Tiger life & breeding

Tiger life

Tigers are mostly solitary, apart from mother-offspring associations. However, individuals living close to one another may display sociable behaviour and at times, adults may even share a kill.
 
Tigers have dens in caves, tree hollows and dense vegetation. They are mostly nocturnal but in the northern part of its range, the Amur subspecies may also be active during the day in winter.

Individual tigers have a large territory. Where prey is in abundance, such as in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, territories range from 10 to 20km² for females and 30 to 70km² for males. In Russia, where the density of prey is much lower, territories vary in size from 200 to 400km² for females and 800 to 1,000km² for males.

Unless they die, tigers are never replaced on their range.

Although individuals do not patrol their territories, the range is visited over a period of days or weeks and it is marked with urine and faeces.

Breeding

Although tigers can mate at any time, breeding is more frequent from November to April. On average, tigers give birth to 2-3 cubs every 2-2.5 years, and sometimes every 3-4 years. If all the cubs die, a second litter may be produced within 5 months. Gestation is usually 104-106 days and births occur in a cave, a rocky crevice, or in dense vegetation.

Life cycle

Tigers generally gain independence at 2 years of age and attain sexual maturity at 3-4 years for females and at 4-5 years for males. Juvenile mortality is high however: about half of all cubs do not survive more than 2 years. Tigers have been known to reach the age of 26 years in the wild.