Territorial FightingTwo Tigresses died off territorial fighting in Chandrapur District as per the newspaper news & also television news. This was very sad incidence. Before coming to any conclusion we must know what territory means.

Every wild animal lives in his own area. This is also applicable to tiger. In case of Tiger, an area about 40-45 km. is his territory. Due to decrease in forest area this area is also affected& there is decrease in territory & this is bitter truth. Tiger moves in this area & updates the boundaries regularly. This is his home area. No other tiger is allowed in this area. If at all other tiger enters in this area, there is I fighting & is known as territorial fighting. The fighting is for struggle for existence. Weaker animal has to die or live the place.

In this territory, two to four tigresses are accommodated. Nature plays a very important role in this arrangement.

Presence of tigresses is for fulfilling sexual desire & for increasing the population. This is mutual adjustment.

Tiger use to go to any tigress for sexual purpose. This is one part of behavior of a tiger in the territory.

How a tiger attacks on tigress which are living in his territory &how we call this as a territorial fighting. This is some abnormal behavior of a tiger, if it is true that two tigresses died off territorial fighting. This needs through investigation. In such type of uncommon cases importance is to be given on following points.

Presence of pugmarks of a tiger. Fighting signs with evidences. Through examination of area & also carcass of tigress.

Observe all the wounds & note down the dimension of the wounds. See the distance of bite of two canine’s teeth. Note down the length & also deepness of wound.

Most important point is to examine the genital passage of tigress for intercourse/ mating. Insert a sterile swab in genital passage & put it on slide, see under microscope for presence of dead sperms if any. If dead sperms are seen then there was mating.

Collect the blood in the area for DNA examination. Also collect the hairs of dead tigress & present on the ground

& also on the branches of tree & surrounding area. Examine them whether they are of same animal or other too.

These are some of the points helpful in investigating territorial

fighting.

In territorial fighting, both the tiger roars,

producing very loud sound/noise to show his strength to opponent.

In case of fighting with tigress, the fight is for sex,

Not for territory. Prior to fighting, tiger give mating call to females in the territory & waits for response.

Then tiger use to entertain the tigress. If tigress is not responding, then only tiger becomes aggressive & attacks on tigress for sexual desire. During the fighting both animals produces a very high pitch

sound which can be heard from a very long distance.[5-8km] There are very deep wounds on body.

To confirm territory fighting, inquiry in the surrounding villages & villagers must be done for confirmation of roaring sounds.

The information on above point helps us to come to some conclusion on territorial fighting\ fight for sex

Dr. A.D.Kholkute

BVSc&AH

Mobile 09822718291

Email adkholkute@yahoo.co.in