Do Tigers Have Predators?

Quick answer: Yes, tigers have few predators, but they are not completely safe. Adult tigers are apex predators, and humans are their main threat. Cubs may be killed by other predators such as leopards, wolves, and dholes, or by other tigers.

Adult tigers have almost no natural predators. As the biggest cats on Earth and top hunters in their forests, healthy grown tigers are rarely attacked by other animals – but tiger cubs face real dangers, and humans are by far the greatest threat to tigers today.

Why Tigers Are Apex Predators

Tigers are apex predators, which means they sit at the very top of the food chain. With powerful muscles, long canine teeth, sharp claws, and excellent night vision, they can take down prey much larger than themselves.

A big male Siberian tiger can weigh more than 300 kg (660 lb). Very few animals would choose to fight something that size, so most wild animals simply try to avoid tigers.

Animals That Can Be Dangerous to Tigers

Even though nothing regularly hunts adult tigers, a few animals can injure or occasionally kill one, usually while defending themselves or their young. A sick, old, or injured tiger is especially at risk.

• Elephants: Tigers avoid adult elephants, which are big enough to trample or toss a tiger.
• Bears: Brown bears and other bears sometimes fight tigers over food. Tigers win most of these fights, but not all.
• Wild cattle and buffalo: Gaur and large buffalo have heavy horns and can badly wound a tiger that attacks them.
• Crocodiles: Large crocodiles, relatives of the alligator, very rarely clash with tigers at the water’s edge. Tigers have also been known to kill crocodiles.

Asiatic Wild Dogs (Dholes)

Asiatic wild dogs, also called dholes, are clever pack hunters about the size of a medium dog. A single dhole would have no chance against a tiger, but a large pack working together has been known to drive tigers away from kills and, very rarely, to kill one.

These fights are risky for the dogs too, and several dholes may be killed. Most of the time, tigers and dholes compete for the same prey, such as deer, and try to keep out of each other’s way.

Dangers to Tiger Cubs

Cubs are much more vulnerable than adults. They are born blind and helpless, and their mother has to leave them alone while she hunts. During that time, they may be taken by leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, or large snakes.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest dangers to cubs is other tigers. When a new male takes over a territory, he may kill the cubs fathered by the previous male. This allows the mother to mate with him sooner and raise his cubs instead.

Mother tigers raise their cubs alone, with no help from the father. They keep the den hidden and move the cubs to new hiding places to keep them safe. Cubs stay with their mother for around two years, learning to hunt, before heading off to find territories of their own.

Adult tigers are well equipped to defend themselves. Unlike many cats, they are also strong swimmers and enjoy water, often cooling off in rivers and lakes on hot days.

Siberian Tigers

The Siberian tiger, also called the Amur tiger, lives in the cold forests of the Russian Far East and northeastern China, in eastern Asia. Adult Siberian tigers have few natural enemies, though they sometimes fight brown bears. Tigers here actually hunt bears more often than bears harm tigers.

Their real threats come from people: poaching for skins and body parts, logging that destroys their forests, and hunting of the deer and wild boar they need to eat. Thanks to strong protection, their numbers have slowly recovered from a few dozen in the 1940s to several hundred today.

Bengal Tigers

Bengal tigers live mainly in India, with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. The tiger is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and international trade in tiger parts is banned under the CITES agreement.

Like other tigers, Bengal tigers have no regular natural predators. Their main threats are poaching, loss of habitat, and conflict with people when tigers kill livestock such as cattle and goats.

What Tigers Eat

Tigers are carnivores. They mostly hunt large hoofed animals such as deer, antelope, buffalo, gaur, and wild boar. They will also take other animals when they get the chance, including monkeys, sloth bears, leopards, crocodiles, fish, and smaller animals like rabbits and hares.

Tigers hunt mostly alone and usually at night. They stalk quietly, creep close using cover, and then pounce from a short distance. Many hunts fail, so a tiger may go several days between big meals. When it does make a kill, it can eat a huge amount at once – up to about 35-40 kg (75-90 lb) of meat. Tigers often drag the carcass to a hidden spot, cover it with leaves or soil, and return to feed over the next few days.

Humans: The Biggest Threat to Tigers

Tigers are not in danger because of wild dogs, elephants, bears, or buffalo. They are in danger because of people. Tigers are killed illegally for their striped skins and for bones and other body parts used in some traditional medicines. Forests are cut down for farms, roads, and towns, leaving tigers with less space and less prey.

A little over 100 years ago, there may have been around 100,000 wild tigers. Today, only a few thousand remain. Three types of tiger – the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers – died out in the 20th century, and the South China tiger has not been seen in the wild for decades. Find out more about tigers in the wild and other wild cats.

How People Are Helping Tigers

The good news is that people can also save tigers. Protected parks, anti-poaching patrols, and wildlife corridors that link forests are helping tiger numbers rise in countries like India and Nepal. Zoos also run careful breeding programs to keep healthy populations of rare tigers.

But zoos alone can’t save the species. The most important thing is protecting the wild forests where tigers live, and the prey animals they depend on. So, do tigers have predators? Adults almost never do – but their future depends on us.

Related: endangered species