Tiger attacks are a form of human–wildlife conflict which have killed more humans than attacks by any of the other big cats, with the majority of these attacks occurring in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia.
Reasons for attacking
Like most other predators, tigers tend to attack humans only while hunting or when they feel threatened. If a human comes too close and surprises a sleeping or feeding tiger, or a tigress with her cubs, the tiger is prone to respond with aggression. Tigers have also been known to attack humans in cases of "mistaken identity" (for example, if a human is crouching while collecting firewood, or cutting grass) and sometimes when a tourist gets too close. Some also recommend not riding a bicycle, or running in a region where tigers live, so as not to provoke their instinct to chase. Peter Byrne wrote about an Indian postman who was working on foot for many years without any problems with resident tigers, but was chased by a tiger soon after he started riding a bicycle for his work.Byrne, Peter. (2002) Shikari Sahib. Pilgrims Publishing. pp. 291-92
While in modern times there are on average fewer than 85 people killed and injured by tigers worldwide each year, India has seen sharp increases in absolute numbers of tiger attacks in recent years, as was the case in 2014 and 2015, as a result of human population growth and the expansion of human settlements into the tiger's natural habitat. Many human fatalities and injuries are due to incidents at zoos, or to the man-eating tigers in certain parts of South Asia.
In some cases, tigers will change their natural diet to become man-eaters. This is usually due to a tiger being incapacitated by a gunshot wound or porcupine quills, or some other factors, such as health issues and disabilities. In such cases, the animal's inability to hunt traditional prey forces it to stalk humans, which are dangerous, but generally much easier to chase, overpower, and kill if found alone and/or unarmed. This was the case with the man-eating tigress of Champawat, which was believed to have begun eating villagers at least partially in response to crippling tooth injuries. As tigers in Asia often live in close proximity to humans, tigers have killed more people than any other big cat species. Between 1876 and 1912, tigers killed 33,247 people in British India.Compiled from official British records available at the Digital South Asia Library (University of Chicago and the Center for Research Libraries).1. "Number of persons and cattle killed in British India by wild beasts and snakes", Statistical abstract relating to British India from 1867–68 to 1876–77 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office): pg. 132, 1878, retrieved 30 March 2013. 2. "Number of persons and cattle killed in British India by wild beasts and snakes", Statistical abstract relating to British India from 1876–77 to 1885–86, (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office): pg. 240, 1887, retrieved 30 March 2013. 3. "Number of persons and cattle killed in British India by wild beasts and snakes", Statistical abstract relating to British India from 1885–86 to 1894–95, (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office): pg. 268, 1896, retrieved 30 March 2013. 4. "Number of persons and cattle killed in British India by wild animals and snakes", Statistical abstract relating to British India from 1894–95 to 1903–04, (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office): pg. 238, 1905, retrieved 30 March 2013. 5. "Number of persons and cattle killed in British India by wild animals and snakes", Statistical abstract relating to British India from 1903–04 to 1912–13, (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office): p. 240, 1915, retrieved 30 March 2013.
Man-eating tigers have been a recurrent problem in India, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal. There, even otherwise healthy tigers have been known to hunt humans. However, there have also been mentions of man-eaters in old Indian literature, so it appears that after the British occupied India, built roads into forests and brought the tradition of shikar, man-eaters became a much bigger problem. Although tigers usually avoid elephants, they have been known to jump on an elephant's back to attack the mahout riding it. Kesri Singh mentioned a case when a fatally wounded tiger attacked and killed the hunter who had wounded it while the hunter was on the back of an elephant. Most man-eating tigers are eventually captured, shot or poisoned.Singh, Kesri. (1959) The tiger of Rajasthan. Hale In extreme situations, such as during droughts, tigers have hunted vulnerable or lost elephants (subapex-sized or calves) themselves for food.Tigers kill six elephants in Kerala’s Wayanad as drought triggers fierce water war, hindustantimes.com, 6 June 2017.
According to various sources, cases of man-eating tigers in the Russian Far East were always rare or not recorded at all over long periods.
During war, tigers may acquire a taste for human flesh from the consumption of corpses which have lain unburied, and go on to attack soldiers; this happened during the Vietnam and Second World Wars. Tigers will stalk groups of people bending down while working in a field or cutting grass, but will lose interest as soon as the people stand upright. Consequently, it has been hypothesized that some attacks are a simple case of mistaken identity.
