Book Excerpt: Valmik Thapar on tiger sex

Young tigresses first come into oestrus between twenty-eight to thirty-six months. This is when conception can happen. Male tigers can father a litter from the age of forty to fifty months. A tigress who conceives may not come into oestrus again for eighteen to twenty-two months. If conception does not take place or if a litter is lost, she will come into oestrus in one to three months. Tigers are induced ovulators—the female releases her egg only when mating has begun. The male tiger has a bone in the penis that stimulates the tigress, inducing ovulation. The penis has penile spines that induce this process and cause pain to the tigress, who roars and tries to slap the male off her. The sexual world of tigers is invisible to most and it was the same for me. I have been through endless books and journals but so little is described regarding this facet of the tiger’s life. And especially in the wild!

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For the tigress, use of her scent by marking and rubbing trees and bushes is a vital way to attract male tigers to her. The field of odour must be as large as possible and scent is generally sprayed on elevated spots. They are on walking trails and vehicle paths so that they are easily accessible for male tigers. The senses here are vital. The odour detecting capacity of tigers is much higher than that of humans. Tigers can detect the scent of another tiger left on a tree or a bush or a scrape mark on the ground even when it is several days old. They glean large amounts of information from it. The Jacobson’s organ, which I have mentioned earlier, is lined with receptor cells. Two tiny openings in the palate allow the scented air to reach the organ as the tiger inhales, and the nerves carry a message to the olfactory part of the brain, where the scent is analysed and identified. The sniffing behaviour is known as flehmen and the tiger curls back its upper lip, wrinkles its nose, and raises its head. This is vital in its ability to detect the oestrus cycle of the female. Glands that leave scent are around the anus and between the toes; sebaceous glands around the head, chin, lips, cheeks, and facial whiskers are also used to mark objects. Each tiger’s scent is extremely individual. One tiger can decide to follow another based on what it might have detected in the scent. Sniffing the urine or smelling the anus all add to this cocktail of sexual interaction.

Sound is also used to attract male tigers. Sound, as I’ve mentioned earlier, is the tiger’s most developed sense. The external ear flaps are like radar dishes and they pick up sounds from precisely where they originated. Low frequency calls that are not audible to humans can also be picked up. The tiger has the ability to communicate by infrasound and this must be critical during the mating period both for males and females. Tigresses can walk for days across their home range, calling and scent marking in their search for either resident or transient mates. Tigers roar much more during the mating period than at any other time. They forget about their normal lives in their effort to find a partner. The sex life of the tiger is about scent and sound, and both play a role in bringing the male and the female together. Every scent gland and vocal tract is at work, especially when reproductive reasons are triggered.

When a courting couple meet, they are very tactile. It is not just rubbing flanks and nuzzling with the occasional lick but also the touching and rubbing of cheeks. Sensitive whiskers serve a sensory function. They are twice as thick as the hair and rooted more deeply in the skin, in a capsule of blood. When a courting couple brush cheeks the whiskers carry signals to the brain and must play a vital role in arousal and copulation. The tiger’s tongue is rough and rasping. A large number of minute, sharp, backward-pointing projections known as papillae cover their tongues. It is these rough surfaces that provoke sexual behaviour whenever the male and the female lick each other during mating. Oral sexual activity is known between tigers and both males and females lick each other’s genitals and smell each other at the base of the tail. This helps in sexual stimulation.

Excerpted with permission from The Mysterious World of Tigers: A Book of Discovery @2025Aleph