How Tigresses Allocate Time Between Hunting and Caring for Offspring 0 86

With the arrival of a child, parents need to adapt their habits, work schedules, and even lifestyles—especially if one parent is absent for some reason. Similar changes occur in wild animals, particularly in those where only the female raises the offspring, such as Amur tigers.

Researchers from the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve and the Nature Conservation Society observed the behavior of tigress Varvara for eight months using GPS collars. Varvara lived in the reserve and gave birth to cubs four months after the collar was fitted. With the arrival of the cubs, Varvara needed, firstly, to feed them, and secondly, to protect them from other predators such as bears, wolves, or lynxes. Additionally, each tiger has its own hunting territory that must be regularly patrolled to remind other predators of its territorial rights.

The article published in the journal Mammal Research reports that tigress Varvara reduced the size of her hunting territory with the arrival of the cubs to spend less time patrolling it. When she did go “to work,” she moved faster, and when returning to the den, she chose the shortest route and also walked faster than usual. In the first two months, while the cubs were very small, Varvara preferred to hunt larger prey to be able to stay with her young for longer. As the cubs grew and began to leave the den, she started taking them with her on hunts.

Thus, in addition to providing new valuable data on tiger life, this study clearly demonstrates how beneficial modern technologies related to navigation and tracking systems have become for zoologists and ecologists.