Prey are killed by a bite to the neck or by a strangulating throat hold. If the tiger's prey is too big to eat at once, it will be covered with dirt, leaves and grasses until the next meal. More than 80 pounds of meat may be eaten at one sitting. Hunting can be very difficult, however, and tigers are only successful in one or two attacks out of every twenty. Mating can occur at any time, but usually happens between November and April.
Gestation lasts about three and a half months.
Two or three cubs are normally born, and sometimes more, inside a den made from thick vegetation, a cave, or a rocky crevice. They nurse for three to six months, although they may begin eating meat as early as two month old and can hunt by about one year of age. Cubs will stay with their mother for about two years. Male tigers have a large territory, the size of which varies depending on how much vegetation, water, and prey are available. In Russia, territories may be as large as 385 square miles, while a male tiger in the Indian subcontinent may occupy 40 square miles or less.