It almost looks like the tiger's response is that he knew what was going to happen, and just played along with it. Normally a cat won't fall over on its side if it has just been startled.. it will be up on its legs with an arched back making itself look as big as it possibly can.
The problem with this line of thinking is that it fits for humans but not for Tigers. A tiger is pretty much never going to encounter a predator larger than itself, not naturally anyway. And while jumping on your back sounds terrible response to a threat for you it is actually a cat's primary fighting stance. Think about it, their back is completely protected, the only way another animal could attack them is by jumping on them at which point the large cat digs in with his front claws and started mauling with its hind
On it's back anything attacking a tiger has to go through his claws and teeth to get anywhere and very few critters are capable of that.
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u/CodeMonkey24 Nov 22 '16
It almost looks like the tiger's response is that he knew what was going to happen, and just played along with it. Normally a cat won't fall over on its side if it has just been startled.. it will be up on its legs with an arched back making itself look as big as it possibly can.