Raising cubs requires milk, and tiger mothers must ensure they can supplement their food supply and produce enough milk to feed their cubs.
The three tiger cubs have passed the period when they are most vulnerable to death. Now, all three cubs are growing very well, are in good health, and have grown their milk teeth. They are clearly not going to die young.
Unless the cubs are too weak to survive, or there is insufficient milk or food, the mother tiger will not abandon them.
This is the tiger mother's first litter of cubs, and naturally she wants to do everything she can to raise them all.
However, as a first-time mother, the tiger mom did not have enough experience in raising children, and the burden of raising three cubs was too heavy.
For this novice tiger mom, every step of raising her cubs is a huge challenge, which makes her hesitant to take any risks.
If she goes hungry today, she will likely be even more hungry and exhausted tomorrow, making it even harder for her to catch prey.
She might not be able to provide enough milk for the cubs, causing them to go hungry or even forcing her to abandon one of them.
This was clearly not the outcome she wanted.
In pristine natural environments, the higher a species is at the top of the food chain, the more difficult it is for them to reproduce, and this is especially true for the Siberian tiger.
It often takes a year and a half or even longer for tiger cubs to grow from birth to being able to hunt on their own, during which time the mother tiger takes care of them alone.
Tigers have a long and vulnerable juvenile period. Before their sharp claws and teeth mature, tiger cubs can only rely on their mothers.
In addition, the reproduction of tigers is also not simple. The gestation period of a female tiger is about 3 months, and she gives birth to 2-4 cubs, usually 2, and the lactation period is 5-6 months.
The mother tiger will live with her cubs for 2-3 years until the cubs reach adulthood.
During this period, the female tiger no longer goes into estrus and mates, so under natural conditions, the female tiger can only reproduce once every 2-3 years.
Wild Siberian tigers typically live for 15-17 years, with a maximum lifespan of 20 years.
Female tigers reach sexual maturity at around 3 years old, so their breeding frequency is very limited.
Given the difficulty of surviving in the wild, the mortality rate of tiger cubs is very high, almost less than half. Therefore, mother tigers care a great deal about their cubs.
Some tigresses even develop depression after losing their cubs and refuse to eat. Many severely traumatized tigresses will be unwilling to reproduce.
Humans often say that "a mother's love is strong," and this is especially true for female tigers. As the queen of the family, the female tiger has to bear more responsibilities than the male tiger.
Therefore, during the period of nursing cubs, the mother tiger will be unusually irritable and suspicious.
Normally cautious, it no longer fears male tigers, which are much larger than itself, in order to protect its cubs. Any animal that dares to approach its territory will be attacked by it in the most terrifying way.
Even the biological father of a tiger cub will usually give way when faced with a mother tiger protecting her cubs, which is one of the reasons why male tigers neglect their families.
The chirping of insects grew louder and louder, and Tiger Mom's brown fur fluttered in the night wind as she resolutely headed towards the next hunting ground.
The muffled sound of the rushing water flowed slowly under the night sky, and the tall trees suddenly appeared lower in the field of vision.
The view was no longer obstructed by thick tree trunks; low, lush shrubs and grasses took root on the muddy riverbank.
The clear river flows quietly, nourishing all living things in its basin and silently witnessing the birth and death of life.
This is a water source within Tiger Mom's territory, where the icy river separates her territory from the deep, dense forest on the other side.
That was the territory of an adult male brown bear.
The tiger mother has never crossed the river into the brown bear's territory to hunt; this is an unspoken understanding among top predators.
The brown bear often displayed a provocative and contemptuous attitude towards the tigress, so she had a very bad impression of her neighbor.
Adult male brown bears have a huge weight and tremendous arm strength, and they are in the prime of their lives.
Female Siberian tigers are slightly inferior to male tigers in weight and strength, and their deterrent effect on brown bears is naturally not as strong as that of male tigers.
This area is not a hunting ground for the tiger mother; coming here now is purely a matter of luck.
Water sources are places where large herbivores forage, and they are also excellent hunting grounds. If you're lucky, you might encounter large herbivores coming to drink and forage.
However, because brown bears live in the forest opposite, the animals that come to drink water will obviously be more wary.
However, by now her annoying neighbor should be back in his lair, making it a good time to avoid being disturbed.
If the timing were a little better, she and the tiger cubs would have food on hand for the next few days.
The tiger mother was very familiar with her territory and the hunting methods in the various hunting grounds. She knew that at this time of year, reindeer mostly lived in small groups of two or three, and some young reindeer would even follow their mothers to the riverbank to forage for food.
If we're lucky enough to catch a delicious deer, today's hunt will be perfect.
But the deer herd appeared irregularly, and Tiger Mom wasn't sure either, so she had to take a gamble.
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