Watch This Hungry Tiger Turn Into a Mid-Air Ninja and Snag Food From a Tree

Although tigers usually hunt by stalking their prey, when a free meal is placed on a tree for them to retrieve, they get creative. In this video, you watch as a tiger spots a meal and considers the best way to snatch it. After some contemplation, it displays its awe-inspiring agility (despite its large size!).

Are Tigers Good Climbers?

Tigers can climb if needed, but they usually cease this behavior when they grow into adulthood. As cubs, they’re playful and explorative, climbing up trees with their sharp claws keeping them steady. Since they’re apex predators, they don’t need to run up trees to save themselves.

Most of the time, it’s other animals seeking refuge in trees trying to get away from predators. Tigers can certainly climb up trees when needed — they are agile and strong. However, they grow so large as adults that it gets cumbersome trying to get up high into a tree.

Other big cats can also climb trees, but leopards would win if it were a tree-climbing competition. These cats spend a lot of time on trees naturally unlike tigers that don’t typically hang out in trees. Although leopards may curl up for a nap on top of a tree, a tiger does not consider a tree a place to rest.

What Type of Hunters Are Tigers?

Tigers hunt by ambushing their prey. They’re sneaky and stalk their prey, remaining mostly unseen. They use their acute sense of smell to determine the best place to hunt and slowly approach their prey until they reach a close enough distance to strike.

Just before they move forward, they keep completely still. Then, they strike and make their kill. In the video below, a large tiger walks around in a lush, green environment. Unlike it would in a natural environment, it does not need to stalk its prey to have a meal.

Humans have secured a piece of meat to a branch off a tree. They’ve placed it up high enough, so the tiger has to climb to reach it. The tiger slowly walks just under the piece of dangling meat then walks around to the other side of the tree, where it begins to climb.

It seems to change its mind about climbing and returns to reassess the height of the meat. It realizes climbing from the trunk is not necessary and it jumps up, grabs a hold of the branch with its two front paws, and uses its back two paws to secure itself against the tree’s trunk. It successfully grabs the raw meat and jumps off, which is a scene you get to enjoy in slow motion.

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