Photographer and molecular biologist Prasenjeet Yadav went to the Similipal Tiger Reserve in eastern India to make images of the only pseudo-melanistic, or black, tigers in the wild—or at least try. Many longtime residents of the villages within the reserve have never seen one of these skittish, shy creatures. With the help of the local forest department, Yadav headed to trails the dozen or so tigers are known to frequent. There he sniffed trees for evidence of the large cats marking their territory. “Tiger spray smells very peculiar. It smells like the basmati rice that we get here in India, and depending on how pungent [the spray] is, you can tell how old it is,” he explains. “At times, you hit the jackpot—a tiger was here just a few days ago—that means that this is an active tree.” Once he figured out the best locations for the camera traps and tested his configurations (sometimes posing as a stand-in), maintenance became a full-time job because of weather and animal meddling. Leopards and monkeys had an affinity for Yadav’s equipment: “They’ll come, turn the flashes around; they’ll take the trigger and run away.” After 60 days, Yadav’s cameras were set off a handful of times by a black tiger, and few images showed a whole tiger. A young female was the only tiger that seemed unwary of the camera. Yadav plans to go back, but he’ll have to start from scratch because seasonal flooding erased the trails. “I still haven’t gotten the picture that is there in my mind, and I’m going to get that picture."