In the wild, much of a tiger’s early life happens out of sight. For the first weeks after birth, cubs are kept hidden in carefully chosen natal dens, their existence often only deduced by a change in behaviour from their mother.
This footage and photography show the tigress Sultana in Ranthambore National Park, India, carrying her two cubs, both under eight weeks old, to a new den site in a cliffside. At this age they are completely dependent on her, unable to follow her easily or defend themselves. A relocation like this is very rare and a calculated response to risk.
Tigers are highly territorial apex predators, and that system has consequences. Males will kill unrelated cubs in a territory takeover in order to bring females back into oestrus to sire their own offspring.
Infanticide (the intentional killing of an immature animal) is one of the primary pressures shaping early tiger behaviour. Females therefore choose den sites with great care, places that are difficult to access, hidden, and have a good view of any approaching dangers, while still being close enough to prey that she can hunt and return quickly.
If a new male comes on the scene, if another predator like a leopard passes through, or if human disturbance increases, she will move her cubs.
In the video, Sultana can be seen carrying each cub by the scruff just like all cats on Earth, one at a time, placing them into a new refuge among the rock. The movement is done as quickly as possible, but represents a critical moment in the survival of her lineage. As mortality in the first few months is so high, these small decisions can be the difference between life and death.
India now holds the majority of the world’s wild tigers, following decades of focused conservation efforts, habitat protection and monitoring.
In landscapes like Ranthambore, tiger densities have recovered to levels not seen for generations. That success, however, brings new pressures: overlapping territories, increased competition and the constant negotiation of space between dominant individuals. Behaviour such as this den relocation is part of that living system.
Early maternal behaviour is still one of the least understood and documented aspects of their ecology. Much of what we understand comes from camera traps and long-term demographic data. To witness a free-ranging tigress relocating cubs this young, in clear view, offers an exciting and rare insight into how survival is managed in the first weeks of life.
Image and video credit: Dan O’Neill
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