Physical Features
Each and every tiger is unique in their own way; just like no 2 human beings have the same finger
prints. No 2 tigers have the same stripes. Tigers use their stripes for camouflage to sneak up on their
prey. Tigers have black stripes. They have tawny fur with complex black or gray stripes. Their paws they
have soft pads and large retractile claws. Tigers eat 60 pounds of meat a day and 12 pounds a meal.
Since they consume so much meat they have to be very good hunters to be able to survive in the wild.
They have powerful limbs and a flexible backbone that enables them to leap 10 meters in one leap. Tigers
are very stealth and sneaky. Tigers are very long averaging from 9-12 feet long including their tail. A tigers
jaw usually contains around 30 teeth. They use their sharp and powerful teeth to pull apart meat and kill
their prey. Tigers' powerful jaw muscles are attached to a bony ridge that lays on top of their skull called
the sagittal crest. These muscles function to rapidly push down on prey with a crushing force.
Tigers are built for capturing and killing large prey through a sudden and stealth attack. Their
body weight is 240-500 pounds. Tiger’s hind limbs are longer than their fore limbs, and adaptation for
jumping. The forelimbs and shoulders are well-muscled, and the forelegs can twist inward, allow the tiger
to grab and hold large prey.
What Tigers Hunt/How They Hunt
Do you eat 60 pounds of meat a day? Tigers do! A tiger’s favorite prey is deer and wild boar.
Depending on the habitat tigers will also hunt antelope, buffalo, guar, domestic livestock, peafowl,
monkey, civets, porcupines, fish, frogs, crabs, large monitor lizards, young elephants and rhinos. Plants,
fruits, and berries are also eaten. Tigers will hunt almost anything in a vulnerable position. When tigers
hunt they like to hunt alone because they want to get out of the area so they won’t be attacked. Tigers
will fail to capture their prey if they don't succeed in coming into a distance of the prey closer than 30-40
feet (10-12 meters). The search for prey starts when the Tiger suddenly starts in its movement attacking
the prey. The hunt is always very short. The Tiger will try to catch the prey on the first 120-180 feet (40-60
meters) otherwise it will have to give up. The endurance of the Bengal Tiger is perhaps slightly better than
the endurance of the Siberian and other Tigers. When they get really close to the prey they jump on top
of it and grab it with their forelimbs.
What happens now depends on the size of the prey. If they prey is relatively small it will be bitten
in its neck. In this case the powerful canine teeth will grab the neck of the prey and crush the prey's spine
damaging nerves and the prey dies. If it's a larger prey the neck area is often too thick to do this and the
Tiger turns around and goes for the throat and squeezes the air tube until it is broken or cannot come
back from the squeezing. The squeezing is often done with the teeth next to the large canine teeth. The
Tiger keeps on squeezing until the prey dies from suffocation.
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How Tigers Eat
The back teeth of the tiger are called carnassials which enables the tiger to
shear meat from their prey like knife blades. They swallow large-sheared pieces of
meat whole. Tigers are capable of digging deep into their prey because of the large
gap between the carnassials (back teeth) and the canines to hold the prey. The
small incisors located in the front of the mouth (between the two top and bottom
canines) enable the tiger to pick of meat and feathers from their prey. A tiger’s jaw
is very strong and powerful. It can eat tons and tons of meat a day. The jaw can
shred and pull apart meat off of prey.
Extinction
Imagine only 3,200 humans left in the world. That’s close to extinction. That’s what’s
happening to tigers all over the world. The population for tigers is at an all-time low. There are
only 5 subspecies left. The Bengal/ Indian tiger, Indochinese Tiger, Siberian/Amur Tiger, South
China Tiger, and the Sumatran Tiger. There are three species of tigers that have been extinct for
nearly 60 years. The Caspian tiger, Panthera Tigris virgata, once ranged in Afghanistan, Iran,
Turkey, Mongolia, and the Central Asiatic area of Russia and probably went extinct in the 1950s.
The Javan tiger, Panthera Tigris sondaica, formerly ranged on the Indonesian island of Java and
was last seen in 1972.
The Bali tiger, Panthera Tigris Balica, once lived on Bali, where the last tiger was believed to have
been killed in 1947. Tigers are being killed for their skin and bones. Another reason tigers are
becoming extinct is because of habitat loss and illegal tracking. Experts say tigers could be
extinct forever in the next 20-25 years.
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Bengal / Indian tiger: The most common type of tiger. They are found through the rainforests
and grasslands of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India and Nepal.
Indochinese tiger: These are smaller tigers. They are found in Cambodia, China, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Siberian / Amur tiger: The Siberian tiger is the largest species of naturally occurring feline. It
can be found in eastern Russia, in the Amur-Ussuri region of Primorski and Khabarovski.
South China tiger: These tigers are even smaller than Indochinese tigers and there are only 30
of them left in existence.
Sumatran tiger: The smallest tiger subspecies. It is found only on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra
Glossary
Camouflage- Concealment that alters, or obscures appearance.
Prey- An animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal.
Tawny- A shade of brown tinged with yellow.
Retractile- Capable of being drawn back or in.
Sagittal- Of or pertaining to the suture between the parietal bones at the roof of the skull or to a
venous canal within the skull and parallel to this suture.