Tigers are the largest and most powerful members of the cat family, renowned for their immense strength and solitary hunting style. A healthy adult tiger can weigh up to 660 pounds and measure over 10 feet long, placing it securely at the top of its food chain throughout its Asian range. Because of this formidable status, very few animals pose a routine threat to a full-grown individual. Mortality factors for adult tigers are complex, involving competition, defense, and overwhelmingly, human activity.
Defining the Apex Predator Status
The tiger’s position as an apex predator means it has no established natural enemies that routinely hunt and kill it for food. This status is earned through its physical dominance and specialized hunting technique, which involves ambushing large ungulates like deer, wild boar, and gaur. The tiger’s size and efficiency make the risk of attacking one too high for other predators to consider it a viable food source.
Predators of Tiger Cubs
The only stage of life where a tiger is vulnerable to true predation is during its cub phase, when its small size and lack of defensive capability make it a target. Cub mortality is high, with only about half of wild cubs surviving to independence due to various factors, including predation. The Asiatic wild dog, or dhole, poses a threat, as a large pack can overwhelm a mother tiger and her young if she is away from the den.
Rival male tigers are a major cause of cub death through infanticide, an act of reproductive competition. A new male taking over a territory often kills the offspring of the previous male to bring the female into estrus quickly. The mother’s defense is the only protection for her young, but if she is killed or overpowered, the cubs become prey for opportunistic predators.
Apex Competitors and Conflict
Routine hunting of an adult tiger is rare, but conflicts with other large, powerful animals sometimes result in death. These encounters are acts of competition or defense, not standard predation. In the Russian Far East, Ussuri brown bears occasionally clash with Amur tigers. While the tiger sometimes preys on the bear, the bear can also kill the tiger, particularly when defending a food source.
Saltwater crocodiles pose a lethal threat in the water, where their ambush power gives them an advantage over a crossing tiger. A large pack of dholes can also threaten an old, injured, or compromised adult tiger. These rivals may kill a tiger, but they do not actively seek them out as a primary food source.
The Overwhelming Human Factor
The primary cause of tiger mortality and population decline stems from human activity, not biological predation. Habitat loss and fragmentation, caused by deforestation and development, force tigers into closer contact with human settlements. This encroachment leads to increased human-tiger conflict, often resulting in retaliatory killings when tigers prey on livestock.
Poaching remains a major threat, driven by the illegal trade of tiger body parts for use in traditional medicine and luxury items. Tigers are illegally killed for their skins, bones, and other parts, making humans the most consistent cause of unnatural death for the species.