Tigers typically surprise victims from the side or from behind: either approaching upwind or lying in wait downwind. Tigers rarely press an attack if they are seen before their ambush is mounted.
Kenneth Anderson once commented on man-eating tigers,
Tigers are sometimes intimidated from attacking humans, especially if they are unfamiliar with people. Tigers, even established man-eating tigers will seldom enter human settlements, usually sticking to village outskirts. Nevertheless, attacks in human villages do occur.
Most tigers will only attack a human if they cannot physically satisfy their needs otherwise. Tigers are typically wary of humans and usually show no preference for human meat. Although humans are relatively easy prey, they are not a desired source of food. Thus, most man-eating tigers are old, infirm, or have missing teeth, and choose human victims out of desperation. In one case, a post-mortem examination of a killed tigress revealed two broken canine teeth, four missing incisors, and a loose upper molar, handicaps which would make capturing stronger prey extremely difficult. Only upon reaching this stage did she attack a workman.
In some cases, rather than being predatory, tiger attacks on humans seem to be territorial in nature. In at least one case, a tigress with cubs killed eight people entering her territory without consuming them at all.
Tiger attacks in the Sundarbans
The Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans, bordering India and Bangladesh, used to regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year. This was strange given that the tigers were usually in prime condition and had adequate prey available. Approximately 100 tigers live in this region, possibly the largest single population anywhere in the world. By 2023, the official count of the Forest Department dropped to two or three deaths a year while the numbers tallied by unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activist groups, put it at anything between 10 and 25 deaths a year. Other modern estimates are even higher, at over 100 fatalities a year. Many such attacks go unreported to the authorities because victims enter parts of the forest without legal permission. Despite the notoriety associated with this area, humans are only a supplement to the tigers' diet; they do not provide a primary food source. Nevertheless, there are over 3,000 "tiger widows" in the Sundarbans.
Tigers and locations known for attacks
The Champawat Tiger The Champawat Tiger was a man-eating tigress which purportedly killed some 200 adults before being driven out of Nepal. She moved to Champawat district in the state of Uttarakhand in North India, and continued to kill, bringing her total human kills up to 436. She was finally tracked down and killed on 12 May 1907. She was known to enter villages, even during daylight, roaring and causing people to flee in panic to their huts. The tigress was found and killed by Jim Corbett after he followed the trail of blood the tigress left behind after killing her last victim, a 16-year-old girl. Later examination of the tigress showed the upper and lower canine teeth on the right side of her mouth were broken, the upper one in half, the lower one right down to the bone. This permanent injury, Corbett claimed, "had prevented her from killing her natural prey, and had been the cause of her becoming a man-eater."
The Tiger of Segur
The Tiger of Segur was a young man-eating male Bengal tiger who killed five people in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Though originating in the District of Malabar District and Wayanad District below the south-western face of the Blue Mountains, the tiger later shifted his hunting grounds to Gudalur and between the Sigur Plateau and Anaikatty in Coimbatore district. He was killed by Kenneth Anderson on the banks of the Segur River, . Anderson later wrote that the tiger had a disability preventing him from hunting its natural prey.
Tigers of Chowgarh The Tigers of Chowgarh were a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers, consisting of an old tigress and her sub-adult cub, which for over a five-year period killed a reported 64 people in eastern Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand in Northern India over an area spanning . The figures however are uncertain, as the natives of the areas the tigers frequented claimed double that number, and they do not take into account victims who survived direct attacks but died subsequently. Both tigers were killed by Jim Corbett, the cub in April, 1929, and the mother on April 11, 1930 .
Thak man-eater The Thak man-eater was a tigress from Eastern Kumaon division, who killed four human victims, but was the last hunt of the hunter, conservationist and author Jim Corbett. The date was 30th of November 1938, when Corbett called her up and killed her during late twilight, after he lost all other means to track her down. Postmortem revealed that this tigress had two old gunshot wounds, one of which had become septic. This, according to Corbett, forced her to turn from a normal predator hunting natural prey to a man-eater.
Tiger of Mundachipallam The Tiger of Mundachipallam was a male Bengal tiger, which in the 1950s killed seven people in the vicinity of the village of Pennagram, four miles (6 km) from the Hogenakkal Falls in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. Unlike the Segur man-eater, the Mundachipallam tiger had no known infirmities preventing him from hunting his natural prey. His first three victims were killed in unprovoked attacks, while the subsequent victims were devoured. The Mundachipallam tiger was later killed by Kenneth Anderson.
Man-eater of Bhimashankar