, one prey at a time is not enough
to provide for the whole family--if they all live together. So it is
better for the family that the father should go away and catch his own
food, while the mother catches food for herself and the cubs.

But before going to earn his living elsewhere, the tiger takes his
family to the _easiest_ hunting ground there is near their jungle,
where there is at least some kind of prey to catch. Then the tiger
himself goes to a more difficult hunting ground. So even in that a tiger
is kind to his family, and he does the best he can for them.

At first he returns to the family every few days; I suppose he does that
to see how they are getting along in his absence. By that time the cubs
have learned most of their lessons, and the mother tigress continues the
lessons during the tiger's absence.

But after the cubs are ten months old, they have learned all their
lessons; they only need to _practice_ what they have learned. As they
can do that with their mother, they do not need their father any more.
So the tiger then goes on his travels to distant parts.

As the cubs practice with their mother the different ways of catching
and killing the prey, she must provide them with many chances of doing
so. It is then that she helps the cubs to kill more animals than they
can eat. That is why people give the tiger a bad name and call him a
"bloodthirsty" animal. It is not he at all, but the tigress mother. And
she helps to kill a large number of animals only at this time--when she
must provide her cubs with the chance of practicing their lessons.

The tiger cubs do not need even their mother when they are two years
old. By that time they are quite able to get their own living by
catching every kind of prey. But still they usually stay on with their
mother for about six months more. Then they leave their mother, and roam
the jungle alone, each cub separately.

But each cub still continues to grow in _size_ till the age of four
years. A male tiger may even grow in _strength_ till he is six years
old.

But you may want to know if a tiger family ever meet again after they
have all separated. That may sometimes happen. It may be in the dry
season, when nearly all the water in the jungle is dried up. Then by
some wonderful instinct _all_ the animals in the different parts of that
dry region know that there may be one place where there is water. So a
general migration begins toward that place; that is, _all_