Few animals evoke such strong feelings of fear and wonder as the tiger. For centuries their behavior has inspired legends, and the occasional inclusion of man in their diet has intensified the mystique.
Tigers are the largest living cats. Siberian tigers are the largest and most massively built subspecies: the record was a male weighing 384 kg (845 lb).
Like that of other big cats, the tiger’s physique reflects adaptations for capturing and killing large prey. Its hind legs are longer than its front legs as an adaptation for jumping; Their forelimbs and shoulders are very muscular, much more so than their hind legs, and their forelegs are equipped with long, sharp, retractable claws, allowing them to grasp and hold onto prey once they make contact. The skull is shortened, which increases the cutting force of the powerful jaws. The long, somewhat flattened canines quickly deliver a deadly bite.
Unlike the cheetah and lion, the tiger is not found in open habitats. Its niche is essentially that of a large solitary stalk and ambush hunter exploiting medium to large sized prey inhabiting moderately dense cover.
tigers in captivity
The basic social unit in the tiger is the mother and calf. However, tigers have been successfully kept in pairs or groups in zoos and are seen in zoos (usually a female and a calf, but sometimes a male and a female) killing with bait in the wild, indicating a high degree of social tolerance. The demands of the habitat in which the tiger lives have not favored the development of a complex society and instead we see a dispersed social system. This arrangement is well suited to the task of finding and securing food in an essentially closed habitat where scattered prey are alone or in small groups. Under these circumstances, a predator gains little by hunting cooperatively, but can operate more efficiently by hunting alone.
In a long-term study of tigers in the Royal Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal, it was found, using radio-tracking techniques, that both males and females occupy home ranges that do not overlap with those of other tigers. sex; Female home ranges measure approximately 20 square meters. km (8 sq mi), while males had much larger ones, measuring between 60 and 100 sq mi. km (23 – 40 sq mi). The range of each resident male encompassed that of several females. The transient animals occasionally moved through the residents’ ranges, but never stayed there for long. By comparison, in the Soviet Far East, where prey are dispersed and make large seasonal movements, tiger density is low, less than one adult per 100 m2. km (40 square miles).
Tigers Home Range
Tigers employ a variety of methods to maintain exclusive rights over their range. Urine, mixed with anal gland secretions, is sprayed on trees, bushes, and rocks along trails, and fences and debris are left in conspicuous places throughout the area. Tree scratching can also be used to signal. These chemical and visual cues convey a lot of information to neighboring animals, which probably get to know each other by smell. Males can learn of the reproductive status of females, and intruding animals are informed of the resident’s presence, reducing the possibility of direct physical conflict and injury, which the lone tiger cannot afford as it relies on its own physical health. to get food. The importance of tagging was evident in the Nepal study, when tigers that did not visit a part of their range to deposit these “occupied” tags (either due to death or confinement with cubs) lost the area in three or four weeks to the neighbors. animals This indicates that boundaries are continually tested and verified and that tigers occupying adjacent ranges are highly aware of each other’s presence.
Long-term exclusive use of a domestic kitchen confers considerable benefits to the occupant. For a female, familiarity with an area is important, as she must kill prey on a regular basis to raise young. When the young are small and cannot follow them, she must obtain food from a small area, as she has to return to nurse at regular intervals. Later, when her young are larger and growing rapidly, she should be able to find and kill enough prey to feed herself and the young.
The territorial advantages for men appear to be different; they maintain ranges three to four times larger than those of females, so food is likely not the critical factor. What matters is access to females and paternity of the pups. The males are not directly involved in raising the young. Although there is not as much evidence as for lions, several cases of male tigers killing cubs have been reported. These are usually associated with the takeover of one male’s home range by another. By killing the offspring of the previous male, the incoming male ensures that females in his newly acquired range come into oestrus and have their offspring.
Tigers living in prime habitat areas raise more young than can find openings, so a large number of animals, usually young adults, live on the periphery. There is no clear picture of social organization in these fringe areas, but the ranges are certainly larger and probably overlap, and there is little successful breeding.
