- Scientific name of the Tiger: PANTHERA TIGRIS. Tigers are the biggest cats in the world, weighing up to 500 pounds and 6 feet in length, not including a 3 foot tail.
- Tigers have been classified into 5 subspecies. These are the Royal Bengal, Siberian, Indo-Chinese, South-china and the Sumatran tiger. The Bali Tiger is now extinct. Loss of habitat was the main cause of this subspecies extinction.
- Tiger cubs don’t open their eyes until they are 15 days old. They depend on their mother’s milk for at least 3 months, before they started moving around with their mother and start eating meat. They are full independent after approximately 2 ½ Years. By then their mother would have taught them all the relevant skills they need to successfully hunt down prey. The tigress literally pushes the cubs out of her territory, which encourages them to fend for themselves.
- Just like the human fingerprint, the stripes on the tiger are unique to that individual. In fact people who thoroughly observe the tiger population of an area can distinguish between them.
- Tigers have enhanced vision as compared to us humans. They see 6 times better!
- A tiger can eat 80 pounds of meat in one sitting. A tiger makes a successful kill once in every twenty attempts. They are ambush predators and must rely on their stealth and not speed. They hunt mainly at dawn and dusk. A tiger must eat at least once every 7 days. Let us assume a tiger kills mainly deer. Therefore a single tiger kills approximately 52 deer in a Year. !!
- Tigers are very territorial animals. The male usually has a large territory that he constantly patrols in search of receptive females (in heat) to mate with. He also makes sure no rival males are in his domain. They use scratching, scent marking and growling to monitor their territories.
- The gestation per for a tiger is anywhere between 105 to a 110 days. The mother chooses a safe place (usually a natural cave) to keep them during the first few vulnerable months.
- The life expectancy of the tiger is between 10 – 15 Years in the wild, and 15 – 20 in captivity.
- There are a total of 50 Tiger Reserves in India. They cover approximately 1.17% of the total geographical area.
- Last but not the least Tigers are on the list of endangered species. Radical conservation steps need to be taken to save this beautiful animal from extinction. At last count 2,967 tigers per 2018 census.
