Heart-stopping footage shows the moment a pair of motorcyclists narrowly escaped death as a tiger emerged from the woods and sprinted after them. 

The video was captured by a passenger on the bike as they journeyed down a road on the edge of Nagarhole National Park, located in southern part of Karnataka state in India.

All of a sudden the big cat, which can run at around 40mph, appeared from the woodland at one side of the road and chased the bike, getting dangerously close.

Take a look here:

The tiger appeared to head directly for the vehicle but thankfully it didn’t pursue the motorcyclists for too long and quickly disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road.

It’s unclear whether the riders were aware of the tiger before it came out from the trees, though the fact the passenger was filming in that direction suggests they had spotted it.

However, it’s unlikely the man expected the big feline to pursue the bike – or for it to get quite so close to catching them. I have to admit, I’m impressed he managed to successfully direct the camera and hold on to the bike at the same time in that situation; the fear would have definitely caused me to lose focus.

The big animal in the video is one of the 72 tigers who live at Nagarhole National Park and it seemed like it was keen to make clear who the territory belonged to.

Earlier this year one of the park’s tiger’s killed three people, including a 28-year-old and 60-year-old man, before it was caught and tranquillised by officials, the MailOnline report.

As well as the more recent attacks, two farmers were also killed on the park’s edge by a male tiger in 2015.

Nagarhole became a National Park in 1983 and, together with Bandipur National Park, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, is one of the last remaining and best protected habitats for endangered species like elephants and tigers.

The Bengal tiger is listed as endangered on the IUCN red list, with its population said to be decreasing.

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