Tigers are generally solitary, maintaining exclusive territories, or home ranges, and only interacting for mating.
Tigers are generally solitary, with adults maintaining exclusive territories, or home ranges. They do not maintain strict territories, but their home ranges are often maintained unless threatened by other tigers. They follow specific trails within their ranges.
Adult female home ranges seldom overlap, whereas male ranges typically overlap from 1–3 females, a common felid pattern of social organization. Males are intolerant of other males within their territory. Because of their aggressive nature, territorial disputes are violent and often end in the death of one of the males. To identify his territory, the male marks trees by spraying urine and anal gland secretions on trees as well as by marking trails with scat.
Tiger home ranges are small where prey is abundant. Female home ranges in Chitwan averaged 20 km², while in the Russian Far East they are much larger at about 400 km². Similarly, reported tiger densities range from a maximum of 17-19 Tigers per 100 km² where prey are abundant, such as India’s Kaziranga and Corbett National Parks, to as low as 0.13–0.45 per 100 km² where prey is more thinly distributed, as in Russia’s Sikhote Alin Mountains.
• Image | © Mathias Appel, Public Domain, (CC0 1.0)
• Sources | (Goodrich et al. 2010, 2015; Jhala, Qureshi, & Gopal, 2015; Larson, 2006; Soutyrina, Riley, Goodrich, Seryodkin, & Miquelle, 2012; Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002; World Animal Foundation, Tiger, Tiger Fact Sheet)
