The Tiger

No, tigers don't eat zebras under natural circumstances as there are no zebras where the tiger lives which is in Asia (Bengal tiger and other subspecies) and the far east of Siberia (Siberian tiger). Zebras live in Africa where the lion predominantly lives (the Asiatic lion lives in north-east India (Gir Forest). So, there is no opportunity for a tiger living in wild to attack a zebra. However, sometimes zookeepers feed their tigers zebras which are surplus to requirements (see below). Do tigers eat zebras? No unless they are fed to a tiger. Image: Pixabay (know loon). If the zebra did live in India, the tiger would attack it because tigers eat almost anything they can catch from frogs to elephant calves in the words of Fiona Sunquist ( Wild Cats of the World ). The zebra is a nice-sized prey animal for the tiger. Perfect as it would be relatively easy to attack and kill and large enough to provide food for a good time. Tigers need large prey animals because they eat so much. RELAT...

INDIA: Okay, a bird is an animal but you get the point. It is both a neat but brutal video. Fortunately, the magnificent Indian peafowl, Pavo cristatus , escaped the equally magnificent 'Royal Bengal tiger' aka the Bengal tiger. Not sure why they bother to call it royal. Technically this is a Bengal tiger. The bird and cat are bound to meet from time to time in India. The Bengal tiger is critically endangered. Its population - mainly in India - is pretty stable but very low. You can find out all you want about the Bengal tiger on this website so please feel free to search.  I will dip my toe into information about the Indian peafowl. It is also known as the common peafowl and blue peafowl. It is native to the Indian subcontinent. Although it has been introduced to many other countries. The male of the species is referred to as a peacock and the female is referred to as a peahen. Colloquially they are both referred to as peacocks. Bengal tiger attacks India's national bird t...

This is a well asked question. And obviously Bengal tigers do attack humans sometimes when they come into conflict with humans because they've been forced into conflict by humans. The Sundarbans, a vast delta which straddles India and Bangladesh, is the place where Bengal tigers most often come into conflict with people and these are people who work in this delta. Essentially there are too many people to accommodate the space required by the Bengal tiger. They require vast ranges of many square miles. Big male Bengal tiger saunters across road ignoring the motorcyclist and passenger. Photo: Twitter. However, Jim Corbett who has a tiger reserve named after him and who was a big game hunter turned conservationist many years ago, said that tigers have quite a nice disposition. He should know because he shot lots of them and he was a renowned expert on tigers. What he is essentially saying is that tigers have quite a nice character and are not inherently aggressive except when they ne...

Chittal - tiger prey - Photo by monojussi Tigers eat anything in the jungle - whatever they can catch. But tigers need large prey to survive long term. Here is a list of prey items from Nagarole NP in India, Royal Bardia NP in Nepal and Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand, assessed from scats (feces). Tigers don't just live in jungle. They live in a wide variety of habitats including lowland evergreen forest, monsoonal forest, scrub oak, birch woods of Siberia (Siberian tiger) and the mangrove swamps of the Sundarbans (India and Bangladesh). The tiger is forced to live in these swamps (tidal salt marsh - largest in world). Tiger prey items in the above reserves: Chittal Hog deer Sambar Barking deer Gaur Barasingha (swamp deer) Wild pig Nilgai Chevrotain Hare Porcupine Hog badger Dhole Primates Lizards Of these the chittal is the most common prey. The sambar and barking deer are also common prey items. Prey items depend on the location. Ho...

Tigers use two techniques to kill prey depending on prey size. Image by  Gerhard G.  from  Pixabay   Small Prey Small animals are usually killed with a bite to the back of the neck. This is mirrored in the killing technique of domestic cats (a bit to the nape of the neck severing the spinal cord). A canine tooth (the large teeth at either side of the mouth at the front) is inserted between the vertebrae forcing them apart which severs the spinal cord. This is a precise action. In domestic cats the whiskers play a significant role in feeling the position to bite especially in the dark. Cats "have numerous mechanoreceptors associated with the canines". It is thought that the tiger can feel with the canine teeth to position them between the vertebrae. The jaws contract very fast. Perhaps the jaws contract and expand to let the tips of the canines position and reposition by feel until the correct location is found. The success rare concerning positio...

This is a chart showing the Bengal tiger prey profile for the Nagarhole National Park (Nagarhole is sometimes spelled "Nagarole"). The data was first published in 1995. Tiger prey is also hunted, poached or lost in some other way and therefore the profile as at the date of this post may be somewhat different. The source of the information is Wild Cats Of The World table 64 (authors: Mel and Fiona Sunquist). The authors of this fine work obtained the information from "Prey selection by tiger, leopard and dhole in tropical forests" by Karanth KU and ME Sunquist. Nagarhole NP is in the southwest of India. See all the tiger reserves of India .