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Tigers are among the most admired and most feared animals in the world.
When we think of tigers, we think of danger. We think of powerful beasts hiding in the dark jungle. We think of the strong jaws, big teeth, massive feet, and long, sharp claws of the tiger.

But we also think of beauty. We picture a tiger running swiftly through a jungle, or plowing through snowdrifts. Its muscles ripple. Its brilliantly striped orange and black coat gleams like satin. Its steely eyes glare into the distance as it looks for prey.

This animal is a hunter. In fact, tigers are probably better than any other land animal at capturing large prey single-handedly. Even so, the life of a tiger is not easy. Finding food can be difficult, especially for a tiger that is old or weak.
When they are desperate, some of them may even attack humans. But tigers also get blamed unfairly for many deaths. Very few people are really killed by tigers each year. Most tigers run away when they see people. And with good reason.

What tigers have done to people is nothing compared to what people have done to tigers. Over the last 200 years, we have almost eliminated them in the wild. Today, they are one of the most endangered animals on earth.

If humans do not disturb it, a tiger may live 20 years or more. Females usually live longer than males, because the males live more dangerously.
They often fight among each other. Sometimes one of them is killed this way, or wounded so badly that it cannot hunt.

It isn't easy for people to tell a male tiger from a female, unless the female happens to be with her cubs, because only females take care of the young. Otherwise, the most obvious difference between males and females is size. Male tigers are much bigger. An adult male Bengal or Indian tiger usually weighs about 420 pounds (190 kilograms), and from head to rear, it is roughly seven feet long (2 meters). Females are about a foot shorter (30 centimeters), and they weigh about one hundred pounds less (45 kilograms).
Sumatran tigers are generally smaller than Indian or Bengal tigers. The biggest tiger ever measured was a male Siberian Tiger. It was over 9 feet long (2.6 meters) and weighed more than 700 pounds (320 kilograms).

Tigers once roamed over most of Asia. Some trekked over the frozen north, others climbed the jagged mountains of Central Asia, and many crept through the steamy jungles of the south. The tigers that lived in these different places gradually developed into a number of different types, or races.

Although tigers have been able to live in different climates and landscapes, they have not been able to live alongside people. In fact, people have killed so many tigers that two races may already by extinct.

The Bengal tiger is the most common tiger in the world today. In all, there are about 2,500 Bengal tigers, and most of them live in India. The
Caspian tiger is one that you will only see in pictures. This beautiful cat is now extinct. The Chinese tiger used to live in most parts of China.
Today, there are fewer than a hundred Chinese tigers in the whole country.

The Siberian tiger is the largest of all living tigers. It also lives in the coldest climate, but it has very thick fur to keep it warm. And its pale color makes it hard to see in the bleak, snowy landscape of Siberia.
This makes it easier to get close to its prey. There are no more than 200
Siberian tigers living in the wild.

Sumatran and Javan tigers live on land south of the Asian continent.
Their islands are covered by heavy, tropical jungles. To help them run and hide in the jungle, these tigers are smaller than other tigers. Today, there are fewer than 30 Sumatran and Javan tigers left in the wild.

The body of a tiger is like a deadly weapon. It has the quickness and strength to take down animals twice its size. It has long, razor-sharp claws for grabbing its prey. And it has enormous teeth, which can easily kill large animals.

But a tiger is also very quiet. It can sneak up on its prey without being seen or heard. And its stripes help it do this, because they make it easier for the tiger to hide. You will also discover another reason why a tiger's stripes are interesting. You can learn to tell one tiger from another by its stripes.

Like other cats, tigers usually keel their claws hidden beneath the fur. This way the claws do not wear down too quickly. And they won't make noise when the tiger steps on rocks or hard ground. When it wants to use its claws for grabbing or scratching, the tiger will extend them.

Tigers have longer canine teeth than any other predator. One of these teeth is at least 10 times longer than the biggest tooth in your mouth.
Using its big canine teeth and its broad, powerful paws, a tiger can kill its prey with one quick bite.

CUB LIFE

Tigers and other predators play an important role in nature. By killing deer and other prey, they keep the numbers of these animals under control. And because of this, the animals that survive are healthier.

If there were no tigers in the wild, the number of prey animals would grow too fast. At first, they would eat so much that they would destroy many plants. And then many of these animals would go hungry.

A big, hungry tiger can eat about 100 pounds of meat (45 kilograms) at one sitting. This is about one fifth of its total weight. That would be like a 10-year-old human eating 40 hamburgers in one meal. Of course, a tiger has to eat this much because it often goes several days without eating anything.

On occasion, a tiger will attack a baby rhino. This can be dangerous though, because the mother rhino is probably close by. And even a tiger does not want to make a four-thousand-pound rhino (1,800 kilograms) angry!

If a tiger is hungry enough, it may even attack a bear. But that may be a big mistake.

Baby tigers look like cute kittens. At birth, they are about 12 inches long (30 centimeters), and they weigh less than two pounds (one kilogram).
But in a year's time, these "kittens" will be big enough to hunt deer and buffalo.

A mother tiger usually gives birth to two, three, or four cubs at a time. This is necessary so that at least one of her cubs will survive. Many predators attack tiger cubs. To help keep them safe, the mother stays with her cubs for three or four years. During this time, the young tigers have a lot to learn from her if they are to hunt and survive on their own.

Animals, unlike man, must either capture prey, or, evade predators. In order for these animals, such as the tiger, to get close enough to its prey for the attack, these animals must be able to hide, or blend in with the background. That way the prey animal does not know that they are there…

The tiger uses what is known as disruptive camouflage, which means that instead of blending in with it's surroundings, the tiger uses it's stripes to break it's outline, or familiar shapes into smaller unfamiliar shapes.

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