Tigers Only Rarely Become Man-eaters

Usual prey is deer, buffalo, gaur. However a hungry tiger will go for anything from young elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, leopards, bears and even humans. A male's territory frequently overlaps those of several females, to which he mates as they come in estrus. Pregnancy lasts for around three and a half months and usually four or five cubs are born. In the wild not all of these survive since the female is often not able to hunt enough to feed all of them as they depend on her for their food until one and a half years of age. Also randomly, other male tigers may kill the cubs to bring the female into heat.

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 the scattered prey is solitary or in small groups. Males can learn the reproductive condition of females, and intruding animals are informed of the resident's presence, thus reducing the possibility of direct physical conflict and injury, which the solitary tiger cannot afford as it depends on its own physical health to obtain food.

When the young are small and unable to follow she must obtain food from a small area, as she has to return to suckle them at regular intervals. Later, when her young are larger and growing rapidly she must be able to find and kill enough prey to feed herself and the young. These are usually associated with the acquisition of one male's home range by another. By killing the offspring of the previous male, incoming male ensures that females in his newly acquired range come into heat and bear his offspring.

The female rears them alone, returning to the "den" site to feed them until they are old enough to begin following her, at about eight weeks of age. The cubs remain totally dependent on their mother for food until they are approximately 18 months old and may continue to use their mother's range until they are 2 - 2.5 years old, when they disperse to seek their own home ranges.