Two Female Tigers Take Turns Babysitting Their Cubs While the Other Grabs a Bite to Eat

Filmmakers on the BBC Earth series Tiger Island watched in absolute astonishment as two female tigers in Nepal took turns babysitting their cubs while the other grabbed a bite to eat.

For the first time, a team of filmmakers capture an extraordinary behaviour never seen before: two tiger mothers sharing and caring for each other’s cubs. A remarkable discovery that reveals just how much there is still to learn about these iconic big cats.

This scene is particularly rare, as tigers are known to be quite solitary creatures.

No one’s ever seen tigers do this before. I was about to say tigers are solitary big cats. ….Females do not cross paths unless they absolutely have to. They don’t share cubs. They don’t share parenting duties. All of this is unfolding just 50 yards over there. This is not what it says in the textbooks.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.