Much ink has been spent on the subject whether a tiger or panther sucks the blood of its prey or not. Most of the naturalists of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century were of the opinion that they do. But it is now an established fact that these carnivores are not equipped with any such mechanism with which they can suck the blood when they kill their prey. The solid, tapered canines are so tightly fixed on the throat or nape of the prey that there is no escape for blood to be spilled out or to be sucked.
A lot has been written to establish that the blood is not sucked, but I have not come across any explanation as to why this false notion came into existence.
Tehsin, R. H. (1979) Origin of False Notion. Cheetal 21(1): 26
This article was originally published in Cheetal (Journal of Wildlife Preservation Society of India) and has been shared with UT by Dr Raza H Tehsin
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