Tigers are ferocious animals, and they hunt to kill. They are mainly carnivorous, but their diet may diversify in various directions. Their appetite changes during different times of the year.
However, do tigers eat fish?
Tigers eat fish. They catch the fish using their claws and fangs. Regardless, fishes are not their primary food.
Do Tigers Eat Fish?
Tigers like to eat fish. However, fishes are not the top item on their menu. The top item on their diet is meat.
Tigers are excellent swimmers and like to swim in the freshwaters. They also need enough water where they live to stay hydrated. These freshwaters are the sources of fish in the wild. They’d catch and eat fish from there.
How Do Tigers Catch Fish?
Tigers might like water, and they might enjoy swimming a lot. However, it is hard for them to catch fish. Using their claws and fangs to catch a moving fish under the water can be challenging for them at times.
If you look at a video of a tiger catching a fish, you can see the beast struggling. Still, they have better fishing skills than most other big cats. Tigers are just behind the Jaguars in fishing skills.
Tigers can hunt both during the day and the night. They prefer hunting at night because they like to avoid human contact. Besides, the animals they hunt are mainly nocturnal.
Hence, the night is the time when a tiger can be most ferocious. They come out of their dens and start roaming for food. However, they can’t find what they are looking for during prey scarcity. They look for other sources such as fish, snakes, crocodiles, etc.
First, the tiger gets in the water and locates the fish. Then it startles the fish with a blow of its paw. Although the fish never feels the same power blow by the tiger that a deer or a boar would feel. This is because the water blunts the power of the blow. Still, the fish underwater feels a sudden movement in the water. The fish is now confused and doesn’t understand what is happening. This is when the tiger picks up the fish with its powerful jaw.
The tiger struggles to hold the fish inside its mouth. This is because they tend to go for their prey’s neck or throat. It is instinct to them. However, they don’t have that advantage when fishing as fishes don’t have necks.
After getting picked up, the fish tries its heart and soul to be free again. It starts to jump inside the mouth of the tiger. However, its efforts go in vain as the tiger gives its head continuous enormous shakes. The fish dies soon after being out of the water and getting wounded by the tiger’s sharp teeth. Finally, the tiger enjoys its meal.
4 Big Cats That Eat Fish
Many big cats eat fish but don’t prefer it as their primary food source. This is because big cats need big prey. Big prey means more energy for them. Fishes are small prey and don’t provide enough protein. Moreover, catching a fish is more struggling for them.
Still, many of them would hunt and eat fish when they were hungry. 4 of them are as follows,
- Jaguars
- Leopards
- Tigers and
- Lions
Among these big cats, the Jaguar is the most efficient and the one with the most fishing skills.
Conclusion
Do tigers eat fish? Yes, they do. Yet meat is their favorite. They don’t hunt fish if other land preys are available. Then they’d rather kill a deer or a boar. This provides them with more protein than a fish would.
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