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A female tiger gives birth to a litter of three or four cubs, who she will care for until they are a year-and-a-half old. These cubs quadruple in size during their first month!

The powerful predator generally hunts alone, able to bring down prey such as deer and antelope. Tigers wait until dark to hunt. The tiger sprints to an unsuspecting animal, usually pulling it off its feet with its teeth and claws. If the prey animal is large, the tiger bites its throat to kill it; smaller prey is usually killed when the tiger breaks its neck. Tigers have been known to eat up to 80 pounds of meat in one night, but more often they consume about 12 pounds during a meal. It may take days for a tiger to finish eating its kill. The cat eats until it's full, and then covers the carcass with leaves and dirt. The tiger comes back to feed some more.

Tigers live far apart from each other. A tiger knows if it is in another tiger's territory based on the trees around him. Each tiger marks the trees in its area with urine and special scratches.

Unlike most members of the cat family, tigers seem to enjoy water and swim well.

Some tigers live where it gets very cold-in India and parts of southeast Asia. The whole species is endangered throughout its range.

Tigers have been overhunted for their fur as well as for other body parts that many people use in traditional medicines. Tigers' habitat has also dwindled seriously as humans have developed land for uses such as farming and logging. However, in the Siberian region of Russia, there's hope that these big cats are making a comeback.

Because of their size, strength, and predatory skills, tigers are considered one of the "big cats." Lions, cheetahs, jaguars, and cougars are also part of this grouping.

Tiger stripes are special to each individual, and their tails help them to keep their balance. The big cats share all but 4.4% of their DNA with domestic cats.

Take the big cat quiz to see how much you know about these fierce felines. Then, just for fun, see which wild cat you're most like with our personality quiz.

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Easily recognized by its coat of reddish-orange with dark stripes, the tiger is the largest wild cat in the world. The big cat's tail is three feet long. On average the big cat weighs 450 pounds, about the same as eight ten-year-old kids.

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After a century of decline, tiger numbers are on the rise. About 4,500 tigers remain in the wild, but much more work is needed to protect this species that’s still vulnerable to extinction.

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Tigers are unlike any other feline. Discover what makes them stand out from the rest of the cat crowd.

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Common Name:

Bengal Tiger

Scientific Name:

Panthera tigris tigris

Average Life Span In The Wild:

8 to 10 years

Size:

Head and body: 5 to 6 feet; tail: 2 to 3 feet

Weight:

240 to 500 pounds

Size relative to a 6-ft man:

Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength.

Tiger Populations

There were eight tiger subspecies at one time, but three became extinct during the 20th century. Over the last 100 years, hunting and forest destruction have reduced tiger populations from hundreds of thousands of animals to perhaps fewer than 2,500. Tigers are hunted as trophies, and also for body parts that are used in traditional Chinese medicine. All five remaining tiger subspecies are at-risk, and many protection programs are in place.

Bengal tigers live in India and are sometimes called Indian tigers. They are the most common tiger and number about half of all wild tigers. Over many centuries they have become an important part of Indian tradition and lore. (To learn more, watch this video about what's driving tigers to extinction.)

Behavior

Tigers live alone and aggressively scent-mark large territories to keep their rivals away. They are powerful nocturnal hunters that travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other large mammals. Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes). They lie in wait and creep close enough to attack their victims with a quick spring and a fatal pounce. A hungry tiger can eat as much as 60 pounds in one night, though they usually eat less.

Despite their fearsome reputation, most tigers avoid humans; however, a few do become dangerous maneaters. These animals are often sick and unable to hunt normally, or live in an area where their traditional prey has vanished.

Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.

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Find out how far a tiger's roar travels. And learn how much the world's biggest cat can eat at a sitting.

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The largest of the big cats, tigers are truly impressive animals with their black-striped orange fur and white bellies. A tiger's stripe pattern is like a fingerprint and can be used to identify individuals.

