednesdays, Oct. 21 and 28, 2026 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV
In the forests of western Nepal, a team of cinematographers and big cat experts undertake an expedition to follow the lives of two tiger mothers and reveal how these solitary cats are raising cubs on an island full of threats. Witness tiger behavior that has never been recorded before in NATURE "Tiger Island," a two-part miniseries.
The expedition team focuses on two tiger mothers, investigating how these solitary big cats raise cubs on an island full of danger that includes other tigers, rhinos and elephants. When a new male tiger arrives on the island, older tigress Goma must use all her experience to keep her cubs out of harm’s way, while first-time tiger mother Mala struggles to deal with the threats, leaving her three cubs in grave danger.
Utilizing a fleet of drones to track tigers from the air, and military-grade thermal cameras to follow them in the dark, the filmmaking team witnesses several on-camera firsts. Mother tigers appear to look after each other's cubs, a new behavior at odds with the supposed solitary nature of these big cats. Additional rare behaviors captured include cubs swimming and hunting together, as well as a mother, father and cubs spending time together as a family.
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Credits: BBC Studios Natural History Unit production for PBS and BBC with The WNET Group. The miniseries is directed and produced by Patrick Evans and Lindsey Parietti. Featuring scientist Dan O’Neill and cinematographers Anna Dimitriadis and Max Hug Williams. Narrated by Amrita Acharia with additional voiceover by Tom Harges. For BBC Studios, Roger Webb is Executive Producer. Matthew Wright is Series Producer. For NATURE, Fred Kaufman is Executive Producer. Bill Murphy is Series Producer. Janet Hess is Series Editor. Danielle Broza is Digital Content & Strategy Lead. NATURE is a production of The WNET Group.
