Describe the difference between the live of the zoo tiger and the tiger of the forest ? 50 word answer
Answers
Put very simply: jungle tigers are totally wild animals. Their survival instinct is fully functional, and they know how to stalk, ambush and hunt their prey. They are mean killing machines and can take down animals as large as a gaur (Indian bison) single handedly if they choose to. They are highly territorial and will not tolerate the presence of any other tiger (or for that matter any bit cat) in their territory and will often fight to the bitter end. They use their camouflage to the maximum extent to ambush their prey. And despite stories of tigers attacking and eating humans etc., most wild tigers fear man. Tigers attacking humans especially in the Sunderbans is largely due to desperation to find food due to habitat loss, or due to a territorial dispute- the human has strayed into it’s territory. Tigers can also attack if the human startles it by coming upon it suddenly- then the survival instinct kicks in. Nothing comes easy for the wild tiger- he has to hunt his own food, and if he does take down a large prey animal like the gaur (Indian bison), will gorge himself over a couple of days and will not eat for a few days after that. He has to learn to keep scavengers at bay as several animals will try to take his prey away from him, or at least grab a chunk of it. Come mating season, the wild tiger has to find it’s own mate, ward of competitors and try to mate successfully to propagate his species. And finally, wild tigers are often persecuted by greedy hunters- poachers mostly- who seek their body parts for decoration or for medicinal use. (like tiger penis in China), And tigers in the wild are always yellow with black stripes- the white tiger you see in zoos is usually captive bred or a genetic mutation and cannot survive in the wild- the lack of camouflage being one of the biggest reasons.
Zoo tigers are generally captive bred animals, either inside the zoo itself or purchased from another zoo or wildlife facility. And instead of repeating all that I have said in reverse, suffice to say captive zoo tigers do not exhibit natural behaviour at all. They do not fear man, in fact associate humans with food, and being consigned to a small enclosure and getting fed at fixed times daily, become lazy and dependent on the human for food. They cannot hunt their own food in the wild. Most of their instincts are blurred- how to hunt, how to heed mating calls and to find a mate- in fact captive tigers have to be forced to mate- that is, made to accept a partner (tigers are extremely territorial- yes, that one aspect the captive tiger may still have some traces of, though not as virulent as the wild ones), and then the zoo officials hope for the best. Zoo or captive tigers may be healthy and still strong, as most zoos take good care of their diet and give them health or preventive injections etc. (which they do not get in the wild).