Tigers

Adapted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD-ROM.
Copyright © 1994, 1995 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.

The largest of the cats is the tiger. It is as strong and fierce as it is big. The tiger's coat is often a bright golden color. It has black stripes on the head, body, and tail. Stripes like these are sometimes found on the domestic cat, or house cat, which is a distant relative of the tiger. On the domestic cat the stripes are called tabby marks (see Cat).

Range

Asia is the home of the tiger. The animals are not found on any other continent. They range from Iran to the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Siberia and from this northeastern limit southward to Malaysia and the Indian peninsula. A smaller variety is found on Sumatra, Java, and Bali.

The scientific name of the tiger is Leo tigris. Tigers differ from one another only in size and in the character and markings of the coat. In all of them the basic color of the coat ranges from a light tinge of yellow on the belly to a deep yellow or orange on the back. The head, body, and limbs are striped with black; the tail has black rings. This coloring blends well with dried grass or a thicket of reeds and makes the tiger almost invisible when stalking its prey.

Tigers differ from lions chiefly in the coloring of their coats and in not having manes. Their skeletons are almost identical. Zoologists distinguish the tiger skull by the higher setting of the nasal bones. The two species are alike in hunting habits, though tigers rarely hunt in pairs as lions often do. Tigers and lions can interbreed.

Hunting Habits

Tigers prefer damp, thickly overgrown places such as dense jungles and river banks covered with reeds or brush. In such localities they stalk their prey at night. If necessary, they prowl about during the day.

They prey upon many other wild animals. Wherever humans have domestic animals, tigers destroy a large number of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. A cattle-eating tiger will kill an ox about every five days, or from 60 to 70 a year. Unless it is cornered or greatly provoked, the tiger avoids the elephant, and it rarely attacks a large buffalo or bear. In battles with these animals the tiger is frequently beaten.

Unlike most members of the cat family, tigers are good swimmers. They cross rivers readily in search of prey. Occasionally, to escape a flood or some other pressing danger, they even climb trees.

Tigers do not naturally prey on people, but a few do become man-eaters when they lose the ability to kill their swifter natural prey. Broken teeth, broken claws, or failing strength may cause an old tiger to become a man-eater. Even young tigers may turn to killing humans if infected gunshot wounds or embedded porcupine quills make it hard for them to hunt. One tiger was said to have killed 127 persons in a single year.

Tiger kittens number from two to five in a litter, but more than two are rarely raised. The gestation period is from 98 to 110 days. The young remain with their mother until their third year.

Varieties

The best-known variety of tiger is found in the Indian peninsula. This is the Royal Bengal. A full-grown male weighs as much as 500 pounds (230 kilograms) and may be 10 feet (3 meters) long, including the 3-foot (1-meter) tail.

The Siberian tiger is even larger. It has a long, thick coat. The Bengal and Siberian varieties are the ones most commonly seen in zoos. Other varieties are those of Mongolia, China, Iran, Sumatra, Java, and Bali.

Tigers have been known since remote prehistoric times. During warm interglacial periods in the Ice Age, they roamed far to the north in Europe. Among the most fearsome types was the saber-toothed tiger, which had daggerlike upper teeth.