Tigers are well-known for being solitary animals, but their social life and behaviours are a lot more complex than scientists first thought. To fully understand these beautiful, powerful predators we must look at their interactions, territories, communication and reproduction cycles. Here are some useful facts about tigers’ social habits:

Solitary But Not Isolated 

Tigers are solitary creatures who like to live and hunt alone. This prevents conflict and allows them to dominate their own territories. That said, tiger territories can overlap in some places, especially between males and females. This facilitates brief periods of social interaction and enables mating. Interestingly, tigers also coexist with other predators including leopards, Asiatic wild dogs, brown bears and wolves. There’s usually little interaction between these creatures, however, as tigers tend to be nocturnal whereas the other animals are more active during daylight hours.

Territorial Behaviour 

Tigers mark out their territories with scent marking, scratches on trees and sounds to communicate their presence to other tigers. They do not take trespassing lightly and will actively defend their territory if needed. However, they try to avoid fighting where possible as this can be detrimental to their health and survival. Male tigers typically have much larger territories than female territories, with the size depending on habitat, prey and the presence of other tigers.

Communication

Tigers communicate in many different ways. While scent markings confirm their identity, sex and reproductive status within a particular territory, vocalisations such as roars and growls are used to scare away rivals, attract mates and strengthen social bonds between mothers and their cubs

Social Bonds

When it comes to social behaviour, tiger mothers form the strongest bond with their cubs. They will teach them everything they need to know to survive in the wild from hunting and stalking to scratching and roaring. Cubs typically stay with their mothers for two to three years before going off on their own. Male tigers, on the other hand, can kill cubs that aren’t their own in a bid to bring the female into heat once again and reproduce.

Interactions Between Adults 

When interactions between adult tigers do occur they’re usually of an aggressive nature. This is why tigers prefer to live alone in a large territory. Tigers usually prey alone successfully. But, in rare cases, they’ve been known to group together to guarantee a kill - just like lions. Male and female tigers meet to mate and reproduce. Females enter estrus (come on heat) every 3-9 weeks and will let male tigers know through scent markings and vocal cues. 

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