This peripheral segment of the population is important as it promotes genetic mixing in the breeding population and ensures that there are enough individuals to fill any vacancies that may arise. Unfortunately, it is usually these tigers that come into conflict with humans, as the habitat they occupy is, in most cases, heavily exploited by humans and their livestock.
tiger reproduction
Sexual maturity is reached at 3 or 4 years of age. Breeding activity has been recorded every month for tigers in tropical regions, while in the north breeding is restricted to the winter months. A female is only receptive for a few days and mating can take place up to 100 times in a two-day period. Three to four cubs, weighing about 1 kg (2.2 lb) each, are born blind and helpless. The female rears them alone, returning to the “den” site to feed them until they are old enough to start following her, around eight weeks of age. Pups remain totally dependent on their mother for food until they are about 18 months old and may continue to use their mother’s home range until they are 2–2.5 years old, when they disperse to find their own home ranges.
All surviving subspecies are in danger of extinction. Its wide geographic range, encompassing such a variety of habitat types, creates the illusion that the tiger is an adaptable species. In fact, it is a highly specialized large predator with very specific ecological requirements and is much less adaptable than, say, the leopard. Once found across much of Asia, the tiger’s current distribution and low numbers indicate that requirements for large prey and sufficient cover are becoming increasingly difficult to meet as areas suitable for large wild hoofed mammals and , consequently, the tigers, are appropriating for agricultural purposes. As most tiger reserves are relatively small, less than 1000 km2 (290 thousand2) and isolated, the effective population size is small and there is little or no interbreeding between populations.
Tigers rarely become man-eaters; in fact, they normally avoid contact with humans. Some man-eaters may be old or disabled, but there are also many cases of young, healthy adult tigers picking up the habit. This behavior can start with an accident, a sudden close encounter that ends with the person’s death. Sometimes a single episode may be all it takes for a tiger to learn to kill a man. Whether or not a tiger takes the next step and becomes a deliberate man-eater may depend on opportunity. There is also some suggestion that “aversive” encounters with people for the first human death discourage many more incidents. The availability of other prey may also be a factor.
Technical Hunting
Tigers hunt alone, actively searching for prey more often than waiting in ambush. An individual will typically travel 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 km) during a night of hunting. Tigers do not easily catch their prey, probably one in 10 or 20 attempts will be successful.
Having located the quarry, a rancid tiger uses sight. The tiger makes the most of cover to hide and get closer to prey (1). You must get within 20 km (66 ft) or less for the final run to be successful. The approach is extremely cautious, with the tiger carefully placing each foot on the ground and stopping from time to time to assess the situation. Assume semi-crouching or crouching, with head held high, while stalking. Having made use of the distance and position of the prey, the tiger collects itself and suddenly rushes at its victim (2), covering the intervening distance in a few leaps. When contact is made, the momentum of the charge can knock the animal off its feet, or if the prey is in flight, a slip with a foreleg can serve to throw it off if it loses its balance. A tiger’s attack is usually from the side or from behind; it does not launch itself into the air or jump on its prey from a distance. While grasping the prey by the shoulder, back, or neck (3) with its claws, the tiger’s hind legs do not usually leave the ground. At this point, the prey is shaken, if it has not happened before in the attack. A bite can be given to the throat or neck on contact or while the tiger is pulling the victim to the ground (4).
When the prey weighs more than half that of the tiger, throat bite is common and death is most likely by suffocation. The grip can be preserved for several minutes after death. Dead animals are carried or dragged into the dense cover and tigers usually begin feeding on the rump. It is not unusual for a tiger to consume 20 to 35 kg (44 to 77 lb) of meat in one night, but the average intake over several days is less, around 15 to 18 kg/day (33 to 40 lb)
The tigers stay close to their kill and continue to feed as they please until only skin and bones remain; the average time in Chitwan National Park was three days for each kill. Small prey, such as barking deer, are eaten in one meal, with large sambar, elk, and bison providing food for several days, unless multiple tigers (usually female and cub) feed on the carcass.
A tigress with cubs has to kill more often to provide food, about once every 5 to 6 days, or 60 to 70 animals per year, for a female with two cubs. This compares to a kill every 8 days or 40 – 50 kills per year for a female in the same area with no dependent offspring.
A tiger will eat anything it can catch, but larger hoofed animals (main adults as well as young or old animals) in the 50 to 200 kg (110 to 440 lb) range form the majority of its diet. Typical prey are therefore sambar, chital, swamp deer, red deer, Rusa deer and wild boar. Tigers occasionally take very large prey, such as calves of rhinos and elephants, water buffalo, elk, wapiti, and gaur. In many areas, agricultural livestock are also easily taken, especially where wild prey is depleted.