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Tigers in India |
Spotting a Tiger in
the Wild
Index :
Appearence and Physical
Characteristics |
Sight and Smell
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Habitat |
Predation |
Tiger
Cubs |
Growing Up
Appearance and Physical Characteristics
Though slim and elegant, tigers are immensely powerful.
Their front legs and paws are tremendously strong: they
can kill young elephants and rhino and drag prey weighing
200 kg. (5001 bs.) Or more. Tigers walk on the fore pads
of their feet, which gives their stride suppleness and
elasticity. They have flexible forelegs that can twist
inwards, allowing them to grasp prey. Their claws remain
retracted until they are needed in the final moments of
attack.
Sight and Smell
 Tigers
are famed for their glowing amber eyes. Unlike most other
cats, they have round pupils. Tigers have acute eyesight
and the cells in their eyes are sensitive to color. They
can perceive depth because their eyes face forwards, thus
allowing direction and distance to be judged with extreme
accuracy. Tigers, like all cats, have a special adaptation
that gives them excellent night vision: a membrane at the
back of the eye reflects light through the light sensitive
cells of the retina. This effectively doubles the
intensity of dim light. The same principal is used in the
"cats' eyes" on our roads.
Scent forms the basis for territorial behavior. Tigers
keep track of each other's movements by scent marking,
which helps them to avoid conflict. To make the best use
of information contained in a scent mark, the tiger has to
hang out its tongue and draw back the lips, causing the
eyes to close. This is called the flehmen response and it
allows the tiger to pass the scent through two small holes
in the upper palate behind the incisors in effect the
tiger can "test" he scent. To human eyes, the expression
looks like a grimace of disgust.
Habitat
Tigers inhabit many types of forests, from the mangrove
swamps of Bangladesh to the coniferous forests of the
Russian Far East. Dense vegetation, plenty of pre and
minimum human interference are all requirements of good
tiger habitat, as are pools for drinking and bathing.
Tigers of the warmer climes love water and may even sleep
with part of their body submerged. They are adept
swimmers. Young tigers are agile enough to climb into
trees but adults are generally too heavy. However, an
angry tiger in Siberia was reported to have limbed into a
tree in an attempt to swat the helicopter that was
following it
Predation
Tigers can kill prey that exceeds their own weight. A
tiger can eat over 30 kgs (66lvbs ) of meat in a single
night, though a large kill ma be needed only once or twice
a week. In the meantime, snacks such a peacocks, crabs
turtles, fish, lizards, small birds or even locusts will
suffice. Tigers are not exclusively carnivorous and will
sometimes eat jungle fruits. Their stomachs often contain
earth, and his is probably ingested to aid digestion.
 In
India, hog deer, chital (spotted deer), barking deer,
sambar, nilgai and wild boar are the favorite prey, though
tigers will also kill jungle ox and even young elephants
and rhino of up to 450 kgs (1000 lbs ) in weight. Tigers
will seek to porcupines, even though these prickly
creatures have a nasty habit of backing into a pursuer in
order to drive in their spines. Injuries form porcupines
may fester and can even cause the death of a tiger.
Tigers tend to hunt between dusk and dawn. They are less
active during the day and may lie satiated in the shade or
in a pool near the remains of a kill. Tigers often cover
an unfinished meal with soil and leaves and return to it
later. Even so, scavengers are quick to take advantage,
though they risk annoying the owner of the kill. A tiger
was photographed pouncing on a vulture in sheer
exasperation and an irritable tiger will even chase away
crows.
Sight and sound, rather than scent, are used to locate
prey. Tigers are too large and too heavy to run for long
distances and therefore must patiently stalk their prey
until they are close enough to make a final lunge for the
neck. Effective camouflage is essential and in patches of
sunshine and shade a motionless tiger is practically
invisible. Despite being one of the most feared of the
world's predators, tigers are often unsuccessful in
catching their prey. Prey species have acute hearing and
many run faster than a tiger. Some have alarm calls that
warn all the animals in the vicinity to be wary. If the
tiger fails in a hunting attempt it must move to another
area or wait until the forest becomes calm again.
It is interesting to compare this technique with those
used in more open habitats where there is not enough cover
to conceal a stalking predator. In the African Savannahs,
for example, cheetahs have developed unsurpassed speed and
prides of lions have learnt to hunt cooperatively. The
remains of a kill are also more difficult to conceal, and
any left uneaten will be quickly finished off by
scavengers. Cooperative hunters therefore share the kill
amongst themselves, so that nothing is wasted on those
animals who are looking for a free lunch. The development
of different hunting strategies to suit habitat types is
part of a process known as optimization.
