Many cultures portray the tiger a symbol of strength and courage. We consider it a mammal of the feline family (Felidae) and its scientific name is (Panthera Tigris ). We consider the tiger one of the big cats, which besides the tigers include: lions, The American lion or cougars, the jaguars, and the spotted leopards; Because of its size, strength, and predatory skills.
Information about the tiger animal
Size and external shape
The tiger is the largest wild cat in the world, and it has a reddish-orange coat with dark stripes, and its tail is about 0.9 m long, and it weighs an average of 204 kg, equivalent to the total weight of eight children of ten years of age, and its height is about 0.9 m. Their teeth are about 10 cm long and have claws that are as long as the house keys, and males are usually heavier than females within each subspecies. The Siberian tiger is the largest tiger, and it is also called (Amur), and its length is 3.3 m and weighs 300 kg according to National Geographic, and the smallest tiger is the Sumatran tiger, which grows to a length between 1.5-3.7 m, and its weight ranges between 65-305 kg according to the Zoo Woodland Park.
Habitat
Tigers live in the continent of Asia, and large subspecies are inclined; Like the Siberian tiger to live in the cold northern regions; Such as regions of eastern Russia, and northeastern China, while smaller breeds live in warmer southern countries such as; India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Tiger lives in grassland, savannah, and in the arid forests, and in mangrove forests flooded with water, tropical forests, pine forests, depending on the sub-breeds, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Diet
All tigers are carnivores, and most tiger's diet consists of large prey; Such as pigs, gazelles, rhinos, or young elephants, and upon predation, tigers seize the neck of their prey with their jaws to suffocate them, and although tigers are considered fierce animals in hunting, they sometimes fail. According to Woodland Park Zoo, about 90% of its hunting attempts are unsuccessful.
Social behavior
Tigers live alone, with the exception of mothers and their cubs who live together, as tigers roam separately across large areas, their size is determined by the abundance of food, and tigers do not guard these areas, but they limit their scope through urine and feces during a period of days or weeks; To inform other tigers that this area is reserved.
Reproduction
The tiger’s readiness to mate is announced through the issuance of sounds and smells, and there is no fixed and fixed season for reproduction, although mating often occurs in the winter season, and the cubs are born after a pregnancy period of more than three months, and the female tiger gives birth to three or four cubs at a time. One, and she cares for her until she is a year and a half old, and these cubs will quadruple in size during the first month of life.
Females may give birth to as many as seven cubs at a time, according to the San Diego Zoo, and the weight of the cub at birth is only one kilogram, and usually, only two of them survive; Because the mother is forced to leave her while she is hunting, she also cannot kill enough prey to feed many of her. Usually, most cubs live no more than 2 years. The tiger cubs grow up quickly, and at the age of 8 weeks the cubs are ready to learn how to hunt and go out on hunting trips with their mother, and at the age of two they set out to live alone, and the mother gives birth to a new group of them, and tigers usually live between 14-18 years old, Male cubs also grow more quickly than females and tend to leave their mother ahead of the females.
Subspecies
There are five subspecies or subspecies of tigers at present, and they are:
The Bengal tiger
The South China tiger
The Indochinese tiger
The Sumatran tiger
The Siberian Tiger
There are three types of sub - extinct tigers, namely: tiger Caspian ( in English: Caspian), and tiger Bali (English: Bali), Javan tiger ( in English: Javan ).
General facts about the tiger animal
Among the general facts about the tiger is the following:
Each tiger has a different line on its body, similar to a human fingerprint.
The tail helps tigers maintain balance.
Tigers have an enormous swimming ability, and they can cross rivers and lakes that range from 6-8 km wide, according to Woodland Park Zoo.
Lions and tigers are very similar; If her hair is shaved, for example, no one will be able to distinguish her. Because their physique is very similar, according to Smithsonian National Zoo.
Less than 100 years ago, tigers could be found across the continent of Asia, hunting and loss of habitat put them at risk, and their range today has decreased to about 7% of its previous size.
The tiger can reach a speed of about 65 km / h, although it is large in size and heavy in weight.
The Indian or Bengal tiger, whose scientific name is P. Tigris. It is the most numerous of the tigers, and it represents about half of the tigers in the world.
The tigers that live in the northern regions are larger than those in the southern regions.