Why does a captive tigress kill her mate?
Why does a captive tigress kill her mate? At a Texas zoo in El Paso a female Malayan tiger, Seri, killed her mate, Wzui, who we are told had a pleasant personality. We are told that Wuzi liked another tigress as well as Seri. Both Seri and Wuzi were on loan from other zoos. The reason given by the authorities is that Seri was jealous of the other female. Why then did she kill the her male mate? There is no record of a tigress killing her mate in the reference works that I have. However, we are told that during times of social flux serious fights may occur between females. Also tiger forced together unnaturally are more likely to be stresses and fight. Of course the usual scenario is male tigers fighting over a female. Or male tigers fighting sometimes to the death over territory. This usually occurs when a young male is looking for his own home range and there is not enough space. This can happen on small tiger reserves. Neither of these situations existed in this case. My pers...