Research overview: scent marking and chemical communication in tigers

Solitary tigers coordinate spacing and reproduction largely through scent. This overview synthesizes research on how tigers spray scent on trees, scrape the ground, rub cheeks, and deposit feces and urine at conspicuous sites to advertise identity, sex, territory boundaries, and reproductive state. It reviews how these long-lasting signals let widely spaced individuals avoid one another, how males detect females coming into estrus, and how marking intensity varies along trails and territory edges. The synthesis frames chemical communication as the connective tissue of a solitary social system, enabling negotiation over space and timing of mating without frequent encounters. For trackers and photographers it explains the spray marks and scrapes found along forest trails and ridgelines, the silent messages by which tigers manage a society conducted almost entirely at a distance.