Tiger biology and hunting

Hunting
Tigers are solitary hunters. The difficulty in locating prey in tiger habitat makes it more efficient for tigers to hunt alone. A female tiger and her cubs are the exception to this, and will form a family group for 1.5-3 years, until the cubs are able to fend for themselves. Tiger kills are usually hidden and consumed over the course of several days. A wild tiger can eat as much as 18kgs of meat at one time, and several days may pass before they are hungry enough to hunt again. Food is not easy to come by, so tigers often feed on rotten and decomposing remains that are left over from previous kills.

Prey Species
Deer: - Cervus unicolor (Sambar deer), Axis axis (Chital deer), Cervus nippon (Sika deer), Cervus elaphus (Red deer), Axis porcinus (Hog deer), Muntiacus muntjak (Muntjac deer)

Bovids: - Bos gaurus (Gaur)
Pigs : - Sus scrofa (Wild boar)
Others: - Semnopithecus entellus (Hanuman langur), Macaca fascicularis (Long-tailed macaque), Hystrix brachyura (Porcupine)

Biology
Following mating, the gestation period for tigers is approximately 103 days. The average litter size is 2 or 3 cubs (the largest is 6). Tigers are born blind and weigh only about 2 or 3 pounds (1kg), depending on the subspecies. They live on their mother's milk at first, later eating meat as well when the female begins taking them to kills to feed. They begin making their own kills at about 18 months of age. Young tigers leave their mother's range between a year and a half to two and a half years of age, depending on whether the mother has another litter. Females tend to stay closer to the mother's range than males.