Tigers -- hunting, prey and captive feeding.

Tiger hunting techniques:

The tiger is a 'concealment and ambush hunter', carefully stalking prey, circling in as closely as possible, and then suddenly charging the target from behind.

When hunting, this cat circles around to approach downwind from its quarry and may take twenty minutes to creep over ground which would be covered in under one minute at a normal walk.

At a distance of approximately 50 feet the tiger will sometimes pause, seemingly hopeful that its target may inadvertently move closer and so lessen that critical attack distance. The cat will raise and lower its head, judging the distance and angle, before finally raising its body and charging.

A tiger will not normally charge at prey until it has made some abrupt movement, but will endeavour to get in closer, so increasing the chances of a successful kill. Nor do charging tigers roar, or make any sound during an attack. For the prey, death comes silently.

Tigers also lie on the tracks to waterholes. Then they wait until a victim comes close and spring up, utilising the element of surprise. This ambush method of hunting uses less energy and has a greater chance of success.

Gigantic leaps:

These big cats can move extremely fast over short areas, having a top speed of around 35 miles per hour.

With a single leap a tiger can cover an impressive distance. There have been instances recorded of these cats leaping widths of as much as twenty feet, with one tiger seen to leap thirty feet.

Vertically, it is not uncommon for a tiger to leap six feet to scale an obstacle. However, the graphic descriptions which are often given of tigers making gigantic leaps onto their prey are incorrect.

During the final attack phase the cat will usually keep its hind paws on the ground and simply rear up to reach the neck area of the prey animal, it will not launch itself into the air.

An exception to this rule comes if the cat miscalculates the required distance. He may then become briefly airborne, touch down and spring once more towards his target.

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