Tiger behavior is flexible and the choice of prey, as well
as the technique for catching in, will be influenced by
how plentiful the prey is and how easily it is caught.
Tigers in areas where the vegetation is less dense are
more likely to hunt large prey cooperatively and to share
their kill. This was the case in Ranthambore National Park
during the 1980s. Up to nine tigers were seen lying
together in a social group, just like a pride of lions.
Tiger were observed sharing their prey not only with their
young, but also with other adults. Rather than a strict
hierarchy, it seems that the titer that makes the kill
always gets the first meal, even if the other tigers
present are larger.
Tiger Cubs
Tiger cubs are born blind and helpless, weighing only 1.5
kg (3/3lbs). The cubs' eyes open after one or tow weeks.
Initially blue of blue green, the eyes will darken later
to glowing amber.
On average, there are three cubs in a litter, though an
exceptional seven was once recorded.
 Tigresses
are devoted mothers and when the cubs are young, she will
move them to places of safety, carrying them gently one by
one in her huge, powerful jaws. Cubs are very vulnerable
to attack by passing predators and many perish before
their first year is out. Jackals, hyenas, leopards and
pythons, as well as other tigers, are all a potential
threat. The tigress must choose a carefully hidden den and
leave the cubs alone for as short a time as possible while
she hunts. Grass fires, which are often started
deliberately to improve grazing, kill many tiger cubs.
The cub remains in the den for four to eight weeks. They
then venture into the outside world for the first time and
receive their first taste of meat. They keep in single
file behind the tigress, and it is thought that her
striped tail and the large white spots behind her ears act
as beacons for the cubs to follow. The runt of the litter,
if it has survived to emerge from the den, is always the
last in the line of cubs and is often picked off by
predators.
It is extremely rate that more than two cubs in a litter
survive to maturity. Having said this, it is possible that
the survival rate would be much giver given sufficient pry
density. In the mid 1980's prey density in the Ranthambore
National Park was so high that four cubs in the little
survived to maturity in at least three cases.
The ratio of male to female cubs born is about one to one,
but more females survive into adulthood because the male
cubs leave the family earlier and are more likely to
perish because of their inexperience at hunting. Males can
also suffer injuries in territorial disputes and may be
more vulnerable to huntress, as they are less wary of
baits.
In contrast with the careful nurturing received by wild
tigers, cubs born in captivity are usually abandoned or
eaten if not immediately removed by zoo keepers .
Presumably the unnatural conditions are the root cause of
this aberrant behavior.
Growing Up
Tiger cubs are playful and their games together games
together begin to teach them the skills necessary for
survival. They stalk and pounce on leaves, insects, or
even their mother's tail.
At first, the cubs must hide in the undergrowth while the
tigress hunts, but later they are allowed to watch and
eventually join in. the young cash help the tigress by
driving the chosen victim towards her. Learning to hunt is
a difficult and dangerous process and many cubs are gored
of trampled to death. Inexperienced cubs tend to grab the
legs of the prey, leaving them vulnerable to retaliation.
Sometimes the tigress will intervene. She can bring down
the prey and then leave it for the cubs to kill. It takes
many attempts before he cubs learn to kill efficiently by
biting the throat or the nape of the neck.
A mother tiger may allow her cubs to feed first . If she
joins her young at a meal, she will withdraw if a cub
protests and will go without meat to ensure that they have
enough. The cubs have voracious appetites and by the time
they are 14 months old , it is a strain for the tigress to
capture enough prey. The runt is the last in queue at
meals and if food is in scarce supply, it will starve to
death.
Their lessons learned , young tigers must venture out in
search of a territory. Male tigers leave their mothers at
about 18-22 months old. Sub-adult males are often
tolerated by other males, but this will change on reaching
maturity. Each young male must then look for a vacant
territory, or one where there is a chance of ousting an
old or sick male. Females remain with their mothers for 24
to 28 months and will help in the capture of prey until
they leave. When the tigress is ready to mate again, she
might become aggressive towards her daughters. One
daughter may be allowed to settle inside the mother's
territory, but the rest must find space in the territories
of neighboring males. Newly independent tigers lack
haunting experience and a second's hesitation may leave
them to go hungry.
The young tigers will become sexually mature at three to
four years old and by this time are ready to found the
next generation of cubs.
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