Tigers
Quick Facts
Type : Mammal
Diet : Carnivore
Life span : 10-15 years
Size : Head and body, 1.5 to 1.8 m; tail, 0.6 to 0.9 m
Weight : 109 to 227 kg
Habitat : from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps.
Range : Bengal Tiger is most numerous in the Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh.
Scientific name : Panthera tigris
Diet : Carnivore
Life span : 10-15 years
Size : Head and body, 1.5 to 1.8 m; tail, 0.6 to 0.9 m
Weight : 109 to 227 kg
Habitat : from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps.
Range : Bengal Tiger is most numerous in the Sundarbans region of India and Bangladesh.
Scientific name : Panthera tigris
Some facts about tigers
1.Tigers are the largest members of the cat family.
2.The tiger is capable of killing animals over twice its size; it is one of nature's most feared predators.
3.Like its ancestor, the sabre-tooth cat, the tiger relies heavily on its teeth for survival.
If it loses its canines (tearing teeth) through injury or old age, it can no longer kill and is likely to starve to death.
4.Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories (up to 100sq km in size) to keep their rivals away.
5.They are nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals.
6.A Bengal tiger can eat 21kg of meat in a night and can kill the equivalent of 30 buffaloes a year.
7.The roar of a Bengal tiger can carry for over 2km at night.
Although tigers are fast over short distances, the Bengal tiger cannot outrun fleet footed prey such as deer. Instead it uses stealth to catch its victims; attacking from the side or the rear.
8.Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes).
9.If the kill is large, the tiger may drag the remains to a thicket and loosely bury it with leaves, then return to it later.
10.As well as game animals, it preys on wild boar, monkeys, lizards and occasionally porcupines.
11.Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.
12.Like domestic cats, all tigers can purr. Unlike their tame relatives, however, which can purr as they breathe both in and out, tigers purr only as they breathe out.
13.Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
14.Although tigers belong in the wild they are still used by travelling circuses in the UK.
15.Tigers have eyes with round pupils, unlike domestic cats, which have slitted pupils. This is because domestic cats are nocturnal whereas tigers are crepuscular - they hunt primarily in the morning and evening.
16.Despite not being strongly adapted to the dark, tigers' night vision is about six times better than humans'.
17.Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue eyes, due to the gene for blue eyes being linked to the gene for white fur. The gene for being cross-eyed, or boss-eyed, is also linked, so many white tigers have crossed blue eyes.
18. When several tigers are present at a kill, the males will often wait for females and cubs to eat first, unlike lions, which do the opposite. Tigers rarely argue or fight over a kill and simply wait turns.
19.The stripes on each tiger are unique.
20.Just like housecats, the markings on a tiger's fur are also found on their skin, so even a shaved tiger would still show its stripes.
2.The tiger is capable of killing animals over twice its size; it is one of nature's most feared predators.
3.Like its ancestor, the sabre-tooth cat, the tiger relies heavily on its teeth for survival.
If it loses its canines (tearing teeth) through injury or old age, it can no longer kill and is likely to starve to death.
4.Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories (up to 100sq km in size) to keep their rivals away.
5.They are nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals.
6.A Bengal tiger can eat 21kg of meat in a night and can kill the equivalent of 30 buffaloes a year.
7.The roar of a Bengal tiger can carry for over 2km at night.
Although tigers are fast over short distances, the Bengal tiger cannot outrun fleet footed prey such as deer. Instead it uses stealth to catch its victims; attacking from the side or the rear.
8.Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes).
9.If the kill is large, the tiger may drag the remains to a thicket and loosely bury it with leaves, then return to it later.
10.As well as game animals, it preys on wild boar, monkeys, lizards and occasionally porcupines.
11.Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.
12.Like domestic cats, all tigers can purr. Unlike their tame relatives, however, which can purr as they breathe both in and out, tigers purr only as they breathe out.
13.Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
14.Although tigers belong in the wild they are still used by travelling circuses in the UK.
15.Tigers have eyes with round pupils, unlike domestic cats, which have slitted pupils. This is because domestic cats are nocturnal whereas tigers are crepuscular - they hunt primarily in the morning and evening.
16.Despite not being strongly adapted to the dark, tigers' night vision is about six times better than humans'.
17.Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue eyes, due to the gene for blue eyes being linked to the gene for white fur. The gene for being cross-eyed, or boss-eyed, is also linked, so many white tigers have crossed blue eyes.
18. When several tigers are present at a kill, the males will often wait for females and cubs to eat first, unlike lions, which do the opposite. Tigers rarely argue or fight over a kill and simply wait turns.
19.The stripes on each tiger are unique.
20.Just like housecats, the markings on a tiger's fur are also found on their skin, so even a shaved tiger would still show its stripes.
Diet
Tigers eat a variety of prey ranging in size from termites to elephant calves.
However, an integral component of their diet are large-bodied prey weighing about
20 kg (45 lb) or larger such as moose, deer species, pigs, cows, horses, buffalos
and goats. Occasionally they may consume tapirs, elephant and rhinoceros calves,
bear species, leopards and Asiatic wild dogs.
Habitat
Tigers will look for three things in abundance when looking for habitat
1.Cover
2.Water
3.Prey
Tigers are extremely territorial though so they will fight other animals and other tigers that invade their space. This problem has become more of an issue due to the natural environment for tigers being destroyed at an alarming rate, as a male tiger may have a territory of up to 60 to 100 square kilometers, while females up to 20 square kilometers, as this numbers change according with the habitat and subspecies. As a result they have to venture into new territories to be able to find adequate amounts of food.
2.Water
3.Prey
Tigers are extremely territorial though so they will fight other animals and other tigers that invade their space. This problem has become more of an issue due to the natural environment for tigers being destroyed at an alarming rate, as a male tiger may have a territory of up to 60 to 100 square kilometers, while females up to 20 square kilometers, as this numbers change according with the habitat and subspecies. As a result they have to venture into new territories to be able to find adequate amounts of food.
