Tigers ~ AMAZING

Photo: Joel Sartore/ link

The largest of the big cats are tigers. They have a huge head and they grow 8 feet (2.5 cm). They also have a tail of 3 feet (90 cm). Tigers not only have striped fur but their skin is striped too. The stripes are like fingerprints. No two tigers have the same. The use of these stripes are to blend against their background in forests. Most tigers avoid humans although some are dangerous maneaters.

Tigers eat mainly at night. They prey on animals such as deers and buffaloes. Many people think that for a tiger, to catch a prey is very easy. However, that is wrong. Tigers make a lot of effort to make a kill. Nine out of ten of their attacks fail.

Tigers live most of their lives alone. The female ones and the males ones meet only to mate. They leave urine samples and scratches on trees to keep other tigers out of their territory.

Two to six tigers are born at a time which are raised with on help from the male. They live with their mother for three years. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old. They live with their mother for two to three years and disperse to find their own territory.

Tigers are an endangered species. Three subspecies of tigers has already become extinct in the 20th century.

Hunters killing them for their skin and farmers destroying their habitats for land has reduced a huge number of them. They are now restricted to special reserves in Asia mainly is India and Sumatra.