Why do wild cats, such as Lions and Tigers, sometimes kill their babies?
No animal will intentionally kill its own young, unless they are born with serious problems and would not survive anyway – mother animals are often able to tell if their young are sickly, even when they appear normal to human eyes. Males of many species, not just cats, will kill any young that are not their own. This is both to reduce competition for themselves, and to give their own offspring a better chance. Since most cats are solitary, males may occasionally accidentally kill cubs which they have fathered themselves, though this is unusual. This does not happen in lions, because they are the only truly social cats. As the males live with the females, they know that any cubs born are their own. They are extremely protective of their young – the main role of males in the pride is to defend the territory, protecting the young from invading males. When new males take over a pride, they will kill any young cubs (regardless of their gender). This is because it takes a lioness around 2 ye
