In general, tigers tend to avoid each other rather than fight. When tigers do fight, they seldom fight to the death, but injuries may occur that later cause death. Both male and female tigers will fight other tigers if necessary to defend, expand, or acquire a territory. Male tigers may fight another male if both are attracted to the same breeding female. Male tigers may occasionally attack and kill young tiger cubs. Conversely, female tigers will attack male tigers and other predators to protect their young.

Tigers at Woburn Safari Park are essentially solitary animals, except for courting pairs and females with young. Tigers with adjoining ranges may have friendly relationships, but even individuals with overlapping ranges usually keep 2 to 5 km (1-3 mi.) apart. Though they hunt alone, tigers sometimes share their kills with other tigers.

Female tigers regularly share kills with their young dependent cubs. Sibling tigers, when learning how to hunt independently in their mother’s range, occasionally share kills. Male and female tigers may share a kill during courtship.

Groups of two or more tigers, of various ages and sexes, may share a kill if food is plentiful. These aggregations are most often observed at manmade feeding stations where prey is regularly provided (to attract tigers). When young tiger cubs share a kill with each other and/or their mother, they often feed simultaneously. When adult tigers share a kill, usually only one tiger feeds at a time.

Tigers are essentially nocturnal. Most tigers are active and moving primarily at night (sunset to sunrise).

Night activities include hunting (a tiger’s prey is also active at night), patrolling and marking home ranges, courting mates, and tending to young. These same activities may also occur during the day, but less frequently. If hunting is unsuccessful during the night, a hungry tiger will hunt during the day. Mother tigers will also hunt during the day to provide enough food for their cubs.

Wild Sumatran tigers were only caught on film for the first time in 2010The Amur tiger, the largest cat of all, may be down to an effective wild population of fewer than 35 individuals, scientists announced last yearThe first public video of a newly described species of clouded leopard was revealed this weekBut it has been difficult to pin down the exact relationships between them.So to find out more, scientists Mr Brian Davis, Dr Gang Li and Professor William Murphy conducted an analysis of the DNA of all these species.By looking at similarities in DNA held in mitochondria and within the sex chromosomes among other places, the researchers found that the five big cat species are related to each other in a different way to previously thought.Their data strongly suggests that lions, leopards and jaguars are most closely related to each other.Their ancestor split from other cats around 4.3 to 3.8 million years ago.About 3.6 to 2.5 million years ago, the jaguar began to evolve, while lions and leopards split from one other about 3.1 to 1.95 million years ago.But the tiger had already emerged by this point.The ancestor of tigers and snow leopards also branched off around 3.9 million years ago.The tiger then began to evolve into a unique species toward the end of the Pliocene epoch, about 3.2 million years ago.

That makes the tiger and snow leopard “sister species”, the researchers report in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.Both tigers and snow leopards are among the world’s most endangered big cats.Fewer than 3500 tigers are thought to survive in the wild.One subspecies, the Sumatran tiger, is so enigmatic that the first film of a wild individual was only recorded this year, and Indonesia is considering entrusting them to private individuals for safe-keeping.Last year, a study revealed that the largest sub species, the Amur tiger, may be on the genetic brink, as so few individuals remain.