Tigers Territory

Tiger's Territory

Today marks my 6^th week talking about tigers. I will be sharing today what I have learned about tigers and how they protect their territory.  Having their own territory to eat, sleep and mate is extremely important to these animals. It is very hard for tigers to find vacant spots specially if they live in a well-protected areas with abundant prey. There are usually a number of surplus tigers that roam around from place to place because they have not been able to find a vacant territory.  These animals are called “Transients”. When a tiger dies, a transient will immediately take over their territory if not repelled vigorously.

The most important requirement for a tiger's survival is territory. In order to maintain their territory, tigers have to work very hard.  Tigers are very possessive of their turf. They defend their territory by leaving scent marks. They also defend their territory from rivals by patrolling its boundaries regularly. They create invisible fences of bushes and trees covered in its urine, which warns rival tigers to keep away. The way tigers keep their territory is by fighting its rival tiger. A fight between two evenly matched tigers can be extremely fierce and it can lead to one or both of the tigers being killed. Most often a badly injured tiger will limp away severely damaged from the fight, only to die later because it is unable to hunt and eventually starves to death. Tiger fights over territory are very common between males. Studies have shown that a male tiger may be able to hold on to a territory for only about 5 years before it is driven out or killed by stronger rival.