The tiger is the largest member of the felid (cat) family. Tiger taxonomy was revised in 2017 based on new genetic analysis into two subspecies: Panthera tigris tigris, consisting of tiger populations in continental Asia, and Panthera tigris sondaica, including populations in the Sunda Islands.

Since tigers are not native to North America, Defenders does not work on their conservation directly. Defenders works to ensure that tigers remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, and under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) highlighting their link to jaguar trade. Many of the threats facing Florida panthers and jaguars in North America, such as habitat loss, road kills and poaching, are also experienced by tigers. Because of this, we work closely with tiger conservationists to better enable human-wildlife coexistence by exchanging innovative and effective tools and technology for protecting livestock and people.

Tigers face many threats. Their greatest threat is large scale loss of habitat and prey due to human encroachment and habitat degradation for agriculture. Climate change is also causing ocean levels to rise, reducing coastal habitat in areas like India's Sunderban islands and forcing tigers to move into areas more heavily populated by people. In some parts of their range, tigers are poached because their pelts are valuable in the black market trade in Asia and their other body parts are used in traditional Asian medicine. Tigers are also killed or removed from the wild in efforts to protect livestock and human communities. Finally, as tigers recover in some regions, they come into contact more often with people, pets and livestock, which can increase human-wildlife conflicts if tigers and people are not proactively managed.

You can help tigers through being a conscious shopping. Palm oil plantations are replacing tiger habitat in Southeast Asia, so read food ingredient labels to check if the palm oil in your product is sustainably grown. When traveling abroad, do not purchase souvenirs or gifts that may contain tiger products - even products made from 'tiger substitutes' can contribute to declines in other endangered species, so it is best to avoid wildlife products entirely. Finally, become big cat savvy by learning about imperiled big cats in North America like the Florida panther and jaguar.

Female tigers are smaller than males. 9 -13 ft in length, with the tail representing up to 3 ft.The Siberian tiger ( males weigh 400-675 lbs) is the largest subspecies and the Sumatran tiger (220-310 lbs) is the smallest living subspecies.

10-15 years in the wild, up to 26 years in captivity

Tigers live in 13 range countries across Asia. Tigers occupy a variety of habitats from tropical forests, evergreen forests, woodlands and mangrove swamps to grasslands, savannah and rocky country.

In the early 1900s, there were estimated to be around 100,000 tigers throughout their range. Today, around 4,000 tigers live in the wild, while roughly 5,000-7,000 exist in captivity.

Tigers are mostly nocturnal (more active at night) and are ambush predators that rely on the camouflage their stripes provide to stalk prey. Tigers use their body weight to knock prey to the ground and kill with a bite to the neck. They are also very good swimmers and have been known to drown their prey. Tigers are territorial and typically live solitary lives, except during mating season and while females raise young.

Mating Season: In tropical climates, mostly from around November to April; during the winter months in temperate regions.
Gestation: 103-105 days.
Litter size: 3-4 cubs.
Cubs follow their mother out of the den at around 8 weeks and become independent at around 18 months of age. They leave their mothers at about 2 ½ years. Mothers guard their young from wandering males that may kill the cubs to make the female receptive to mating.

Tigers mainly eat sambar deer, wild pigs, water buffalo and antelope. Old and injured tigers have been known to attack domestic cattle and people.

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The largest of the big cats, tigers are truly impressive animals with their black-striped orange fur and white bellies. A tiger's stripe pattern is like a fingerprint and can be used to identify individuals. The tiger is the largest member of the felid (cat) family.

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A slideshow of the tigers of Bandhavgarh. Its a homage really. I support the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) with free use of some of my images and I produced this slideshow for one of their fundraising events.

Music: Pedra Branca 06 by Pedra Branca (http://www.pedrabranca.mus.br/)

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We’ve been digging and digging, but we can’t find that page anywhere in our burrows.

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Wondering About the Tazzy Tiger | Wild Kratts Videos | PBS KIDS

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The Wild Kratts crew examines some of the last-known footage of the Tasmanian tiger.