Tigers in India
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.
Tigers
in India, Royal Bengal Tiger Reservation Form
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