Melanistic or black tigers have tawny, yellow or white stripes on a black ground color. In October 1992, the skin of a melanistic tiger was recovered from smugglers at Tis Hazari. The skin measured eight and a half feetand was displayed at the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi in February of 1993 (Kumar, 1993). The existence of black tigers without stripes has been reported, but has never been substantiated by specimens or photographs. Eating: Over much of the tiger’s broad geographic range, wild pig, wild cattle and several species of deer are its major prey. All prey are forest or grassland ungulates that range in size from 65 to 2,000 pounds (30-900 kg). Typically, wild tigers gorge themselves on fresh kills, and can eat as much as 40 pounds (18 kg) of meat at one time. The tiger will not eat again for several days. Hunting: Black Tigers are ambush hunters, stalking their prey, approaching as closely as possible, and then charging the animal from behind. They usually bite the neck or throat of their prey. The neck-bite, which severs the spinal cord, is typically used on small or medium sized prey, while the throat bite, which causes suffocation, is used on larger animals. Following mating, the gestation period for tigers is approximately 103 days. The male tiger does not stay with the female after mating, and does
not participate in raising the cubs. The average litter size of tigers is two or three cubs (the largest is five). One usually dies at birth. Tiger cubs are born blind and weigh only about two to three pounds (1 kg), depending on the subspecies. They live on their mother’s milk for six to eight weeks before the female begin making their own kills at about 18 months of age. Young tigers leave their mother’s range at anywhere from a year and a half to three years of age, depending on whether the mother has another litter. Females tend to stay closer to the mother’s range than males. Social Behavior: Adult tigers are solitary animals that establish their territories in areas with enough prey, cover and water to support them. The difficulty of locating prey in tiger habitat makes it more efficient for tigers to hunt alone. As a result, they do not tend to form social groups like lions. The territory of a tiger usually ranges in size from about 10 to 30 square miles (26-78 sq. km), although the territory of a Siberian tiger may be as large as 120 square miles (310 sq. km). The size of a tiger’s territory depends on the amount of prey available. Tiger territories are not exclusive. Several tigers may follow the same trails at different times, and a male’s territory usually overlaps those of several females. Source: Animal Discovery
