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Tigers are large cats. Siberian tiger is the biggest of all subspecies. It has 11 feet in length and can weigh up to 660 pounds. Tiger's long tail provides balance and it can be used for communication.
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Tigers are best known for their stripes. They have more than 100 uniquely positioned stripes that are used for the identification of tigers (just like our fingerprints). Stripes provide camouflage.
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White tigers are special kind of tigers that appears rarely in the nature. These tigers have white fur with stripes and blue eyes.
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Tigers are solitary animals. They meet only during mating season. In rare cases when tigers form a group, it is called a "streak" of tigers.
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They are territorial animals, which mean that they demand certain piece of the wild just for themselves. Depending on the tiger species that area usually ranges from 10-30 square miles, but in some cases it can be much larger - up to 120 square miles.
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Tiger will mark his territory with a mixture of the urine and liquid from a gland that has intensive smell. That way, other tiger will know that territory is occupied.
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Tigers have large paws and sharp, retractable claws (they can hide their claws). They use them for killing of the prey and for fight with other tigers. Print of tiger paw is called pug mark.
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Tigers usually eat large mammals like wild boars and deer. Besides them, they can attack and kill a python, crocodile and even a bear.
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Tigers are ambush predators - they will catch their prey using the element of surprise.
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Tigers are excellent swimmers. They can swim 4 miles with a prey in their mouth.
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Female tiger is called tigress. At age of 3 and half years, tigress is ready to become a mother for the first time. She usually has 3-4 cubs. Although she is very protective mother, half of her cubs will be killed by predators and male tigers or die because of the lack of food.
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Low number of cubs that survive will leave their mother at age of 2 and start a solitary life.
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Tigers have excellent sight of vision. They see 6 times better than humans at night. They hear well and produce roars which are especially loud and characteristic during mating season. They can be heard one mile away.
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Tigers are very fast animals. They can run 35-40 miles per hour. They are good jumpers also; they can leap a distance of up to 10 meters.
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Tiger can survive 10-15 years in the wild and around 20 in captivity.
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Tigers are the biggest cats in the world. They can survive in wide range of climates of Asia and Russia: from tropical rainforest, and savannas to the Siberian forests. There are 5 subspecies of tiger. All of them are critically endangered: just 7400 tigers are left in the wild! Their number decreased greatly due to poaching (they are hunted for fur) and loss of habitat. Some people keep tigers as pets. In the USA, number of tigers that are kept as pets is larger than the number of tigers in the wild.