all about ze tigers
[Post Number: oooo3]
Class - Mammilia
Order - Carnivora
Family - Felidae
Genus - Panthera
Species - Panthera Tigris
Sub-Species
P. tigris tigris (bengal)
P. tigris altaica (siberian)
P. tigris corbetti (indo-china)
P. tigris sumatrae (sumatran)
Extinct
P. tigris lecoqui
P. tigris amoyensis (South Chinese)
P. tigris sondaica (Javan)
P. tigris baltica (Bali)
P. tigris virgata (Caspian)
Tiger Life StyleGestation - 103 days
Litter size - 1 - 7 cubs
Age of Independence - 18 - 28 months
Longeity - average 8 - 10 years. Longer in captivity
A tiger will sneak up to about 30 - 85 feet and launches itself at the prey.
Prey include= Chital, sambar, gaur, bearded pig, rhino, monkey, crab, water buffalo, and sometimes porcupine, reptiles, frogs and fish. On the average, for every 20 hunt attempts 19 are a failure.
Short Tiger informationBengal Tiger/Royal Bengal Tiger
tigris
Weight= 400 - 450 pounds
Location= Indian subcontinent
Caspian tiger
virgata
Weight= male: 375 to 530 pounds
Location= Turkey into Asia
Status= Extinct in 1970's
Amur or Siberian Tiger
altaica
Weight= 500 - 700 pounds
Location= Russia, China and North Korea
Status= rare
Javan tiger
sondaica
Weight= male: 220 to 310 pounds
Location= Indonesia
Status= Extinct in 1980's
South China tiger
amoyensis
Weight= male: 285 to 385 pounds
Most Endangered of the tigers. Marked in January of 2000 as extinct in the wild. Broad, short stripes spread far apart.
Location= South-Central China
Statis= Extinct in the wild- year 2000
Bali tiger
baltica
Weight= male: 200 to 220 pounds
Location= Bali and Indonesia
Status= Extinct in 1940's
Sumartran tiger
sumatrae
Weight= male: 300 pounds
Location= Sumarta and Indonesia
Indo-Chinese tiger
corbetti
Weight= male: 390 pounds
Location= Continental South-East Asia
Tiger History

The tiger's early ancestor gave rise to two lines of cats- The stabbing cats and the biting cats. The stabbing cats were among the largest and most powerful predators of their day. The best known was called Smilodon (SMILE-O-don) or the Sabor-toothed tiger. It's most striking feature was it's enormous canine teeth, which were upto 6 inches long and curved backward.
Because it had weak jaws, it used these to stab it's prey. Hacking into the neck region, then retreating as the animal bled to death. All stabbing cats are extinct today.
Although Smilodon is called the Saber-toothed tiger, it is only distantly related to the tiger of today.
Tigers evolved from the second evolutionary line, the biting cats. Unlike the stabbing cats, biting cats have powerful jaws and kill their prey by hooking the canines in the flesh, then snaping the neck or strangling the prey. The canines are vital to the tiger. Should it loose them, it would have nothing with which to grab prey, and it would then eventually starve to death.
The tiger as we know it today may of evolved in the cold northern forests of Siberia. or another theory is they evolved in China 2 ma ago. Much confusion and disagreement on the evolution and spread of Panthera Tigris. It started spreading throughout Asia about 2 ma, during the Quaternary period. It's ancestry can be traced back to the small animal that is the ancester of all modern cats.
No one knows for sure how tigers spread out to reach their present homes, but it is thought that worsening weather conditions in Siberia forced them to move south. Once they reached warmer habitats, they spread to the east and west until they reached impassable barriers such as the vast mountain range of the Himalayas and the Gobi desert.
Some tigers headed into Manchuria and Korea, while others reached Turkestan and, eventually India. It is interesting to note that there are no tigers in Sri Lanka, which sugests that they did not arrive in India until after that island separated from the mainland. The tigers settled into the lush Indian forests and their numbers grew dramatically. They continued to spread eastword, reaching China, Indo China and the Malay Peninsula. Some even managed to cross the sea to Sumatra, then moved into Java and Bali. From there the sea was too wide for even this accomplished swimmer. Consequently there are no tigers in Borneo or Sulawesi.
For thousands of years people worshipped tigers, made tigers symbles of courage and strength, wrote songs and poems to tigers, painted pictures of tigers, even dressed up as tigers and assumed tigrine virtues and power. In all that period, tigers flourished and people flourished: but people flourished more. That has changed everything, for people and for tigers along with most of the rest of creation - Have had to pay the price.
Facts about Bengal Tigers

