The Tiger

Briefly, male and female tigers mark territory by cheek rubbing, claw raking, urine spraying, scraping with their hind feet, and through depositing uncovered and scattered faeces. In addition the male tiger also head rubs. Tiger cheek rubbing. Camera trap image in the public domain. In rubbing various parts of their anatomy against objects such as trees and rocks the tiger and tigress are depositing scent from their glands which are located at this areas of the bodies . The scent is picked up by other tigers who can recognise the other tiger by their scent and will know when they were there by the deterioration in the strength of the scent. These marking behaviours are very similar to those of the domestic cat as you will no doubt recognise. Not only are the tiger and cat very similar in their anatomy except for their size they are very similar in their general behaviour. "Scent is deposited as an odorous musky liquid known as 'marking fluid'". It is mixed with uri...

Yes, tigers mark their territory like any other cat species including the domestic cat. One way they mark territory is to desposit scent from glands on their cheeks as you can see in the video. They reach up to a tree or a rock and rub their cheeks against the object.  This is Boris, a Siberian tiger released into the wild by Putin. Boris has hundreds of square miles in which to roam with very little if no competition due to the scarcity of Siberian tigers. Land tenure is part of the social system of the tiger. Both male and females communicate with a combination of scent marks, visual signals and vocalisations. Scent marks are probably the most important. "Marking fluid" is deposited. It is a musky liquid. It is often mixed with urine and sprayed backward onto upright objects. We see domestic cats doing the same thing. Scent may be deposited on faeces from the anal glands. The liquid secreted by these lands is similar to that in their urine. And, as you can see in...