Teaching Students About Tigers

A tiger is a type of large cat that is found in Asia and southern Russia.

The scientific name for a tiger is Panthera tigris.

Tigers are the largest of the world’s big cats. Male tigers can weigh up to 300 kilograms and measure nearly 13 feet (4 m) in length. Females are smaller, weighing a maximum of 170 kilograms and measuring between 6 and 9 feet (2.74 m) in length.

They are excellent hunters and are considered to be an apex predator. They rely on sight and sound for hunting rather than smell like other animals.

Tigers have incredibly distinctive fur. In addition, most tigers have orange and black stripes all over their body, whereas some types have a black-and-white color variation. This pattern helps tigers to remain camouflaged as they stalk their prey.

According to the IUCN, tigers are currently endangered, with populations in some areas continuing to decrease yearly.

What are the different types of tigers?

There are nine types of tigers, which include:

Bengal Tiger: Arguably the most famous type of tiger, these tigers have light yellowish fur with black stripes. They are the national animal of both India and Bangladesh.
Siberian Tiger: These tigers are a much paler orange than most tiger types. They live in much colder environments compared to most tiger types.
Sumatran Tiger: The minor type of tiger. They have far more stripes than other tiger types.
Caspian Tiger: Now believed to be extinct, the Caspian tiger had narrow and closely set stripes. It was most similar to the Siberian tiger. The last specimen recorded in the wild was found in the 1970s.
Indo-Chinese Tiger: These tigers are smaller than most other tiger types. They also have darker fur compared to other subspecies.
Malayan Tiger: Almost identical to the Indo-Chinese tiger.
South China Tiger: Unseen for nearly 40 years, the South China tiger has a differently shaped skull than other tiger types. It also has a vibrant yellow coat with narrow stripes.
Javan Tiger: Also considered extinct, the Javan tiger was also on the small side. It had long thin stripes, which were more numerous than most subspecies.
Bali Tiger: The Bali tiger is also extinct. They were very similar in description to the Javan tiger.

What is a tiger’s habitat?

A Tiger’s natural habitat can be found in an array of places, including rainforests, grasslands, savannas, and mangrove swamps

Wild tigers live in Asia, whereas larger subspecies are found in Russia and Northeastern China. Smaller subspecies are found in warmer temperatures, such as in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bhutan, and Myanmar.

However, tigers used to have a much more extensive range of habitats. Tigers today only exist in 6% of the areas where they used to thrive. Before tiger populations began to dwindle, they could be found in areas of Turkey to the southern coast of Japan.

A tiger’s natural habitat tends to be in areas with lots of prey to eat. This is because tigers must consume at least one large meal a week to survive. Because of this, tigers prefer dense forests home to various animal species.

What do tigers eat?

A tiger’s diet is incredibly varied. They are carnivores, meaning they eat other animals. Tigers are known to eat anything from insects to elephant calves.

However, tigers generally prefer to eat large-bodied prey such as deer, pigs, cows, goats, and buffalo. They also eat smaller prey when the opportunity presents itself. For example, they will eat monkeys, hares, fish, and birds.

Tigers frequently eat domestic livestock such as cattle, chickens, horses, and donkeys in areas with a lot of farmland and human settlements.

Being apex predators, tigers are also known to eat other less dangerous predators and competitors. Leopards, dogs, bears, and snakes are all known to be eaten by tigers.

In some cases, tigers have even been known to take on much larger animals, such as fully grown elephants and rhinos — though these cases are rare.

Tigers tend to avoid contact with humans. However, there are cases where tigers have seen humans as prey.

Did you know: In 1907, a tigress living in Nepal and India called ‘the Champawat Tiger’ was said to be responsible for the deaths of 430 humans?

How do tigers hunt?

Tigers are mainly nocturnal hunters. This means that they prefer to hunt at night. However, in areas with fewer humans, tigers also hunt in the daytime.

Tigers are incredibly fast, strong, and agile. They can reach up to 40 miles per hour and are strong enough to take on prey much more significant than themselves. They can also pounce great distances and have been witnessed jumping as far as 33 feet (10 m).

Like most cat species, tigers prefer to stalk and ambush their prey. Due to the colors of their coat, they are brilliant at blending into the surrounding environment and getting as close as possible to their target.

Once they’re close enough, tigers use their strength and speed to overpower their prey and get them to the ground. They then use their sharp teeth and powerful bite to subdue them.

Did you know that tigers are so strong that they have been known to kill bears and cattle with a single paw swipe?

Are tigers becoming extinct?

It’s estimated that 3,900 tigers remain in the wild. In some parts of Southeast Asia, tigers are in crisis as they are declining in numbers. They are currently classed as endangered. There are now only six surviving subspecies of tiger: Amur tiger, Bengal tiger, Indo-Chinese tiger, Malayan tiger, South China tiger, and Sumatran tiger. These subspecies live in different environments, but they all suffer as their natural habitats are destroyed.

