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Largest amongst all existing cats, tiger compares in size to the
biggest feline fossils ever found. Named 'Panthera Tigris', tigers are
characterized by their orange coat and black stripes, the pattern of
which uniquely identifies each individual tiger. With a whitish belly,
tiger's coat is designed to disperse their outline, aiding them in
camouflage as they stalk their prey. Tigers generally weigh in a wide
range - from two hundred and fifty to eight hundred pounds - depending
on the individual subspecies and gender of the animal. Female Sumatran
Tigers may weigh around two hundred seventy pounds, whereas adult male
Siberian Tigers can be as heavy as eight hundred pounds. In fact the
largest ever recorded Siberian Tiger in captivity weighed over one
thousand pounds! The average length is between 2.5 to 3.5 meters, again
subject to variation amongst sub-species.
The reason behind these
size variations is evolutionary adaptation of the tiger to varying
environments in different regions of the world. The large Amur tiger
prowls over huge territories in Siberia, tackling massive prey animals
and having to cope with bitter cold - thus evolving into the biggest
tiger species with a thick fur. The Bengal Tiger comes next with its
notoriety for great ferocity and occasional man-eating in the mangroves
of Sundarban (more on that later!). In fact big male bengal tigers,
particularly those in northern India and Nepal, weigh close to the
Siberian Tiger. Following are the Indochinese Tiger, Malayan Tiger,
South China Tiger and Sumatran Tiger. The other three sub-species - the
Caspian Tiger, Balinese Tiger and Javan Tiger have all gone extinct in
the past century.
Apex predators, tigers are solitary hunters
designed to take down huge prey animals. They are excellent stalkers
and display great cunning in patiently pursuing and ambushing their
prey. Despite their great size, they can reach speeds up to 60km/hr and
leap up to 10 metres. The primary mode of attack is a sudden charge and
leap to unbalance the animal. Next they use their muscular forearms to
hold down the hunted whilst they severe their spine (or suffocate by
crushing the windpipe in case of big animals like gaur and water
buffalo) using their long canines and strong jaws. Even still only a
fraction of the hunts are a success for the tiger. Therefore it eats a
lot during one sitting once it makes a kill (usually every four or five
days). Next it hides the carcass and usually returns to it over the
next couple of days to devour the scraps. Usual prey is deer, buffalo,
gaur. However a hungry tiger will go for anything from young elephants,
rhinos, crocodiles, leopards, bears and even humans. Whereas conflicts
between tigers and elephants are rare, tigers have been known to charge
and maul Indian bull elephants. A tiger can climb to the back of the
elephant in a single leap and viciously attack the tourists atop - as
is often chronicled by historians of the British India.
Tigers
are territorial animals and mark their domain in the forest by leaving
scat and urine trails. Males are very defensive of their region and
this frequently leads to conflict between individual tigers, leading to
severe injury and even death. A male's territory frequently overlaps
those of several females, to which he mates as they come in estrus.
Pregnancy lasts for around three and a half months and usually four or
five cubs are born. In the wild not all of these survive since the
female is often not able to hunt enough to feed all of them as they
depend on her for their food until one and a half years of age. Also
randomly, other male tigers may kill the cubs to bring the female into
heat.
Despite all its magnificence the tale of the tiger has been
a sorry one over the past century. Their number in the wild has
dwindled from over one hundred thousand to nearly seven thousand today,
with the Bengal Tiger having the healthiest population among existing
tiger species (thanks largely to an initiative by the Indian Government
in the 1970's that led to 'Project Tiger', one of the more successful
conservation programs worldwide). Still many are killed annually by
poachers for use in Chinese traditional medicines that make ridiculous
claim about the aphrodisiac and strengthening abilities of tiger parts
- with no scientific evidence to back them. Others are threatened by
habitat destruction and ever increasing human populations. Of the
others, the South China tiger is in immediate threat of extinction
owing to ruthless hunting in the 1960's when it was declared as a
'pest' by the then communist government. Despite the passage of a law
protecting them in 1977, the few remaining tigers in China lack genetic
biodiversity to sustain them as a specie.
There are glimmers of
hope though and NGOs and independent organizations world wide are
taking aggressive step to tackle the issue of poaching and establish
reserves to sustain tiger population in the wild (which at present is
less than their numbers in captivity).
The author is a blogger about cats and an expert on tiger.
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