Bengal Tiger Cubs

Bengal Tiger cubs are very difficult to see in the wild, because their mother protects them from anyone who may hurt them. Only female tigers are responsible for taking care of the young; males don’t help them and may even try to kill their own offspring to eliminate future competition for food and females. Male cubs will grow into strong young animals and in 2 or 3 years will fight with resident males for the territory and females. A reproductive rate of the Bengal Tiger is rather low because of a high mortality among cubs and a long interval between births. Bengal Tiger females give birth every 2-3 years.

Bengal Tiger cubs are born after a gestation period of about 100 days. The duration of pregnancy is very brief in tigers compared to lions and other big cats, because tigers are solitary and there is no one to help a pregnant tigress hunt. There are usually 2-4 cubs in a litter. The largest recorded litter consisted of 7 cubs. Large litters occur in captive tigresses; in the wild, it’s next to impossible to bring up more than 4-5 cubs.

Bengal Tiger cubs are born blind and helpless. They are about 1-1.6 kg at birth. A tigress makes a soft cushion for them in a cave, in a hollow tree, in the bush or in the long grass. Newborn cubs should be well protected from both cold and rain and from predators while the mother hunts. To provide the litter with enough milk, a tigress has to eat more than usually. The cubs are nursed for 3-6 months. They don’t leave the den until they are 2-3 months old. At that time, they start to eat meat.

Mothers teach their cubs everything that is needed for survival. Young cubs practice their stalking and leaping techniques on each other and on small animals. Sometimes, the mother brings them live prey. At 6 months, tiger cubs accompany their mother in hunts. It takes a year to teach the cubs hunt. At the age of 18 months, Bengal Tiger cubs are able to hunt independently, but they normally stay within the mother’s home range until she starts teaching her new litter to hunt.