Orangutans love durians, which is not surprising, but what is really surprising is that
tigers love them too! This magnificent carnivore,
eating fruit? Yes it's true they love the durians.. Our aborigines, the 'orang asli', and others living on the fringes of the jungle will tell you of their experiences of stumbling upon tigers eating durians while they were out gathering jungle fruits. So to avoid confrontation between man and beast they avoid collecting durians very early in the morning (the feasting hours of the tiger) and would only venture near the durian trees after 10 am. As I am only an occasional visitor to the jungle I've never seen tigers eating the durians but have been shown evidence by our guide(s) that tigers had indeed been feeding on durians recently. They point to the split skins and the
neat mounds of the seeds. They say that the tiger is a very neat diner and would always pile up the seeds next to the skins.I asked them how tigers manage to open the thorny durian. It seems that they split open the durian with just one strike of the paw and never get hurt by the thorns!!