What Do Tigers Eat? Can They Eat Anything In The Food Chain?

Tigers are found all around Asia, China, eastern Russia, and Indonesia, and Sumatra.

Tigers are one of the largest species in the cat family. Tigers can live for 20-25 years in that they spend an average of 11 years on active hunting.

This big cat's scientific name is Panthera Tigris. Their prey range in different sizes, from small to big.

After all, their diet consists of large animals that weigh about 45 lb (20 kg) or more significant such as deer species, wild boar, cows, wild pigs, horses, buffalo e.t.c.,. Sometimes they attack elephants, baby rhinoceros, leopards, bear species also.

Tigers are found chiefly in rain forests, grasslands, swamps, and including Siberian taiga. The tiger species are classified into six subspecies: the Indo-Chinese tigers, the Sumatran tiger, the Bengal tiger(resident of India), the Siberian tiger, the Malayan tiger, and the South China tiger.

Among all the tiger species, the Siberian tiger is the largest tiger in the world, with 13 ft (4 m) in length and 660lb (300 kg). In the tiger population or number Bengal or India tiger is more than half in number.

We have the smallest subspecies in tigers also, which is nothing but Sumatran, who weighs 310 lb ( 140 kg ).In all subspecies, female (mother)tigers have smaller body parts when compared to males. Tigers can fit into any environment. As they got used to temperatures, tigers are lenient to heat than others.

That is the reason tigers like bathing all time. And when they are under stress, they may climb trees also.

Do you know the lion is the close relative of the tiger? Without fur, it is tough to find the difference between them. Which is more interesting, isn't it? To find more interesting articles about why do tigers have stripes and different types of tigers, please visit our kidadl website.

Do tigers eat humans?

Wild cats eat once in two days. Their diet consists of meat, flesh, and fat of all animals they prey on. All tigers won't kill humans until they feel a threat from them. We heard that these big cats killed so many humans when compared to other cats.

Humans lived with tigers on this earth for many years. Do tigers eat humans? What do tigers eat? Let's have a deep look into this.

Tiger attacks humans if they come too close and surprise feeding tigers and their cubs and sleeping tigers. Occasionally they do attack, which might be a mistake of identity like making some sounds, cutting trees, so people recommend not using bikes or running.

Many humans also get injured by tigers every year. Sometimes tigers do kill humans only when a tiger is old or injured and unable to catch prey.

After some time human population in that part increased rapidly in those cities, and so did the resources. Thus tigers decreased slowly, and their habitats invaded, and the food source also decreased, as humans also started eating some of their prey.

Do tigers eat everything?

The tiger has an athletic body, a large head, and powerful limbs. It is cumbersome, and when it comes to color, it varies between orange and brown shades with white in abdominal areas and black stripes, which varies individually.

Most tigers do stalk their prey; then they attempt to take them down. They bite their prey at the neck or throat. Tigers eat various animals and insects ranging from big to small, which means baby elephants to termites.

Tigers have a unique style to catch their prey. First, they do stalk their prey from a rear attempt to get closer to prey. Once they find their prey, they jab at the animal's neck and hold with its powerful jaws, the prey will typically die from suffocation, but some might bleed.

How much does a tiger eat?

Tiger was scientifically found in 1758 with wide-ranged from the east region of turkey to the west region of Amur river in the east and in the foothills from south of Himalayas to bail in Sunda islands.

Tigers primarily feed on medium to large-sized mammals, particularly those that weigh 130-550 lb(60-250 kg) like sambar deer, barasingha, wild boar, and bears are preferred. By various studies, researchers have estimated that adult tigers will consume between 10 and 25 lb (4.5 and 11 kg) of prey per day.

In the wild, tigers can eat up to 100 lb (45 kg) in one sitting.

Tigers can take down larger prey like moose and eat small prey such as monkeys and other ground-based hares, birds, fish, and porcupines. Tigers do not hunt fully grown Indian rhinoceros or adult Asian elephants.

Sometimes, when tigers are close to a human, they hunt domestic livestock like cattle, donkeys, and horses. Do you know tigers eat vegetation for dietary fiber even though they are carnivores?

How often do tigers eat?

