Tiger

Bison can between 500 and 1000 kgs (4-7 times a tiger’s weight).

The tiger is a wrestler rather than a runner. This dictates its hunting style. Tiger won’t run far (150 metres) but prefer a short burst high impact attack. Small animals are killed by a bite to the back of the neck severing the vetebra while larger prey is suffocated by biting the throat. The former method is employed by the domestic cat. Whiskers and teeth feel the spot on the spine of the prey to severe it.

Prey is hauled to a safe spot under cover before feeding. The tiger’s enormous strength comes into play here. There are some awesome stories. A tiger in Myanmar hauled a gaur weighing 770 kgs. Fourteen men couldn’t move it⁷. Up to about 27 kgs of killed prey is eaten in a night⁷.

Social Organisation

Tigers like all cats are territorial. A dominant male’s home range (the area that the tiger considers his area of operation) will overlap or encompass the usually exclusive (not overlapping) ranges of a number female tigers provided there is a sufficient density of females which is dependent on the prey base. While a less successful male tiger will be lucky to have one female. The male range is therefore much larger than that of the female tiger. Males will compete for a females particularly if the female density is low. Fights lead to injuries. Fights occur more frequently when there is social instability for any reason:

The Siberian tiger range is much larger due to a lower prey base, prey migration, climate and terrain. Tigers communicate vocally and through scent and marks (scrapes). Those of us who keep cats are all familiar with scent marks. Scent is sprayed onto objects. It is a musky liquid sometimes mixed with urine. Scent is also on feces from the anal glands. Rubbing objects with the head and cheeks also deposits scent on objects. Scrapes are made by scratching the ground. Feces are deposited. One advantage of communicating by scent is that the time the tiger was were the scent it can be gauged by the intensity of the scent. This helps avoid conflict. Scent markers are placed along important routes and boundaries of the home range of the tiger and reinforced regularly (every 3 weeks⁷). Scent marking is more intense when a young tiger is establishing a territory. Scent is not only used to avoid each other but to bring each other together for mating. The functions of scent marking are not fully understood by us and include much more than mentioned here due to space limitations and load times. Vocalisations are also used to communicate. We are familiar with the tiger roar.  Sounds made close range are accompanied by body language. Other tiger sounds are, main call, prusten, growl, snarl, hiss, grunt, moan, meow, spit: