Panthera Tigris (Bengal & Siberian)

The Tiger is one of the most spectacular animals in the world. They are well known for being fast and powerful. There are 9 recognized subspecies, but the White Tiger isn’t one of them and that surprises may people. Experts feel this is a coloration difference and not a true subspecies.

Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. Tigris

Perhaps what draws people to the tiger is their lovely appearance. These cats have a muscular body with a large head. They have long legs with large paws that also have sharp claws on them. They have powerful jaws and sharp teeth so that they can grab and consume their prey.

They are skilled hunters and use the element of surprise to get close to their prey. They also blend in well to their surroundings so they can move close and then spring into action. The element of surprise is important as a tiger can’t afford to expend large amounts of energy for a hunt and then see their target escape. They are nocturnal which means that they mainly hunt at night. However, they can also hunt during the daylight hours.

They are meat eaters, known as carnivores. They are able to take down prey that is more several times larger than it is. They are able to use their teeth to dig deep into the neck of the prey so that it dies rapidly. Then they use their other teeth to hold it and to rip apart large portions of the kill. They will eat large amounts of food when they are able to find it. This could be up to 88 pounds of meat!

The size of a tiger can be very different depending on the species. The location where it lives and the diet are also factors. Genetics also play a role in the overall size of an adult. They can be from 100 to 670 pounds and close to 12 feet long. Tigers have a very long tail that can be more than 3 feet long.

No two tigers have coloring, stripes, and patterns that are the same. They also don’t have symmetrical designs on them. This means the appearance on one side of the body can be different from the other side of it for any given tiger.  One of the biggest problems for tigers is the destruction of their natural habitat. This means it is harder for them to find shelter and to find enough food.In some locations, this has resulted in tigers attacking humans and livestock. They are moving into the same territory that humans share and that can be difficult. Some ranchers and villages have taken to poisoning or trapping tigers to feel protected as well as to protect their animals.

Tigers need to live in areas that give them access to water. This is because their diet is carnivorous and they have to find food sources that rely on water. If there is no water, they won’t be able to find enough food to survive. They need to have a large kill at least once a week and then several small meals that they can count on. The tiger is unsuccessful most of the time with hunting so they eat all they can when they can.

There isn’t a set mating season for tigers, but November through April seems to be when it is more frequent. The cubs that are conceived will arrive in about 16 weeks. After mating, the couple go their separate ways. The female has the responsibility of creating a den where the young can be born and to be safe. They will remain in the den for many weeks with her before they come out to the world. During that time, they will consume milk from her body. She will have to leave them alone when she has to hunt for her own nourishment.

Even though she will do all she can to protect the young, the mortality rate is very high. More than 50% of them will die before they are 2 years of age. This makes it hard to get numbers to increase in the wild. The average age for tigers in the wild that do survive to adulthood is about 8 to 10 years. In captivity it is about 16 to 18 years.

The tiger is one animal that is ingrave danger of extinction. While there are conservation efforts in place, there are huge barriers. The loss of habitat as well as people misinterpreting them as killing machines are hard to overcome. They don’t have a large genetic pool remaining and that creates some concerns for overall health. Many of the conservation efforts in place focus on breeding in captivity. Sadly, many species of the tiger are already extinct but it is hopeful that the remaining species won’t end up that way.

Bengal Tiger
One of the well-known tiger subspecies is the Bengal Tiger. Due to where they live, they are often referred to as Indian Tigers. They are the most commonly known tigers. They account for approximately ½ of all the wild tigers remaining in the world. They are also well known in the Indian traditions and folklore.

The deep orange color of the Bengal Tiger is one that is quite attractive. They also have wide black stripes that help them to blend into their surroundings. No two of them have the same markings in terms of the size and location of the stripes. This distinction can help them to be able to be easily identified by researchers. The males can weigh up to 488 pounds with the females weighing about 308 pounds. The tails of the Bengal Tigers can be up to 43 inches long.

The White Tiger isn’t identified as a subspecies of the tiger. Instead, it is believed to be a recessive gene belonging to the Bengal Tiger that creates that coloring. There are very few of them that survive in the wild because they don’t have the camouflage to help them blend into their surroundings. Most of them have been bred in zoos and other locations but the problem is that it weakens the genetic pool for them. As a result, continued breeding of them in captivity isn’t recommended.

India is the primary location where you will find the Bengal Tiger living in the wild. They are also located in areas of China and Bangladesh. They live in both wet and dry forest regions, grasslands, and even mangrove forests. Some of them live around the mountain terrain. They are often found in locations around water. They may drag their food to the water or they may cool off in the water when it is hot. The water also allows them to find food easier as prey will come to those locations to drink.

Like other subspecies, the Bengal tiger lives an isolated existence. The only exceptions are when they are mating or when the females have young to care for. They are very aggressive tigers and they often have large home range territories. This is why destruction of their habitat is such a huge problem. They will mark their territory with their scent to keep intruders out. Females will have a smaller home range and it often overlaps the territory or several males.

The Bengal Tiger will rarely hunt during the day, finding their food sources at night. They consume a variety of medium and large animals. They can include buffalo, wild pigs, and deer. They are able to hide well in the environment due to their markings that serve as camouflage. They are able to quickly spring into action to get their prey. With speed and powerful jaws on their side they can deeply bite the neck of their prey and then take them down. They can eat up to 60 pounds of meat at once!

Even though most of the do avoid humans, they have been known to attack and even to consume them. This type of behavior is mainly those that are too old or that have been injured so they aren’t able to successfully hunt as they normally would. Loss of habitat and lack of food can also be driving factors behind such aggressive behavior as well.

Mating can occur any time of the year. The females are ready to mate when they are 3 or 4 years old. For males it is slightly later, around 4 to 5 years of age. The females will go into estrus for several days at a time. During that period of time, her strong scent will attract males to her. After conception, it will take about 100 days for the young to be born.

The females will have to care for the young on their own as they part ways with the male after mating for a couple of days. There can be up to 6 cubs per litter that they will have in a den to protect them. The young are about 2 pounds at birth and they are blind and helpless. The mother will feed them milk from her body. When they emerge from the den, she will continue to nurse them but also teach them to hunt for food when they are about 6 months old.

The young will become more independent with time. They spend lots of time playing with their siblings but that helps to prepare them for hunting and protecting their territory as adults. There is often a hierarchy among the young from the very start. There is a mortality rate that is about half of the cubs, they won’t make it to adulthood. They will leave their mother to find their own territory when they are about 18 months of age. The males tend to leave their mother sooner than the females and to move a longer distance from their mother.

The Bengal Tiger has been heavily hunted by trophy enthusiasts that are looking or a challenge. They have also been poached for their fur and for their body parts to be used in various forms of Chinese medicines. They are currently endangered and there are several protective programs in place to try to help increase their numbers in the wild.

There are believed to be less than 3,000 of these tigers that remain in the wild today. Yet they seem to have the highest numbers of all subspecies of tigers in the world right now. Reducing poaching problems and preserving their current habitat are very important if they are going to be able to survive. They seem to do well in captivity, and there are several breeding programs in the zoos that help to improve the genetic pool as well for Bengal Tigers.

Siberian Tiger
The largest of all cats in the world is the Siberian Tiger or Amur Tiger. They are well known for their elegant walk and their purring sound. They are often found in books, movies, and various types of folklore. This is a type of tiger that many people are familiar with the appearance of.

The Siberian Tiger can grow almost 11 feet in length. The males can weigh up to 660 pounds and they are larger than the females. This subspecies of tiger has a skull that is much larger than the others. The skull of the male is quite a bit larger than that of the female. They have a coloring that is pale in the winter and get bolder with the warmer temperatures and changing seasons. Some of them have darker stripes than others based on location. These stripes can be a dark brown instead of black. The fur is thicker than other subspecies due to the cooler temperatures and it is also very coarse.

They live in many locations, but the primary area is the birch forests of Russia. A small number of these tigers also live in North Korea and China. The climate that the Siberian Tiger lives in is harsh compared to other subspecies but there are some benefits found for them. For example, they have less issues with humans than other tigers due in various habitats. They also seem to have more of their natural home range left as it hasn’t been depleted as rapidly as in some other locations. The fact that the timber industry isn’t as widely developed in Russia as it is in other areas works in their favor.

Like other subspecies of tigers, they are very isolated other than when they care for young or they are mating. The home range of the Siberian Tiger is quite large, and they are territorial. The males are more aggressive when it comes to protecting that environment. They will allow several females to overlap with them though. Younger males have to fight to get territory from older tigers or they have to stay on the outer ridges where it is harder to get enough food.

They have been known to attack humans, but the accounts are very limited. This could be due to the fact that they don’t live close to much human activity. Most of the time it is believed such attacks are by females protecting young or by older/injured tigers that are struggling to successfully hunt animals in the wild.

The Amur Tiger is a very dedicated hunter, and they blend well into their surroundings. While they mainly hunt at night they have been seen out during the daylight hours to find food. They can travel a large distance in their home range to find food. They tend to look for the larger prey such as elk and wild boars. They use their powerful jaws to pounce into action after they have snuck up closely to their prey. They are able to take down animals that weigh several times more than they do.

Mating takes place at any time of the year for the Siberian Tiger. It generally will occur when they are about 4 years of age. The females will give off a powerful scent while in estrus. This is what attracts a male to her. After a ritual of circling and growling they will engage in mating over the course of several days. Then the male is off to find more females to mate with. The female will find a den in the days before the young arrive to keep them safe. It takes about 103 days after conception for them to be born.

The litter of cubs are blind and defensively so they need their mother to care for them. She is going to bond well with them and offer milk from her body. Yet she will have to leave them to go hunt for food to keep that supply going. They won’t come out of the den with her until they are about 8 weeks old. It will be about 6 months before they start to hunt on their own so she has a huge responsibility to them.

The young are very vulnerable out of the den when the mother has to search for food. This is why such a large number of the young are killed by various predators. Each litter can have up to 6 cubs and they will develop a hierarchy from a young age. When food is limited, the stronger and more aggressive cubs will survive.

The young will remain with their mother until they are about 18 months old. The males start to move on first and they will move a long distance from their mother. The females will linger and often create a home territory that is quite close to their mother.

It is estimated that there are only 400 to 500 Siberian Tigers left in the world that live in the wild. Some of the recent studies show that these numbers have been stable and that is good news. As long as the number isn’t declining there is hope that they can increase. Efforts to preserve habitat, educate the public about these tigers, and to reduce poaching problems continue to be to conservation efforts. Poaching has long been a problem though due to the black market demand for Chinese medicine and the fur.

The status for the Siberian Tiger is endangered at this point in time.  DNA samples though show that there is very little genetic diversity among them and that is a concern. One of the efforts of significant conservation is to help increase that genetic diversity. Breeding programs in captivity are a driving force behind such efforts.

Siberian Tigers are very popular at zoos, and they seem to do quite well in captivity. This is why so many zoos out there like to have them in place. It draws in crowds to their location which helps to generate money for their ongoing care.