Tigers are lonely animals, and they want to spend most of their time alone, even while hunting. Every tiger has its territory. The Siberian tiger has the largest range, more than 4000 square miles (10,000 sq.

km). They mark their territory by putting some scratches on trees with their claws and spray a mix of scent glands with urine and spray in their territory—female tiger hunts within their territory, while males can hunt anywhere.

Occasionally tigers do eat once in two days if they eat large mammals. Usually, tigers eat one big animal per week. Now let's have a deep look at what do tigers eat and how often do they eat.

When many tigers are present at hunting and killing the prey, males prefer cubs and females to eat. Tigers' stomach is very simple with a short intestine, so they digest their meal very fast.

Tigers can stay for two weeks at a stretch without any food, but when they catch their prey, they eat 75 lb (34 kg) of meat at once.

Tiger Diet By Species

As we already read that there are different species of tigers that reside all over. Most wild tigers reside in Asia.

Some of them are the Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger, the South China tiger, Malayan tiger, Sumatran tiger, and Indo- Chinese tiger. Each tiger has a different diet based on its geographical location. Now let's have a look at their diet.

Bengal tiger is a resident of India(Asia), Bhutan, and Nepal. Bengal tigers(resident of India) do like hunting large mammals like sambar, chital, gaur, barasingha, bull e.t.c.

When it comes to medium-sized prey, wild deer, black-sized monkeys, and hog deers were killed by the Bengal tiger(India tiger). They are endangered to humans. Later on, they started eating domestic animals like cattle and ended up getting killed by people.

The Siberian tiger, also called the Amur tiger, is found mainly in Russia, which is endangered to everyone. As it is cold, Siberian tigers eat red deer, wild boar, deer, grizzly bears, and black bears. As they are on the top of the ecosystem, they don't have any natural predators.

South China tigers which are also called as Chinese tigers or Amoy tigers which are critically endangered. They eat anywhere between 40-80 lb ( 18 - 36 kg) of meat.

Malayan tigers eat sambar deer, barking deer, bearded pigs, and serow. In 2015 govt has officially announced that they are one of the endangered species. They do prey on sun bears, rhino calves, and young elephants.

Later on, the human approach started eating livestock which includes cattle. They hunt at night times to find their prey. Like other species, humans are their only enemies.

Sumatran tigers are patient hunters and usually stalk their prey before attacking them. One interesting thing is once their meal is done, it covers the remaining grass using its paws for snacking it for later. Fishes, crocodiles, monkeys, wild pigs, deer, and birds are their food.

Indo-Chinese tigers are many found in Burma and south china. Their primary diet includes buffalo, antelope, wild pigs, fish, young rhinos, turtles, and baby elephants. They even include porcupines, marques monkeys, and muntjac deer in their diet.

How do tigers find food?

Tigers are the largest animal in wildlife. In so many cultures, these animals are considered as a symbol of strength, dignity, and courage. This animal is one of the Zodiac animals.

Tigers are opportunist predators, for the availability of prey is the most important thing. Tigers mainly depend on their senses like sight and hearing when they hunt their large prey. Now, let's see how tigers find their diet.

A Tiger (wild cat) sits and waits for a long time in silence and attack the prey at an unexpected time. All tigers will find their food near ponds or places with water where deer and other animals come to drink.

Once she gets the prey, she will choke and hold them at the neck, bring them back to a corner, and have a quiet feast. Tiger's prey ranges from medium and large size according to the area where they live.

Sometimes they takedown or kill animals that are larger than them, like water buffalo and bears. These wild cats (tigers) are efficient predators; the tiger's front paws are designed and help them hunt.

How can we help tigers?

Tigers are the largest species with dark stripes and beautiful eyes. They are the most attractive creatures and play a very important role in our ecosystem.

In our food chain, the tiger is the top predator in their wildlife. But, due to killing and deforestation number of tigers decreased. Earlier, there were 100,000 tigers in the wild, but now less than 4000 tigers are left.

Sometimes people hunt these species illegally to sell body parts, medicines, food, and souvenirs. Some pay high prices to buy a tiger for skins or other animal body parts on the black market. We can help them by spreading the word, being responsible, and educating small villagers by discouraging poaching and not encouraging them.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what do tigers eat, then why not take a look at how long do tigers live, or Bengal Tiger Facts