Top 10 Tigers Images And 10 Fascinating Facts

 Beautiful, deadly and endangered. The tiger is all of these. Below you will find 10 fascinating facts and 10 incredible photographs of this magnificent animal.

The tiger is the largest of the four “big cats” (lions, jaguars, leopard and tigers) and is an apex predator, meaning it resides at the top of their food chain with no predators of their own.


The largest sub-species of tiger is the Siberian Tiger, while the most numerous is the Bengal tiger.Tigers are obligate carnivores, meaning they depend solely on the nutrients found in animal flesh.

                                             The Mighty Tiger

 The larger tiger subspecies can reach up to 3.3 metres (11 ft) in total length, weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), with canines up to 4 inches long.

 Tigers are territorial and generally solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey demands. Coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans.

FAMILY PIC

 Three of the nine subspecies of modern tiger have gone extinct, and the remaining six are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct causes are habitat destruction, fragmentation, and hunting. The remaining sub-species of tigers are: Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, Sumatran, Siberian, and South China

Hybridisation among the big cats, including the tiger, was first conceptualised in the 19th century, when zoos were particularly interested in the pursuit of finding oddities to display for financial gain. Lions have been known to breed with tigers to create hybrids called ligers and tigons.

 Like other big cats, tigers have a white spot on the backs of their ears. These spots, called ocelli, serve a social function, by communicating the animal’s mental state to other tigers in the gloom of dense forest or in tall grass

 There is a well-known mutation that produces the white tiger, technically known as chinchilla albinistic, an animal which is rare in the wild, but widely bred in zoos due to its popularity. Breeding of white tigers will often lead to inbreeding (as the trait is recessive).

 Mating can occur all year round, but is generally more common between November and April. The gestation period is 16 weeks and the litter size usually consists of around 3–4 cubs of about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) each, which are born blind and helpless.

Among the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. During the extreme heat of the day, they often cool off in pools. Tigers are excellent swimmers, and are able to carry prey through the water.