Tiger cubs have to go through rigorous training while they are under their mother’s care. Female tigers care for their cubs for two to a half years. When the cubs are about a year old, they start following their mother while she attempts to hunt. They learn by imitating their mother and practising their stalking and hunting skills on inanimate objects like tree logs and boulders.
Once they are a little older, they try to chase small animals and birds around them. This is also when their mother brings small live prey, like deer fawns and other baby animals, for them to learn to hunt. Once cubs are over one and a half years old, they start venturing out on their own and indulge in attempts to hunt. These are the formative times in the life of a tiger because the hunting skills acquired and sharpened during this phase define their future. When these cubs finally have to part company with their mother, they must fend for themselves.
Jim’s Jungle Retreat naturalist Jeewan Routela came across this young tiger partially independent of its mother’s care. The subadult tiger attempts to kill the deer, but the deer’s watchful eyes and ever-smelling snouts outsmart the tiger. A tiger has to make an average of twenty attempts to secure a successful kill and the survival of the fittest is always the law of nature!