Study
The social organization of tigers (Panthera tigris) in Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal
Sunquist, M. E.
Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 1981
Tigers in Chitwan were immobilised, fitted with radio collars and relocated repeatedly over several years, producing continuous records of where individuals were, whose range overlapped whose, and what happened when ranges changed hands.
- Studied in
- Panthera tigris
- Sample size
- radio-collared tigers followed over several years
Tigers hold individual ranges rather than moving at random, and the ranges are structured: a resident female occupies an exclusive area, a resident male’s much larger range overlaps those of several females, and neighbours avoid each other in time rather than by never sharing ground. Females often settle adjacent to their mothers, sometimes taking over part of the maternal range.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Tiger society is a land-tenure system maintained by spatial and temporal avoidance, not an absence of social organisation.
How NatureHQ reads it
This is the study that makes "tigers are solitary" a bad summary rather than a false one. Tigers do travel alone, but they live inside a structure of known neighbours, inherited ground and mother-daughter succession, and they maintain it continuously by leaving messages for each other. Solitary describes the travelling arrangements. It does not describe the social biology.
- One population in unusually productive floodplain habitat; densities and range sizes elsewhere are very different.
- Radio-tracking gives locations, not behaviour — encounters are inferred from proximity.
- Small number of collared individuals, as with all large-carnivore telemetry.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Government science agenciesPublished by a national science or fisheries agency.
doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.336
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-11.