The Tiger

The largest member of the cat family

Class: Mammalia (mammal)
Order: Carnivora (meat-eating mammals)
Family: Felidae (cats)

The tiger is the largest member of the cat family. It is also the largest land living mammal with a diet that consists entirely of meat.

This creature is one of the most magnificent and imposing of animals. It has a powerful muscular body with big paws and large, curved claws which help to make it the perfect hunter. The claws are retractile, that is, they can be pulled into the paw.

Tiger tiger burning bright
The tiger is a distinctive reddish-yellow to rust-brown in colour on the back, streaked with black stripes. The underside is white. Young tigers have similar colouration but their stripes are more grey-brown.

The tiger's large head, piercing yellow eyes, and long, sharp teeth set in wide cheekbones combine to present a formidable appearance. Tigers have a wide beardlike growth on the cheeks, more developed in males than in females. Some tigers even have a short mane on the neck.

6 subspecies survive
In just the last 50 years, 3 subspecies of tiger - the Bali Tiger, Javan Tiger and Caspian Tiger - have become extinct. 6 subspecies survive: the Amur (Siberian), South China, Indo-Chinese, Bengal, Sumatran, and Malayan tigers. All remaining sub-species of tigers are endangered.

The subspecies differ slightly in size, colour and markings. The Amur Tiger is the largest at around 250kg and 3m from nose to tail. The Sumatran is the smallest at 250cm long and a weight of 110-140kg.

Tiger terrain
The tiger's original home was China, but long ago they spread northwards to Siberia, westwards as far as the Caspian Sea, through India and Burma, and south to Sumatra, Java and Bali. Tigers require large areas with forest cover, water, and suitable large ungulate prey such as deer and swine. With these 3 essentials, tigers can live from the tropical rainforests of Sumatra and Indochina to the temperate oak forest of the Amur River Valley in the Russian Far East.