Tigers are strong apex predators. Though they are at the top of the food chain, the tiger is often attacked in the wild.
Humans are the biggest tiger killers, but other animals can kill a tiger if given the right opportunity. Nevertheless, what eats tigers?
Hyenas, wild dogs, and dholes are some hunters who attack a tiger in packs. At least 10 to 12 of them are needed to bring down a full-grown tiger.
7 Predators That Kill Tigers for Food
The wilderness is a mysterious place. Here everyone fears the big predators. Though big predators can often fall a victim too.
Tigers are at the top of the food chain, they are often attacked in the wild. However, attacking a tiger is not a typical incident. No animal would attack an adult and healthy tiger.
Other predators choose ones who are wounded or sick tigers only. Some other hunters would scavenge on the corpse of a tiger.
1. Crocodiles
Crocodiles are huge and opportunistic predators. They need big prey that can supply them with more energy. A tiger has ample meat and muscles that contain a lot of energy.
Crocodiles attack tigers when other prey is unavailable.. Crocs could also kill a tiger to save its kids.
2. Brown bear
Brown bear is one of the largest predators. It is an active hunter. The body of the brown bear is full of fat. They need good food to keep all that fat burning under their skin.
As a result, they often seek big prey. Brown bears are one of the few predators brave enough to attack and hunt a tiger.
3. Wild dogs
Wild dogs are pack hunters. They would hunt their prey in groups. Each group can consist of 10 to 30 dogs. They are very good at working as a team. Their success rate (about 70%) is astonishing. As a result, big solo predators often avoid their contact.
The dog pack mostly attacks deers and antelopes. However, they are also seen killing tigers.
Tigers are solo predators. They cruise through the jungle all alone. If a whole dog group attacks a tiger, it is sure the tiger has no chance of survival. After a successful hunt, the group feast on their prized prey.
4. Hyenas
Hyenas are one of the most ferocious predators. The spotted hyena is the biggest in the hyena group. It is a scavenging predator always looking for carcasses to feast on. They are also packed predators.
While hunting in a group, they can easily take down large mammals like buffalos and zebras.
If the hyena group and the tiger cross paths in the wild, things can heat up easily. The result would be the hyena group chasing down the tiger and killing it for food.
5. Pythons
Pythons hunt by squeezing their prey. They would wait until they came across the right opportunity and jump on their prey like lightning. They would immediately coil themselves all over the prey.
The whole body of the python is full of complex muscles and strong bones. Their squeezing force is enough to break the bones of any animal.
Pythons are seen to attack and feast on a tiger. Generally, helpless or weak tigers fall victim to pythons. Pythons would coil themselves all over the tiger’s body and squeeze them to death.
6. Alligators
Alligators are purely opportunistic, and they would not miss the chance of an easy meal. They are so powerful that they can successfully hunt down preys way larger than themselves.
Alligators are seen hunting down tigers. Especially when the tiger goes to the river for a drink and lets its guards down, that is the prime time for an alligator to grab the tiger by its throat.
7. Tigers
It may sound surprising, but tigers can eat other tigers too. Especially tigers can kill and feast on their babies. Usually, the grown-up tigers can often attack the babies if they think that the baby will not be able to become a strong tiger.
Sometimes, the tigers need to go days without food in the summer or the dry season. During this time, the mother can lose her maternal instincts and can kill and eat her own baby.
Surprisingly, the father could kill the cub if he thinks that the cub can become a threat to him when it grows up.
Do Humans Eat Tigers?
Have you ever heard of humans eating tiger meat? Humans also eat tigers. Though this is not a common practice, it is not so rare in many provinces in China.
Many provinces in China sell tiger meat as their peak delicacy at very high prices. They are sold so expensively that only a 500 ml bottle of tiger bone wine is sold at $16,000!
As a result, not many people can afford it. Only the most elite businessmen can be seen enjoying these dishes.
Once upon a time, tiger meat was openly sold in China, and the government did nothing about it. However, today it is not legal to sell tiger meat in these parts of China. This is because the number of wild tigers in China is decreasing surprisingly.
The government is trying to get people aware of not hunting tigers for food and thus save the animal from extinction. As a result, many police raids take place in these provinces often. Many people are arrested during these raids, and some are even sentenced to imprisonment.
Why Do Tigers Kill Other Tigers?
Tigers can indeed kill other tigers. This is an abnormal behavior seen in the tigers. They tend to attack the babies of other tigers. This act of violence isn’t infrequent in the animal kingdom.
But why do tigers kill other tigers? They can kill other tigers for several reasons like
- defending territory
- increasing territory
- winning over a female and
- cannibalism.
Many tigers attack their young and then eat up the carcass of the unfortunate victim cub. Tigers cubs falling victim to violence can occur due to several reasons. If the cub is unhealthy and the mother realizes that it cannot survive in the harsh environment of the wild, she kills it.
Moreover, mothers have a keen sense. They can tell whether the cub would become a perfect tiger or not. If she somehow realizes the cub would not make an ideal tiger, she kills it.
An unfortunate fact about the tiger mother is that she would kill her child if she gave birth to an odd number of cubs.
The most shocking thing is that the father tiger would kill his children if he thought they would become more competitive when they grow up because it is a common phenomenon for a tiger to lose its territory to one of its children or grandchildren.
Sometimes, the cub falls victim to the physical desires of the male tiger. It would kill the cub to free the mother from responsibility and mate with her.
Conclusion
Tigers are apex predators, but what eats tigers? Many other predators can kill and eat the tiger. Some of them are pack hunters; others are opportunistic hunters. Whatever they may be, they can’t attack a full-grown adult tiger face to face.
Predators always attack tigers by startling or attacking relatively weak ones. Attacking the vulnerable or the wounded increases their success rate. Humans also eat tiger meat. This unusual occurrence takes place none other than in China.
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