Tigers are kings of the jungle
This article is about the tigers
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.
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.
