Large Prey

• In the wild, the tiger's main prey consists of large animals such as wild boar and deer species like the red deer, axis deer and sambar. The tiger needs its habitat to contain a good number of these creatures for it to flourish. When the two species share habitat, tigers will stalk and kill a very large type of wild cattle called a gaur, says the Smithsonian National Zoological Park's website. The tiger has the cunning and strength to kill small rhinoceroses and elephant calves. Domestic creatures such as cows, goats and sheep are also on the menu when there is a lack of wild prey.
  
  

Smaller Game

• While a tiger would prefer to kill larger animals, giving it a much greater reward in terms of potential food for its efforts, the cat will kill and eat smaller species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) website says tigers will capture and feed on birds, rodents, reptiles such as snakes and lizards, primates like monkeys, and even porcupines. Tigers are adept swimmers and enjoy the water, with the added benefit being any fish they can manage to grab and eat.
  
  

Size

• Based on studies, biologists estimate that the typical adult tiger needs to kill as many as 50 bigger animals ever year. The tiger will devour between 33 and 40 pounds of meat on average immediately after a kill. At such a rate, the tiger needs to have a fruitful hunt about once a week. The rate of success for a tiger in stalking and bringing down a large animal is about one in every 10 to 20 tries.
  
  

Hunting

• Tigers are solitary hunters and usually hunt during the hours from dusk to sun up. The cat will search for prey and sometimes travel as far as 20 miles in a single evening. Once a tiger detects a potential target, it sneaks up on it and makes a quick charge. After bringing down an animal, the tiger, like all big cats, will clamp its jaws around the neck of its prey and kill it by suffocation.
  
  

Man Eaters

• The IUCN website says tigers will kill humans in many parts of their territory when the need and opportunity arises. The website says as many as 41 people were killed by tigers in one 18-month stretch in Bangladesh's mangrove forest regions, for example. One female tiger in the Kumaon region of India, nicknamed the Chanpawat Tiger, killed as many as 438 people before British hunter Jim Corbett tracked and killed it in 1907.