with tigers, and crocodiles and bears can even kill them.
The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey.In India's Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from 30 to 175 kg (66 to 386 lb) against a preference for heavier prey by tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was 37.6 kg (83 lb) against 91.5 kg
(202 lb).With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna, where the leopard lives beside the lion.Golden jackals may scavenge on tiger kills.Tigers appear to inhabit the deep parts of a forest while smaller predators like leopards and dholes are pushed closer to the fringes.
Reproduction and life cycle
The tiger mates all year round, but most cubs are born between March and June, with a second peak in September. Gestation ranges from 93 to 114 days, with an average of 103 to 105 days. A female is only receptive for three to six days.Mating is frequent and noisy during that time.] The female gives birth in a sheltered location such as in tall grass, in a dense thicket, cave or rocky crevice. The father generally takes no part in rearing.Litters consist of two or three cubs, rarely as many as six. Cubs weigh from 780 to 1,600 g (28 to 56 oz) each at birth, and are born with eyes closed. They open their eyes when they are six to 14 days old. Their milk teeth break through at the age of about two weeks. They start to eat meat at the age of eight weeks. At around this time, females usually shift them to a new den.They make short ventures with their mother, although they do not travel with her as she roams her territory until they are older. Females lactate for five to six months.Around the time they are weaned, they start to accompany their mother on territorial walks and are taught how to hunt.
A dominant cub emerges in most litters, usually a male. The dominant cub is more active than its siblings and takes the lead in their play, eventually leaving its mother and becoming independent earlier.The cubs start hunting on their own earliest at the age of 11 months, and become independent around 18 to 20 months of age.] They separate from their mother at the age of two to two and a half years, but continue to grow until the age of five years. Young females reach sexual maturity at three to four years, whereas males at four to five years. Unrelated wandering male tigers often kill cubs to make the female receptive, since the tigress may give birth to another litter within five months if the cubs of the previous litter are lost. The mortality rate of tiger cubs is about 50% in the first two years. Few other predators attack tiger cubs due to the diligence and ferocity of the mother. Apart from humans and other tigers, common causes of cub mortality are starvation, freezing, and
accidents.Generation length of the tiger is about eight years.] The oldest recorded captive tiger lived for 26 years.
Occasionally, male tigers participate in raising cubs, usually their own, but this is extremely rare and not always well understood. In May 2015, Amur tigers were photographed by camera traps in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve. The
photos show a male Amur tiger pass by, followed by a female and three cubs within the span of about two minutes.In Ranthambore, a male Bengal tiger raised and defended two orphaned female cubs after their mother had died of illness. The cubs remained under his care, he supplied them with food, protected them from his rival and sister, and apparently also trained them.
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