Mighty and graceful. Sleek and fearless predator. The biggest and strongest cat on the planet is undoubtedly a tiger. An avid lonely hunter can rightfully wear the crown of the king of animals. His bright royal mantle is an excellent outfit, a working suit and good protection from heat and cold. But do we all know about the hard life of this magnificent and brave animal?
TIGER SPECIES, TIGER SIZES
The tigers have learned to adapt perfectly to both the hot parts of Africa and the severe cold of Siberia, only slightly changing their characteristics. Depending on this, there are several species of these remarkable cats: the Bengal tiger (royal or Indian), the Amur tiger (Siberian, Ussurian), the Sumatran tiger (Indonesian), the Malay tiger, the Indochinese tiger, and the South Chinese tiger. Previously, there were also tiger subspecies such as the Turanian (Caspian), Japanese, and Bali, but today they are completely exterminated by humans.
Amur tiger. The largest cat on the planet is the Amur tiger. Its length without a tail is more than 280 cm, weight can reach 320 kg. The only thing that can argue with such a muscle mass is a bear. In modern wildlife, there are about 400 animals. Habitats of this representative of the world fauna are fixed in the south of the Far East of Russia.
Bengal tiger. The tiger differs from other subspecies by its brighter color and more pronounced black stripes. The weight of this tiger is 180-262 kg, but its length can reach 3 meters without a tail. The wild population of the Bengal tiger is more extensive - about 1200 individuals. It is among these subspecies that white tigers are found. This type of coloring is due to the recessive white gene.
Sumatran tiger. This subspecies lives on the island of Sumatra (Indonesian region) and has more than 600 individuals, 235 of whom live in zoos. The Sumatran tiger is smaller than its relatives, weighing 100-140 kg and ranging in length from 2.2 m to 2.5 m.
Indochinese and Malay tiger. The habitat of these subspecies extends to the areas of Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The weight of the Indochinese tiger is 150-195 kg, while the weight of the Malaysian tiger is 120 kg. The body length of the Malay tiger is 2 m, while that of the Indochinese tiger ranges from 2.5 m to 2.8 m.
South Chinese tiger. This is the rarest subspecies of the existing ones. The South China tiger is found in south-eastern and central China. Today, there are about 20 individuals of this species left.
TIGROV RATION
Modern civilization is increasingly absorbing the legal habitats of tigers, provoking them to attack herds of pets and sometimes people. It was a man who pushed the striped predator to the extreme actions. After all, one tiger needs 350 square kilometers of territory and a great variety of prey for full power.
The tiger is an excellent hunter, he relies on sharp vision and hearing, but not on smell. He cannot move at high speeds during the attack for a long time and tries to catch the victim in a few jumps. Despite the fact that out of twenty attacks, only one will succeed, the tigers are quite enough. Occasionally, a striped predator may follow the prey for several kilometers or even several days.
The best time to attack is at dawn, but the tiger likes to eat his prey at night. Having failed a large prey, this cat's representative can live near it for several days. Of all the cats, tigers like to lounge in cool waters, swim well and attack water prey very well.
The tiger's diet is very diverse: hares, birds, wild boars, monkeys, porcupines, roe deer, musk deer, elk, lynxes, wolves, and even bears. They catch fish very well like to eat pine nuts, fruits, and wild berries.
To fully satisfy one adult, 10 to 60 kg of meat is needed. One adult tiger eats up to 3.5 tons of meat per year.
TIGER REPRODUCTION
Females only become mature three years after birth, and males only four years after birth. When searching for females, males stun the forest maze with a long roar, and when they find their half, they spend several days on their honeymoon.
The tiger bears cubs for 3.5 months, once every three years. Usually 2-4 babies are born, but, unfortunately, most often half of the offspring do not survive. When a mother is hunting, tigers can be easy prey for other predators, especially leopards. Therefore, the tiger never leaves its cubs alone for long.
Only the mother takes part in education and training, and the father can only occasionally spend the family. He is very polite and kind to the kids.
By the time they are eleven months old, the tigers can already attack their prey on their own. Despite this, they are near their mother for up to two years.
Tigers do not live very long. In the taiga, in harsh conditions, their life span is about 10 years. In warm places, in the presence of good prey - up to 20 years.
THE TIGER'S IN DANGER OF DISAPPEARING.
Nowadays, tigers are threatened with extinction; they have become a real rarity in the natural world and are listed in the Red Book. Once there were more than 100,000 tigers in Asia, and today there are about 5,000 of them. There are about 6500 of these magnificent cats left in the world.
People continue to train these proud and stubborn animals, trying to conquer their circus arenas and iron cages. But the egotism of the tigers leads to frequent deaths of tigers, and later on the tigers themselves.