The Tiger

If two tigers meet in the wild, will they fight? Well, the first point to make is that in the wild, each tiger has a territory about as big as a modern city. Male ranges are a lot bigger than females' and male ranges include female ranges . Territorial ownership is marked out by spraying scented urine against trees and scratching the bark with sharp claws. This is a way of tigers preventing meeting up. It's a way of keeping them apart because they realise that fights between rivals can be so damaging even to the winner that it may impair their survival. So male tigers avoid other male tigers and female tigers avoid other female tigers. When a male tiger meets a female even outside the breeding season there is a small friendly greeting using a close call sounding like: fuf-fuf-fuf . But there are two instances under which tigers might fight: times of flux and tension over resources and territory. The most sought-after resources for a male tiger in the wild are female tigers and...

This encounter occurred at a tiger reserve in India (Ranthambore National Park). The Bengal tigers were having a quiet session of sex and minding their own business as they do. A sloth bear was also minding her own business travelling for A to B, but she unexpectedly came upon the mating tigers. Sloth bear carrying 2 cubs on her back defeats 2 Bengal tigers. Photo:  wildlife photographer Aditya Dicky Singh In terms of reproduction she was at a more advanced stage as she was carrying her cubs on her back. They cling on for safety. The bear instinctively terrorised the tigers in defence of her offspring. Sloth bears are very dangerous for people which indicates how aggressive and violent they can be. They feed of insects. Hardly a carnivorous predator and yet behaving like one. Anyway the tigers backed off and disappeared, soundly defeated in the encounter. But I think it is unfair to state what I have, in fact, stated because the tigers were not hunting at that time. They were ha...