Tigers -- hunting, prey and captive feeding.

Feeding before completing the kill:

The tiger is rarely sighted making a kill, and until recent times photographic evidence of a wild tiger commencing to eat still live prey had not been recorded. The incident shown on this page is therefore a very interesting piece of information.

These images were taken on the 7th March 2001, by Shri Vikram Singh Parihar, the Assistant Conservator of Forests at Kanha Tiger Reserve in India.

Taken from elephant back, the photographs show a clearing at Andhiari Jhap, in the Mukki range, where a tiger has hamstringed a gaur.

Once it had fallen the gaur was mostly defenseless unless the tiger had've made the mistake of getting too close to the horns. This would be an unlikely error by the carnivore who is well aware of the dangers.

Some attempt was made by other members of the herd to assist the fallen gaur. They attacked the tiger and made an attempt to help the injured animal into a standing position. Had they succeeded in discouraging the tiger it would normally wait nearby for things like thirst, blood loss, or shock to finish off the gaur, at which point the herd would leave the tiger to dine in peace.

As it was, any attempts at assistance were to no avail and the tiger commenced eating the still live animal from the hind quarters -- effectively out of reach of the horns.

The gaur is very large prey and would be consumed over a period of 4-6 days.

Once the tiger left, other predators would clean up. Jackal, wild boar, and vulture (among others) would all be attracted to the free meal.

The eating of live prey is frequently recorded in the wild dog. A pack hunter, these animals take turns to tire out the prey by surrounding it snapping and biting it. They have been recorded as successfully attacking and killing tigers, despite the vast size difference between the two. Their hunting method uses sheer numbers to bring down much larger animals.

Once the wild dog has bought the target to a rest they start to feast even while the animal is still dying.

Gaur kills by the tiger are an not uncommon find, but none have before been sighted at such an early stage.

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