Tigers

What are Tigers?

The tiger is the largest member of the cat family. They sport long, thick reddish coats with white bellies and white and black tails. Their heads, bodies, tails and limbs have narrow black, brown or gray stripes. There were once nine subspecies of tigers: Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, South Chinese, Sumatran, Malayan, Caspian, Javan and Bali. Of these, the last three are extinct, one is extinct in the wild, and the rest are endangered.

Where do they live?

Historic tiger range ran from Turkey through South and Southeast Asia to the far eastern shores of the continent. Today, they are only found in South and Southeast Asia, China and the Russian Far East.

Locations where tigers live.

Behavior

Tigers essentially live solitary lives, except during mating season and when females bear young. They are usually fiercely territorial and have and mark their large home ranges. They are mostly more active at night and are ambush predators that rely on the camouflage their stripes provide.

Hunting

Tigers mainly eat deer, wild pigs, water buffalo and antelope. Tigers are also known to hunt sloth bears, dogs, leopards, crocodiles and pythons as well as monkeys and hares. Old and injured tigers have been known to attack humans and domestic cattle. Tigers use their body weight to knock prey to the ground and kills with a bite to the neck.

Facts about tigers

• Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength.
• The tiger is capable of killing animals over twice its size; it is one of nature’s most feared predators.
• Like its ancestor, the Sabre-tooth cat, the tiger relies heavily on its powerful 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.
• Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories (up to 100 sq km in size) to keep their rivals away.
• They are powerful nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals. A Bengal tiger can eat 21kg of meat in a night and can kill the equivalent of 30 buffaloes a year.
• The roar of a Bengal tiger can carry for over 2km at night.
• Although tigers are powerful and 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.
• Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes).
• 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.
• As well as game animals, it preys on wild boar, monkeys, lizards and occasionally porcupines.
• 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.
• 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.
• Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.

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