After nearly a century of decline, numbers have started to rise again. Tiger populations are beginning to increase in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, and China.

The most significant threat to tigers is poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Unfortunately, part of the tiger has been found in the illegal wildlife markets, from the whiskers to its tail.

Tiger adaptations for survival

Despite being huge, powerful, ferocious creatures, tigers have had to adapt to their behavior, physical development, and hunting practices to survive in their environment. These adaptations are both behavioral and physical.

Camouflage

Although tigers’ famous stripes may be just for decoration, they function as camouflage. This may seem strange, as, in zoos and artificial environments, Tigers’ stripes stand out as very bright and bold. However, in the wild, tiger stripes are very effective in allowing them to blend in with their surroundings. They form similar patterns to the sun beaming through trees and tall grasses. Camouflage is essential to tigers’ survival, making them invisible to predators and prey. Tigers can even use the bright stripes around their eyes to hide their eyes, making it harder for prey to spot them.

Physical Structure

Another of the tiger adaptations for survival is the tiger’s structural adaptations. Tigers have adapted over time to be ferocious and effective hunters; to do this, they must have a physical structure that suits that lifestyle. Tiger’s structural adaptations include having very flexible spines and long hind legs, which enable them to jump up to 33 feet (10 m) high. Additionally, tigers are built to be incredibly strong, allowing them to swim and run incredibly quickly and leap great distances to catch prey. The tigers’ strength, speed, and explosive actions make them extraordinary hunters.

Additionally, an incredibly important tiger structural adaptation is that they have evolved to take advantage of soft pads on their feet, which allow them to quietly walk on their toes and sneak up on their prey undetected. This will enable tigers to catch their game with minimal effort. However, they are well-equipped to fight when they do get into physical altercations. Tigers have incredibly sharp claws, which they use when fighting and killing their prey.

Feeding

Feeding is another area of tiger adaptations for survival. Tigers have adapted to be able to expand their throats, allowing them to swallow vast pieces of food. In some cases, tigers can even swallow their prey whole. Tigers can also curve their front legs inwards, which allows them to hold their prey while they eat it. Moreover, tigers have strong jaws and a wide selection of teeth designed for killing, tearing, and biting.

Senses

Tigers are primarily nocturnal hunters, which they can only do because of their night vision. Tigers generally have perfect eyesight and can see long distances day and night. Furthermore, tigers have a unique adaptation to their retinas, allowing more light to reflect into their eyes. This helps them to see in the dark.

In addition to this, tigers have an empathetic hearing. Their hearing allows them to communicate exclusively using infrasound, which is inaudible to most other species. This infrasound is also an example of how tigers have adapted to their environments. This is because infrasound allows them to communicate over long distances in their forest habitats, as it can pass through trees and other objects.

Lastly, tigers have a highly effective sense of smell, which they rely on to mark their territories.

Behaviors

An exciting area of tiger adaptations for survival concerns their tiger behavioral adaptations. Hunting is typically a solitary activity for tigers, which allows them to be super stealthy. However, they can hunt in packs when necessary. Moreover, female tigers carry most of the responsibility for raising their cubs. Female tigers are also adapted to be superior hunters to their male counterparts. This is because, until they are a few months old, tiger cubs rely entirely on their mothers to provide food.

Habitat

Even though the different subspecies of tigers live in other parts of the world, their habitats are all reasonably similar. This is because tigers need to live in areas with dense vegetation, water access, and hoofed prey. For this reason, tigers tend to live in forests. Amur tigers, for example, typically live in snowy coniferous forests, while Bengal tigers can live anywhere from mangroves to temperate forests.

Furthermore, tigers used to live exclusively in India, East, and South China, but as their population grew, they had to adapt to find new areas. This is why we now have tigers like the Siberian tigers, who live in Eastern Russia. Siberian tigers have made many adaptations to survive in the cold, harsh environment of Eastern Russia.

One essential behavioral adaptation of the Siberian tiger is its patients when silently waiting for its prey. This allows it to surprise its prey when they choose to move. In addition, these tigers have also adapted to communicate and mark their territory through claw marks, sounds, feces, and urine. This is vital for tigers’ survival as they would not be able to reproduce without communicating with one another.

Regarding physical Siberian tiger adaptations for survival, they have developed extra skin, which helps them withstand the bitter cold of their surroundings. This excess fat also protects them from biting, kicking, and scratching when hunting.

Siberian tigers have also developed large paws that don’t sink into the snow. This helps them run faster when chasing their prey.

Breeding

Tigers reach sexual maturity at ages 3-5; females mature at ages 3-4, and males at 4-5. Mating can occur any time of the year, although tigers in warmer climates tend to begin this process when it’s colder — preferably in November or April. Tigers in warm temperatures only begin mating in winter.

Female tigers carry their cubs for around 3 to 3.5 months and can give birth to 2-3 cubs at a time. After that, the mother looks after the cubs until they reach independence. Tigers reach independence at two years of age and can live up to 20 in the wild.

Tiger fact file: fun facts about tigers