Tigers is the national animal of India. Today I will share some facts about these interesting animal.
There are some living sub species of tiger family. These are Siberian Tiger, Bengal/Indian Tiger, South China Tiger, Malayan Tiger, Indo-Chinese Tiger, Sumatran tiger. They are heaviest among all the members in the cat family. A mature male can weight up to 300kgs with a total length of 3.3 meter.
They have a very powerful forelimb and a very large head. The color of the eyes are yellow. Although white tigers are having the blue eyes. A tiger’s night vision is 6 times higher than that of human’s.
Tigers are carnivores. Their favorite meal includes wild pigs, cattle, deer etc. they can eat up to 18 kgs of meat at a time. Attack on human are rare but in case of frequent contacts some attacks have been reported. Unlike a lion, the tiger sometimes treat other predators also as prey.
The canine teeth of a tiger can reach up to 4 inch in length.
They hunt alone. They prefer bushy areas which helps in camouflage. They are ambush predator.
Unlike other members of the cat family tiger is a very good swimmer. During extreme heat in the day they have seen cooling off in the pools. They have seen dragging their prey in water for quite a distance.
A tiger can have over 100 stripes in their coat and like human fingerprints the pattern is unique for every tiger.
They are highly territorial. A male tiger’s territory can be 5 times bigger than the female tiger(tigress). The territory for a male tiger can reach up to an area of 100 square km. They mark their territory by spraying urine and anal secretions. They solve territorial disputes through intimidation rather than outright aggression.
They can reach a speed up to 65 kph and a maximum leap distance of 10 meters.
A tiger can roar both for aggressive or non aggressive reasons.
The mating season is usually between November to April. Baby tigers are called cubs and they are usually born in litters of 2 or 3. The cubs at their birth are blind and helpless and need care. After 6 to 14 days they open their eyes. Male tigers do not participate in rearing of cubs.
Tiger and lions can interbreed. The result is called ligers(breed between male Lion and tigress) and tigons(breed between male tiger and lioness).
In a poll conducted by Animal planet, Tigers have been voted the world’s favorite animal among people.
According IUCN red list the conservation status of Tigers are Endangered to Critically Endangered. Once they are found widely across Asia have lost most of their habitat. They face the threat from loss of habitat, poaching and lack of prey.
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