Low Survival Rate For Tiger Cubs

Among the world's most iconic animals, the tiger is by far one of the most famous and is an animal that is loved and adored by people of all ages from around the world. However, these elusive creatures are now very rare with all species either considered to be endangered or critically endangered.

India is one of the most important countries for the world's remaining tigers and is home to numerous sanctuaries and protected areas of their natural forest habitats to try and allow the populations to recover from such a drop in numbers, particularly over the past 100 years. However, deforestation of the dense jungle that tigers rely on so heavily for their protection is being lost at an alarming rate.

Along with continued loss of their natural habitats, poaching of them for their body parts and conflict with local people, one of the main reasons for their continued demise remains the low survival rate of any cubs that are born in the wild as few actually make it into adulthood to an age they are able to reproduce themselves.

A breeding female can give birth to litters of three cubs at a time, however the sad truth remains that there is only a 50% chance that each individual will make it past the first year due to starvation, predation from wild animals and being killed by adult males in the area that feel threatened by the presence of cubs.

When they are first born, tiger cubs have closed eyes and ears and weighing an average of just 900g at birth means that they rely heavily on their mother in the early stages. Even until they are 18 months old, cubs need their mothers to hunt for them and only then begin to successfully develop the skills they need to hunt for themselves in the hot jungle.

To find out more about more about tigers and their young please visit the Tiger page.