Tropes

Livescience_2014 00448.txt

#Tigers: Facts & Information Tigers are the largest felines in the world. Many cultures consider the tiger to be a symbol of strength and courage. However because hunting them is also a sign of bravery in some cultures tigers are endangered; no more than 3200 tigers are left in the wild. Tigers have distinctive stripes which help camouflage them when hunting prey. Some tigers have orange fur with black stripes; others are black with tan stripes white with tan stripes or all white (albino) according to the San diego Zoo. No two tigers have the same markings on their coats. They are as individual as fingerprints are for humans. On average tigers are 4. 8 to 9. 5 feet (1. 5 to 2. 9 m) long and weigh 165 to 716 lbs. 75 to 325 kilograms. The largest tigers the Siberian also called Amur are 10.75 feet (3. 3 meters) long and weigh 660 lbs. 300 kg) according to National geographic. The smallest tiger is the Sumatran tiger. They grow to 5 to 12 feet (1. 5 to 3. 7 m) and weigh 143-670 lbs. 65-305 kg) according to the Woodland Park Zoo. Tigers also have very long tails which can add 2. 3 to 3. 6 feet (0. 7 to 1. 1 m) to their overall length. Tigers live in Asia. Larger subspecies such as the Siberian tiger tend to live in northern colder areas such as eastern Russia and northeastern China. Smaller subspecies live in southern warmer countries such as India Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan Myanmar Laos Cambodia Vietnam Malaysia and Indonesia. They live in arid forests flooded mangrove forests tropical forests and taiga depending on the subspecies according to the San diego Zoo. All tigers are carnivores. Most of a tiger's diet consists of large prey such as pigs deer rhinos or elephant calves. To kill their prey tigers will clamp down on the animal's neck with their jaws and suffocate the animal. Though tigers are fierce hunters they are no strangers to failure. Ninety percent of the time they don't catch their prey according to the Woodland Park Zoo. Tigers are solitary creatures; they like to spend most of their time alone roaming their massive territories looking for food. According to the San diego Zoo the Siberian tiger has the largest range. Its territory can be more than 4000 square miles (10000 square kilometers. Tigers mark their territory by scratching marks into trees with their claws. Tiger babies or cubs are born helpless. At birth a cub weighs 2. 2 pounds (1 kg) and a female may have as many as seven cubs at a time according to the San diego Zoo. Usually only two survive though because the mother must leave the cubs while she hunts and she cannot kill enough prey to feed so many cubs. Tiger cubs mature quickly. At 8 weeks old they are ready to learn how to hunt and go out on hunting expeditions with their mother. At 2 years old the cubs will set out on their own and their mother will have another set of cubs. Tigers typically live 14 to 18 years. Nine subspecies of tiger are recognized; however three of them are extinct according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS. The taxonomy of tigers according to ITIS is: Kingdom: Animaliasubkingdom: Bilateria Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordatainfraphylum: Gnathostomata Superclass: Tetrapoda Class: Mammalia Subclass: Theriainfraclass: Eutheriaorder: Carnivorasuborder: Feliformiafamily: Felidaesubfamily: Pantherinaegenus & species: Panthera tigrissubspecies: The Javan tiger was last recorded in the 1970s the Caspian tiger was lost in the 1950s and the Bali tiger became extinct in the 1930s according to Panthera a wild cat conservation organization. Gallery: Iconic Cats: All 9 Subspecies of Tigers There are more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild. According to the WWF there are about 5000 captive tigers in the United states alone but there are fewer than 3200 tigers in the wild. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Species categorizes all remaining tiger species as endangered. Most live on wildlife refuges to protect them from poachers. Tigers are fantastic swimmers. They can forge rivers and lakes that are 3. 7 to 5 miles (6 to 8 km) wide according to Woodland Park Zoo. Lions and tigers are related closely. If you shaved them you wouldn't be able to tell them apart because their body structure is so similar according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. Their teeth can be very long as well. Some tigers have teeth as long as 3 inches (7 cm) h

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