The Tiger

Humankind has conflicting views about the tiger but perhaps they are the opposite sides of the same coin. The tiger is feared by virtually everyone on the planet because they are a powerful predator. They are the world's biggest cat and the top predator. They can be man-eaters when they come into conflict with farmers, for example, in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. Although humans are not a prey animal of the tiger. The tiger symbolised evil (yin) while the dragon symbolised good (yang). Image in the public domain. And yet, they are admired also by virtually everyone on the planet for their beauty, courage and strength. Their strength is legendary . And people want a bit of it and the way they achieve this is by creating hundreds of uses for various body parts of the tiger's body. For example, the fat of the tiger is thought to be a tonic for rheumatism. It is prized as an aphrodisiac. The flesh of the tiger gives courage and strength to people who eat it. The clavicle or the fl...

The video on this page shows a Bengal tiger in India (I believe) sauntering down a road and behind him/her is one of their classic prey animals, a deer, a mere 50 yards away. The tiger is entirely disinterested, probably sated on a meal not long before but it is a slightly incongruous video because we are used to seeing tigers attacking prey animals at anytime and anywhere within their habitat. This is not the case. Interestingly, when you read about the iconic tiger, you don't really anywhere about tigers shunning their dinner; shunning the chance to attack a prey animal such as we see in the video. We think they simply don't do it and attack anything that comes before them on their travels. This apparently is incorrect. Bengal tiger ignores prime prey behind it no more than 50 metres away. Screenshot. But if a tiger is going to be satisfied with eating almost anything they can catch as my reference book states, it implies that they will attack almost any prey animal but once ...

It is hard to imagine tigers not being able or not wanting to climb trees. They are a cat, and all cats are great or at least adequate climbers as most enjoy moving vertically and a few species of wild cat are arboreal (live mainly in trees).  Although, admittedly, the Siberian tiger is a very hefty animal and less agile compared to smaller wild cat species. That said, the picture shows four Siberian (Amur) tigers climbing trees in order to reach a treat put there by Whipsnade Zoo staff to make their lives more interesting. The photograph is by the zoo. The treat was for breakfast, apparently. Amur tigers climbing trees at Whipsnade Zoo, UK. Photo: the zoo. So, we can tell in specific terms that tigers climb trees and in general terms the picture is slightly different but similar. The experts say that tigers "rarely climb trees, although they can and will, especially if provoked". In Chitwan National Park, Nep, a tigress was observed with a new-born young, and she was irritat...

Yes, Siberian (Amur) and Bengal tigers can definitely mate. They are two subspecies of tiger. They are very similar. In my mind it is like asking whether a person living in the West can mate with a person living in the East. There's nothing stopping it from a DNA point of view. Big Cat Rescue states that crossbreeding Bengal tigers with Siberian tigers might increase the odds of producing white cubs. North China amur tiger crossed with a Bengal cat as shown in a museum specimen. This image comes from messybeast.com courtesy Sarah Hartwell. There is also the issue of mongrel tigers being quite commonplace in zoos and other facilities where tigers are used to entertain customers. They become mongrelised in zoos and circuses. In other words, the tigers are no longer purebred. The tigers that you see in zoos or circuses are often generic tigers and not a definitive subspecies. That's because they been breeding with each other which makes my point. The expert on hybrid wild cats is ...

Abundism is a variant of pigmentation in the cat's coat, identifiable by enlarged stripes covering a large part of the body of the tiger making it almost appear melanistic (black). Some refer to it as pseudomelanism.  It is due to a spontaneous genetic mutation, in the same that white tigers at one time popped up in the wild decades ago until they were all shot. White tigers are also due to a genetic mutation. Genes don't always replicate perfectly, and you get mutations. Many of the cat breeds are based on genetic mutations which give the cats and unusual anatomical feature such as hairlessness or a short tail out of which a breed can be created with selective breeding. Abundism in a tiger cub in the wild. Image: Screenshot. Here is a little video of a tiger cub with abundism. I guess the word 'abundism' (which sounds very old fashioned) is a reference to the 'abundance' of the pigment called melanin in the hair strands creating the black appearance. I think I ...

It may baffle some people as to how the tiger's coat can possibly be good camouflage to help it stalk prey. The bright orange background colour and the dense black stripes just look too stark to be good camouflage. And the tiger lives in the jungle doesn't it, and the jungle is green? How can orange be camouflage when the landscape is green? When it can for two reasons. To prey animals the colour is not orange Fairly recently, in 2019, it has been decided that some prey animals - particularly deer a classic prey animal of the tiger - suffer from what humans would regard as colour blindness because they can only detect blue and green light and not red light. Because of this, the bright orange tiger coat looks grey or a green/grey. The images below give us an impression as to how a tiger might look in a jungle environment. How a prey animal might see a tiger as they are colour blind to red. Image: MikeB How a prey animal might see a tiger as they are colour blind to red. Image: D...

Yes, 'tiger society, like that of most felids [cats], is characterized by individuals living and hunting by themselves' so writes Fiona Sunquist in Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist. So, tigers are essentially solitary animals. This is the definitive book on the wild cats by the way (buy it!). Tigers encounter each other from time to time when travelling along their trails and when patrolling their home ranges. They also meet for mating and occasionally they share a killed prey animal. Tigers are solitary and come together for mating. Image in the public domain. But the only exception to the solitary life of the tiger is the mother caring for her young cubs. Tigers hunt alone but there is a social system between these individuals which is maintained with various signals such as scrapings (visual signals), scent marks deposited by spraying urine and long-range calls (vocalisations). These calls serve two purposes: to bring tigers together (for mating) and to keep...