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.