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Creature of myths, fairytales and much beloved storybooks, the tiger needs little introduction. Almost every culture on the planet considers the tiger to be significant and, within the animal kingdom, they are only really rivalled in size and strength by lions. Like lions, they are complex and fascinating apex predators, with an essential ecological role to play, but, also like lions, they suffer conflict with humans for space and habitat.
There are several places in the world where tigers still roam, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and even Siberia, but the main residence for this jungle royal, is India. Globally, there were once nine subspecies of tigers, but sadly, three of these are now extinct. The remaining subspecies include Bengal, Indo-Chinese, South China, Amur (Siberian), Malayan and Sumatran tigers.
A streak of
tigers
Tigers have forward-facing eyes and binocular vision, which helps them better gauge the distance of prey, but also the distance and depth of obstacles between them and their prey.
At the back of the retina in their eyes, they have a reflective layer known as the tapetum lucidum, which reflects and magnifies light, allowing them to see incredibly well at night time.
Tigers are the largest of the world’s big cat species. Their impressive size means they are capable of bringing down prey of many different sizes, occasionally even the mighty gaur.
If they do hunt gaur, they generally hunt smaller individuals. Significant differences in size exist even between subspecies of tiger. The largest of the subspecies is the Siberian tiger with males weighing up to 300 kg (660 lb), whereas male Bengal (Indian) tigers generally weigh around 250 kg (550 lb), with females slightly lighter than that.
Some tiger’s canines have measured up to 8 cm (4 in) – that’s longer than human fingers. Their canines are very sharp and there are two each on the upper and lower jaws.
Between their canines they have six incisors on both jaws, and between their canines and back teeth they have a gap called a diastema. This allows them to more effectively bite into and grasp their prey with their canines. Like other species of wild cats they have a carnassial shear which helps to slice open the tough skin of their prey and to shear meat off to eat.
A tiger’s claws can measure up to 10 cm long and, like lions or leopards, they are used when hunting to grasp their prey or when fighting with other tigers. Claws are protractile.
This means they can be retracted back into a protective sheath when not in use, ensuring they are not blunted. Tigers also have a dew claw, which sits further up the wrist and provides improved grip when straddling or grabbing their prey or when challenging other tigers.
Attractive black stripes pattern the body. These create what is known as disruptive colouration, a form of camouflage that breaks up their outline and helps them ambush prey.
Although the stripes may seem fairly obvious to us, chital deer – a tiger’s main prey in India – have dichromatic vision and cannot distinguish between reds and greens, which means tigers – with their black and orange coat – blend in very well to their jungle environment in both the wet and dry seasons, when the predominant foliage colours are green or orange. In fact, most mammals have dichromatic vision so tigers are well-camouflaged from most of the prey species they like to hunt.
Especially during the heat of India’s summer, tigers in reserves like Ranthambore National Park can often be seen lounging in water to escape the searing midday heat.
Tigers are one of the few wild cat species which will actively seek out water in which to submerge. Lions and leopards may cross rivers when they have to or chase prey into water if necessary, but they do not habitually voluntarily seek out water to lie in it.
Tigers are adaptable predators with a diverse diet. There are particular species which individuals are more skilled at hunting, but they diversify their prey choices as needed.
Like other predators, they are opportunistic. In India, they prey on wild boar and various deer species which occur in the national parks. They also take birds, other mammals and rodents and sometimes even reptiles. Most tiger prey falls within the small to medium range (less than 200 kg or 440 lb) but they do occasionally take larger prey such as the sizeable and powerful gaur.
Tigers are incredibly adept hunters. They are fast, powerful and resourceful, able to hunt in a variety of landscapes using stealth and patience to get close enough to their prey to pounce.
They need to get within a few metres of their prey in order to be successful. As they are generally solitary cats, tigers hunt alone and must take their prey down without the assistance of other individuals. They rely heavily on their sense of sight for hunting and are particularly adept at hunting during the darkness of night.They generally straddle their prey in an attempt to bring it down and make a move for the throat as fast as possible in order to suffocate their catch.
Territory size depends on a number of factors, including prey availability, access to water, the number of other tigers in an area, and, in some cases, proximity to humanity.
As such, across their range, from Siberia and Russia through China, Bhutan, and Nepal and down to India, tiger territories vary significantly in size according to the environmental and biological factors mentioned. Male tigers have a large territory, which may encompass multiple females’ territories. For example, in prey-rich Chitwan National Park, Nepal, male tigers’ territories average around 5,600 ha (13,800 acres), and female territories average 2,100 ha (5,200 acres), with males frequently encompassing up to six females in their territory. However, in a prey-scarce environment like Eastern Russia, female tiger territories are around 39,000 ha (96 400 acres) and males a staggering 138,500 ha (342 240 acres).
There is fierce same-sex competition for territory, with males challenging males for the best areas that include access to reproductive females and a viable prey-base.
Competition between females is also intense, with female tigers defending their territory against others to ensure the survival of their cubs. In terms of competition – or aggressive interactions – between the sexes, this mainly arises around carcasses, when males occasionally kleptoparasitise (steal) kills from females or when females need to defend their cubs from newly dominant territorial males or younger nomadic males.
Adult tigers are solitary with the only group association being between a mother and her cubs. Males mate with many females to sire multiple offspring and female tigers are solely responsible for raising the cubs.
Male tigers have much larger territories compared to females and frequently have up to 6 female tigers’ territories which fall within theirs.
Male and female tigers find one another by following scent marks or listening out for territorial roars. Once together, they will spend several days mating. Coming together in order to mate can be a cantankerous affair.
This is because generally, the female is more interested in mating than the male. If a female’s territory spreads across multiple males’ territories, she will need to mate with all of them to ensure they believe her cubs are theirs and a chance encounter will not end with her cubs’ death. Furthermore, she has to mate with them in quick succession so that the time between mating and birth is not too long. As a result, female tigers – as with leopards and lions too – have evolved an almost flirtatious behaviour to entice males to mate with them as needed. However, despite the enticement from the female, at the end of each brief mating bout, the pair may snarl, growl and even swat one another with their powerful paws. This is ritualised aggression coupled with the displeasure of the male extracting his barbed penis.
Infanticide is an unfortunate but important natural occurrence in tiger populations, where the killing of cubs by new males keeps the population at carrying capacity and ensures survival of the fittest.
When an older territorial male is ousted by a younger competitor, or simply dies of other causes, the newly dominant male will kill the cubs of the female tigers in his area. This act of infanticide brings the females into oestrus almost immediately, allowing the male to mate and sire offspring of his own gene-line. Sadly, when coupled with unnatural anthropogenic causes of death within the population, infanticide no longer fulfils its stabilising role and sometimes actually results in population declines.
After mating and a gestation period of three months, a female will give birth to 1-4 cubs in her litter but more have been recorded. The cubs suckle to begin and then take a combination of solid food and milk.
They eventually wean at around 5-7 months of age. When cubs are still small, they are left at the den site while their mother goes out hunting and she returns to nurse them. As they get older, she starts to lead them to kills. Eventually, the cubs move with their mother and begin to explore her territory, slowly becoming familiar with their surroundings. At around 18-24 months, the cubs become independent. Young males tend to move greater distances away in an effort to establish themselves, often coming into conflict with territorially dominant male tigers in the process. Young females frequently establish their territory close to their mother’s. This habit – known as philopatry – means that generally the female tigers in an area are closely related. This is also part of the reason that male cubs are forced to settle further away, to ensure genetic diversity and the spread of genes.
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake