The tiger (Pantera tigris) is a large mammal. It belongs to a family of animals called the Felidae. It originally lived in Asia. Tigers are very large and strong, and the biggest feline. They have orange fur with black stripes, and a white underside. The black stripes usually extend to the white underside. The stripes are used to keep them hidden while hunting. Sometimes there are tigers with different colors. There are White Tigers that have white fur with black stripes, or that even have pure white fur. They have blue or green eyes. White Tigers are most commonly Bengal tigers. Most Bengal tigers have orange fur, though. The white coat only appears once in every 10,000 births. It is the national animal of India.
Ten Facts about Tiger
- Most tigers have more than 100 stripes, and no two tigers have the same stripes.
- Their hiding places mostly include tall grass areas, where they blend in well from enemies and prey.But they do hunt most of the time.They run up to 30 mph.
- There are nine subspecies of tiger: the Bengal tiger, the Indochinese tiger, the Malayan tiger, the Sumatran tiger, the Siberian tiger, and the South China tiger. There are also three extinct subspecies : Balinese, Javan and Caspian.
- They can grow to be 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and weigh as much as 500kg (1100lbs).
- A tiger marks its territory by spraying trees and bushes (contained inside the territory) with its urine, and also leaves deep scratches on tree trunks.
- One averaged sized tiger can eat upto 60 pounds of meat at a single time.
- A tiger's canine teeth can grow up to three inches long, easily capable of crunching through the spine of any creature on Earth: like a warm knife through butter.
- The tendons in a tiger's leg are very strong: even after being shot dead, a tiger was known to have remained standing. That's strength.
- A tiger eats around six kilos of meat per day, but can go as long as a week without a meal.
- Tigers live in Asia, mainly from India to China and in Southeast Asia.
