Amazing information about tigers: the largest living cat

Few animals evoke such strong feelings of fear and wonder as the tiger. For centuries his behavior has inspired legends, and the occasional inclusion of man in his diet has intensified the mystique.

Tigers are the largest living cats. Siberian tigers are the largest and largest subspecies – the record was a male weighing 384 kg (845 lb).

Like other big cats, the tiger’s physique reflects adaptations for capturing and killing large prey. Its hind legs are longer than the front legs as an adaptation for jumping; Their forelegs and shoulders are very muscular, much more muscular than their hindquarters, and their forelegs are equipped with long, sharp, and retractable claws, allowing them to grasp and hold their prey once contact is established. The skull is shortened, which increases the cutting influence 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 lone stalking and ambush hunter that exploits medium to large size prey that inhabit moderately dense cover.

Tigers in captivity

The basic social unit of the tiger is the mother and the young. 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 for the task of finding and securing food in essentially closed habitat where scattered prey is solitary or in small groups. In 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 ranges that do not overlap with each other. of your sex; the females’ home ranges measured approximately 20 square feet. km (8 square miles), while males had much larger ones, measuring between 60 and 100 square miles. km (23 – 40 square miles). The range of each resident male included that of several females. Transient animals occasionally moved through the resident ranges, but never stayed there for long. In comparison, in the Soviet Far East, where the prey is dispersed and makes large seasonal movements, the density of tigers is low, less than one adult per 100 square meters. km (40 square miles).

Home range of tigers

Tigers employ a variety of methods to maintain exclusive rights to their range. Urine, mixed with secretions from the anal glands, is sprayed onto trees, bushes, and rocks along the trails, and fences and debris are left in conspicuous places throughout the area. Scratching trees can also serve as signaling. These chemical and visual signals convey a lot of information to neighboring animals, which are likely to become known by smell. Males can learn about 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 lone tiger cannot afford as it relies on its own physical health to obtain food. The importance of marking was evident in the Nepal study, when tigers that did not visit a part of their range to deposit these “busy” signals (either due to death or confinement with young) lost the area in three or four weeks to the neighbors. animals. This indicates that the boundaries are continually being investigated and monitored and that the tigers occupying adjacent areas are very aware of the presence of others.

The long-term exclusive use of a domestic kitchen confers considerable advantages for the occupant. For a female, familiarity with an area is important, as she must kill her prey on a regular basis to raise her young. When the young are small and cannot go on, he must obtain food from a small area, as he has to suckle again 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.

The territorial advantages for men appear to be different; they maintain ranges three to four times that of females, so food is unlikely to be the critical factor. What matters is access to females and paternity of cubs. The males do not participate directly in the rearing of the young. Although there is not as much evidence as for lions, several cases of male tigers killing cubs have been reported. These are generally associated with the acquisition of the range of one male by another. By killing the offspring of the previous male, the incoming male ensures that the females of his newly acquired range go into heat and give birth to their offspring.

Tigers that live in main habitat areas raise more young than they 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 reproduction.
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 generally 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 between 3 and 4 years of age. Breeding activity of tigers from tropical regions has been recorded every month, 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 over a two-day period. Three to four cubs, weighing about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) each, are born blind and defenseless. The female raises them alone, returning to the “den” site to feed them until they are old enough to start following her, around eight weeks of age. Cubs remain fully dependent on their mother for food until they are about 18 months old and can continue to use their mother’s range until they are between 2 and 2.5 years old, when they disperse to find their own home ranges.

All surviving subspecies are in danger. Its wide geographic distribution, 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 in much of Asia, the current distribution of the tiger and its small numbers indicate that the requirements for large prey and sufficient cover are increasingly difficult to meet, as areas suitable for large wild ungulate mammals and, in Consequently, tigers are being appropriated for agricultural purposes. As most tiger reserves are relatively small, less than 1,000 square kilometers (290 square miles) 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 usually avoid contact with man. Some man-eaters may be elderly or disabled, but there are also many cases of healthy young adult tigers picking up the habit. This behavior can start with an accident, a sudden close encounter that ends with the person dead. Sometimes a single episode can be all it takes for a tiger to learn how to kill a man. Whether or not a tiger takes the next step and becomes a deliberate man-eater may depend on opportunity. It has also been suggested that “aversive” encounters with people over the first human death discourage further incidents. The availability of other prey can also be a factor.

Hunting technique

Tigers hunt alone, actively searching for prey more often than waiting in ambush. An individual will normally travel 10 to 20 km (6 to 12 miles) during a hunting night. Tigers do not easily catch their prey; probably only one in 10 or 20 attempts is successful.

Once the quarry is located, an aging tiger uses sight. The tiger makes maximum use of cover to hide and get closer to its prey (1). You must approach 20 km (66 ft) or less for the final race to be successful. The approach is extremely cautious, with the tiger placing each foot carefully on the ground and pausing every now and then to assess the situation. It is assumed that it is semi-crouched or crouched, with the head erect, during the stem. Taking advantage of the distance and the position of the prey, the tiger recoils and suddenly lunges on its victim (2), covering the intermediate distance in a few jumps. When contact is made, the impulse of the load can knock the animal down, or if the prey is in flight, a slip with a front leg can serve to throw it off balance. The attack of a tiger is usually from the side or from behind; it does not launch itself into the air or jump on its prey from afar. While it grabs prey by the shoulder, back or neck (3) with its claws, the tiger’s hind legs do not usually lift off the ground. At this point, the prey jerks up, if it hasn’t happened before in the attack. A bite can be given to the throat or neck on contact or while the tiger carries the victim to the ground (4).

When the prey weighs more than half that of the tiger, the throat bite is commonly used and the death is most likely caused by suffocation. The grip can be maintained for several minutes after death. Kills are carried or dragged into the dense cover and tigers generally begin to feed 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 consumed over several days is less, around 15 to 18 kg / day (33 to 40 lb) .

Tigers stay close to their prey 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 death. Small prey, such as the barking deer, are eaten at a meal, where the large sambar, elk, and bison provide food for several days, unless multiple tigers (usually female and young) are foraging on the carcass.

A tigress with young has to kill more frequently to provide food, about once every 5-6 days, or 60-70 animals per year, for a female with two young. This is compared to one slaughter every 8 days or 40 to 50 slaughters per year for a female in the same area with no dependent offspring.

A tiger will eat as much as it can catch, but larger hoofed animals (main adults, as well as young or old animals) in the 50-200 kg (110-440 lb) range make up the majority of its diet. Typical prey are therefore sambar, chital, swamp deer, red deer, Rusa deer, and wild pigs. Tigers occasionally capture very large prey such as rhinos and baby elephants, water buffalo, elk, wapiti, and gaur. In many areas, agricultural stocks are also easily captured, especially where wild prey is depleted.

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