Tigers World's Largest Cats

The Tiger

     Tigers are one of the four kinds of great cats. Lions, leopards, and jaguars are the other great cats. Only great cats, such as the tiger, can roar. Great cats are bigger then other cats are. The tiger is the largest cat in the world.

     The tiger is one of the few cats that like to swim. Tigers that live in hot places swim often. Swimming helps these tigers stay cool.

A Striped Cat

     Tigers are powerful animals. They most often weigh between 150 and 650 pounds (68 - 295 kg).

     Most tigers have orange coats with dark stripes. However, tigers can also have white coats with dark stripes. Each tiger has a different pattern of stripes. Scientists  can tell one from another by looking at their stripes.

     White tigers have blue eyes. Orange tigers have yellow eyes. All tigers have good eyesight. Tigers can also see very well at night.

Where Tigers Live

     Tigers live in Asia. They can be found in India, China, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Russia.

     Nearly all tigers live in forests. However, tigers can live in many different kinds of forests. Some tigers live in rain forests. Other tigers live in drier forests. Some tigers live in snowy coniferous forests.

     Tigers always live near water. They need lots of water to drink. Tigers also swim in water to cool off.

Kinds of Tigers

     Scientists often list tigers in subspecies. The subspecies of tigers living today include Sumatran tigers, South China tigers, Amur tigers, Bengal tigers, and Indo-Chinese tigers.

     Sumatran tigers live on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They are the smallest tigers. Sumatran tigers have dark orange coats and many black stripes.

     Amur tigers live in eastern Russia, China, and North Korea. The winters are very cold there. Amur tigers have thick coats to keep them warm.  

Hunting

     Tigers are predators. They often eat large, four legged animals. Their favorite prey is wild pigs, wild cows, and deer. However, they will also eat fish, birds, and other small animals.

     A tiger hides behinds bushes, trees, or tall grasses and creeps up on its prey. When the tiger is close, it jumps on the prey, and kills it. The tiger eats its fill of meat. The tiger hides  any leftover meat to eat later.

Tiger Cubs

     Baby tigers are called cubs. A mother tiger most often has two or three cubs at a time. When tiger cubs are born they weigh about 2.2 pounds (1 kg). Cubs are born with their eyes closed. After a week or two, the cubs' eyes will open and they can see.

     Tiger cubs drink their morther's milk until they are about six months old. At six to eight weeks old, they start to eat meat.

Growing Up

     Tiger cubs spend most of their time playing and wrestling  with each other. The cubs gain important skills by playing. They also learn allot by watching their mother.

     Tiger cubs most often stay with their mother until they are between 18 and 30 months old. They then go off to find territories  of their own. The daughters often find territories near their mother's territory. The sons find territories farther away.

Tiger Territories

     Except for mother tigers that are caring for their cubs, adult tigers spend almost all their time alone. Each adult tiger has its own territory, where it lives and hunts.

     Tigers have several ways of marking their territory. They roar to let other tigers know where they are. They use their strong claws to make scratches on trees. Tigers even rub their scent glands on trees to let other tigers know that they were there.

Tiger Attacks

     Tigers generally stay away from people. However, a tiger will attack a person if it is afraid that person will hurt its cubs. Some tigers even hurt people for food. These tigers are called man-eaters. Tigers often become man-eaters because they are too old or sick to catch other prey.

     Some people who live near man-eating tigers wear masks on the backs of their heads. This fools the tigers, who attack their prey from behind.

An Endangered Cat

     Tigers are endangered. Scientists who study tigers believe that there are only between 5,000 and 7,500 tigers living in the wild today.

     One reason tigers are endangered is because people hurt them. People sell the tigers' fur, teeth, and other body parts. Another problem tigers face is that they have lost much of their land to people. People who need a place to live and farm often take over land where tigers live.