The Tiger

I can call upon Mel and Fiona Sunquist again to answer the question in the title (Wild Cats of the World). In relying on the work of JLD Smith and C McDougal (1991 - The Contribution of variance in lifetime reproduction to effective population size in tigers ), they state unequivocally that ' tigers continue to grow and put on muscle until they are about five years old ; this prolonged period of growth is more evident in males than in females '. When do tigers become adults. At about 5. Photo: Pixabay So tigers become adults at around five years old. This reminds me the often quoted statement that the Maine Coon domestic cats becomes a mature adult at aged four. They, too, are relatively slow developers. Male tigers become sexually mature at three to four years of age and they normally take longer than females to acquire breeding territories. At about three years old females become sexually mature. They conceive about six months later. A tigress might have her first litter w...

The tigress kisses the tiger - bites him gently - turns, rubs her body against his, raises her tail, and finally presents herself by sitting with fore-limbs fully extended and hind-legs more that half-bent. The tiger mounts her in a half-knees-bent position without putting any pressure on her body and she emits low, deep "Oaar oaaa" sounds. As the act comes to a climax, the tiger lowers his head and grips the skin folds of her neck firmly but carefully; this position helps both to achieve proper orientation at the time of the climax. The tiger then gives the peculiar high-pitched squeal..., the tigress growls, and finally gives a sudden jerk to dislodge the male. She turns round to face the tiger and starts boxing. Extract from Sankhala K.S. 1977 Tiger: The story of the Indian tiger . New York: Simon and Schuster This is a verbatim description. I argue fair use on the basis that it promotes the work and is educational. The excerpt is short and has no detrimental effect on...

We know that cats protect their young with courage and aggression if needs must. Tigers are no exception. Tigresses are very cautious and secretive when they are caring for their cubs. When disturbed they will move the cubs to a new den. Here are two examples from Wild Cats of the World (page 359). In Ranthambore National Park a tigress hid her cubs near a main road. It was the time of year when the road was used by pilgrims so it had become busy. The tigress threatened the pilgrims and then moved the cubs to a safer location. Tigress with her cubs in captivity. Image by nlw143 from Pixabay   In Chitwan a tigress charged at villagers several times in protecting her 6-week-old cubs. The villagers had approached her den while cutting grass. Eventually the mother moved her cubs out of harm's way. This tigress also attacked a researcher in a tree because he or she got too close to her 4-day old cubs.  In captivity tigresses spend 70 percent of daylight nursing he...

The development of the tiger 7 is about a timetable. Things happen at a certain time. Accordingly, I have set out this section in a table for ease of reference. Male tigers have a tough time of it. Where there is a good prey base the tigress is likely to be pregnant or have young to feed as is therefore unavailable. A tigress will scent mark to draw in a male tiger for mating. More than one can arrive resulting in potential conflict. During estrus the tigress will call more and roll and rub and behave provocatively and aggressively. She will spit at the male and strike him. The male is passive as his objective is to mate not fight. The tigress softens and lets the male advance. She kisses him with a gentle bite. After copulation during which the male bites the scruff of the female's neck to protect himself she boxes him but there is less aggression if she knows him. Tigers mate in a very similar way to the domestic cat. See Cats Mating and Lions Mating (new window). Cats a...