Tigers are some of the most recognisable and beautiful animals in the world, but unfortunately due to climate change, poaching and habitat loss they are facing a difficult future. You can join conservation projects helping tigers in places like Asia.
About Tigers
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest member of the cat family (Felidae), weighing up to 360 kg (Siberian Tiger). Tigers live in a variety of habitats, in Siberian taiga, open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps. Tigers have rusty-reddish to brown-rusty coats, a whitish medial and ventral area and stripes that vary from brown to pure black.
There are five subspecies of tiger which are still alive today: Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, South Chinese, Sumatran. There are 3 extinct subspecies: Bali, Javan and Caspian. Tigers are an endangered species. Today, an estimated total of around 4,000-5,500 exist in the wild.
Tiger Facts
- Tigers can live to 20 years of age in zoos but only 15 years in the wild.
- Wild tigers do not live in Africa, and are thought to have originated from Southern China.
- A group of tigers is called a Streak.
- The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress.
- Most tigers have over 100 stripes.
- Only four cats are capable of roaring the Lion, Leopard, Jaguar and the Tiger.
- A tiger can spend up to eighteen hours sleeping.
- The tigers most developed sense is its hearing.
- Tigers do not purr.
- Tigers are very good swimmers.
- The tigers claws are retractable.
- The South China tiger has the fewest stripes.
- The ratio of adult tigers in the wild is approximately 1 male to 2 females.
Behavior
Tigers live solitary lives, except during mating season. The main habitat requirements of the tiger are dense vegetative cover, an adequate supply of prey and water. Tigers are fiercely territorial and have and mark large home ranges. Scent marks and scratch marks allow tigers to track other tigers in the area.
Tigers hunt alone, primarily between dusk and dawn. Their night-time vision is very good, six times greater than humans. The principal prey of the tiger consists of various species of deer and wild pigs, young elephants and rhinos, monkeys, birds, reptiles and fish.
Tigers are successful in approximately 5 – 10% of their attacks on prey. They ambush and kill their prey usually with a bite to the neck. Sometimes tigers gather to share a large kill.
Reproduction
The mating season is mostly from around November to April, in tropical climates, and during the winter months in temperate regions.
After a gestation of 100 to 112 days, 2 to 3 cubs are born. The cubs are blind and helpless and have about 1 kg each. A tiger cub can gain 100 grams in weight per day. Unfortunately one cub frequently dies at birth. The tiger cub will make its first kill around 18 months of age and will leave its mother at about 2.5 years.
The time between births is usually 20 – 30 months, and even shorter if cubs are lost soon after birth.