To beat their vigilance, the tiger stalks behind cover, often approaching against the breeze so that the deer cannot smell it. A tiger kills small prey with a quick bite at the nape of the neck. It tackles larger animals by lunging at the throat and hanging on until the animal suffocates. Once a tiger has eaten its fill, it hides the remains of its meal under foliage, branches, twigs or grass for its next meal. Hooved mammals such as deer, pigs, and buffaloes form the bulk of their diet but sometimes birds are also eaten.
Tigers are excellent swimmers and also feed on fish and sometimes on crocodiles.
When tigers were common in India, they occasionally attacked and killed people. But tigers instinctively avoid humans, and tigers are so rare these days that few people get killed. Only when people harvest crops right next to nature reserves are they in danger. Usually only old or sick tigers attack people, since they are easy prey. Healthy, vigorous tigers probably become maneaters when their natural prey animals are so scarce that they have noother choice.