can have orange or white background coat
-White Bengals
are not Albino because they have icey blue eyes instead of the pink eyes that Albinos have. The reason they are white is because they've acquired the white coat from a recessive mutant gene.
-Did you know that the frist white tiger was captured in the Rewa forest in India?
The Frist white tiger caught was a male tiger. The Maharajah kept him and mated this white tiger to a normally colored female. Producing a normal colored litter. From the second litter one female was mated back to the white tiger, producing white cubs. Occasionaly a white tiger is seen in the wilds of Rewa forests. Normal coat colour for a Indian or Bengal Tiger is Light yellowish to reddish yellowish coat and black stripes. Whiskers are about 2.8 inches long.
The Bengal tiger, once so common, has been on the decline for a long time. The tiger of India only became really endangered after the second world war when controlled hunting gave way to indiscriminate slaughter. Many wiped out from insecticides and also habitat distruction. In the southern parts of the peninsula, tigers have become very rare, surviving mainly in sanctuaries. The Bengal is by far the most numerous of the existing tiger species.
Found on the mainland of southeastern Asia and in central and southern India. Living in a wide range of habitats. Forests, wet lands, mangroves, cold high altitudes and arid forests.
Males are about 9 1/2 feet from head to tail weighing around 480 pounds, while the femals are 8 feet and 300 pounds.
Prey is usually wild deer and cattle. Their priorities are water and enough cover to all them to hunt effectivly. May eat as much as 65 pounds of meat in one meal and then go to the water to drink.
Facts about Indo-Chinese Tiger

Dark with short narrow stripes. Slimmer and smaller than the South Chinese Tiger. It was once common throughout Southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Burma. Now-a-days it's numbers few and is found in the jungles of Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and much of Indo China.
Facts about Sumatran Tigers
Smallest and darkest of the tigers. Broad black stripes closely spaced, often doubled. Stripes on front legs. The smallest of the tigers. Found in Sumatra, Indonesia. Threatoned from poaching, habitat loss and human encroachment.
Facts about Amur or Siberian Tiger

They have paler coloring then other tigers, with dark brown to black stripes. White chest, belly and ruff around neck. They're large, bulky body and thick coat are adaptions to life in the cold, where tempratures can drop to -35? F. They also tends to have a higher proportion of white on they're coat, helping it blend into the snowy background.
Found in the far eastern area of Russia in the forests of Siberia. The largest of all living cats, measuring up to 13 feet long and weighing about 617 pounds. They hava a massive head, long fur and stocky hind legs.
They're threatened by poaching and human encroachment
~The heaviest Siberian tiger on record weighed almost 850 pounds.
One Siberian tiger traveled 620 miles in 22 days in search of food.
A Siberian tiger needs to eat over 20 pounds of meat a day to sustain itself in the cold climate. It is capable of eating over 100 pounds of meat in one setting
Gestation - 95-112 days
Litter Size - up to 6 cubs (average 3-4)
Weight at birth - 28-53 ounces
Eyes open - 10-15 days
First solid food - 14 days
Weaning - 5-6 months
Independence - 2-3 years
Longivity - up to 20 years
Found in the forests of Siberia. Siberian Tigers are the largest of all living cats, measuring up to 13 feet long and weighing about 617 pounds.
My infortmation gotten from
Land of the Big Cats