Bengal Tigers

The Bengal Tiger lives in the forests and marshy jungles in India, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Bali. Both sexes mark territory but a male's territory will overlap several females' territories. The territory of a single tiger may cover 25 to 300 sq. mi. depending on the availability of prey. Like domestic cats, tiger claws are retractable. Tiger scratches on trees serve as territorial marks. Tigers are the most water-loving of the big cats, often seen lying in water to cool themselves. Tigers are also excellent swimmers. Tigers regulary cross rivers, lakes, or bays to hunt. Bengal Tigers are one of eight tiger subspecies, of which three have become extinct in the last 50 years. There are more Bengal Tigers than all four of the other remaining subspecies in the world put together.       The Bengal Tiger's scientific name  is Panthera Tigris Tigris. Male Bengal Tigers weigh from 400 to 600 lb., females weigh from  220 to 375 lb. A Bengal Tiger's lifespan is between 10 and 20 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Adult males from nose to tail are nearly 10 ft. long and adult females from nose to tail are slightly shorter than eight ft. long. Although tigers belong to the so called "roaring cats", they do not roar as much as lions, doing only so when charging or threatening. The roar of a Bengal Tiger can be heard two mi. away.       A Bengal Tiger's coat ranges from a light brownish-yellow to a deep orangish-red with black stripes. The fur on the throat, belly, and insides of the legs is white. Many tigers have a ruff of hair around the head. No one knows exactly why tigers are striped, but scientists think the strips act as camouflage, and help tigers hide from their prey. Tiger stripes are like human fingerprints; no two tigers have the same pattern of stripes. The white ear spots may enable mothers and cubs to keep track of each other in the dim forests at night. Tigers' tails are used for balance  as well as communicating with other tigers. Their tails are usually three to four ft. long. The head of a Bengal Tiger often carries the Chinese mark of wang or king on the forehead.        The Bengal Tiger usually  breeds in the spring and will mate over three to seven days. Tigers are polyestrous but most commonly conceive after the monsoon rains, the majority of cubs are born between February and May after a gestation period of three and a half months. The litter size is two to six cubs, but usually only two survive; they stay with their mother for a year. Tiger cubs are blind at birth, but have a fully marked coat and weigh from two to three lb. A Bengal Tiger mother is among the most caring parents in the world and will attack anything that will harm its young. Bengal Tigers will feed baby tigers even if they aren't their own.        A full grown tiger will eat 40 to 60 lb. of meat at one feed in the wild. A probable average intake would be about  20 lb. per day, involing the killing of 45 to 50 deer a year. They devour almost any king of animal, including leopards. In times of food shortages, tigers have been known to eat lizards, frogs, and even crocodiles. Some individuals  have cannibalistic instincts and eat other tigers, including their own young. A tiger is a voracious eater. It can kill the equivalent of 30 buffalos a year, and eat 77 lb. of meat in one night. The Bengal Tiger will hunt at night wandering over animal tracks along stream beds. Most tigers are nocturnal and have a special mirrior-like layer in the back of their eyes to help them see at night. Bengal Tigers stalk quietly and pounce since they're not able to chase an animal for a long distance. Tigers show remarkable strength in pulling  a carcass, and a well-grown male has been observed pulling a pig weighing 200 lb. more than half a mi. Tigers are solitary, and do not like sharing their hunting ground.       The White Bengal Tiger has pale icy blue eyes, creamy white fur with choclate stripes, pink nose, and pink paw pads. All White Bengal Tigers in the USA originated from one white male Bengal Tiger captured in India in 1951 and inbred from his offspring. Only Bengal Tigers have the double-recessive gene that causes white coloring. A Bengal Tiger cub that carries the recessive gene for whiteness is called Heterozygous. White Bengal Tigers are rarely seen in the wild, and is estimated that about one of every 10,000 Bengal Tigers turns out to be white. Only 12 White Bengal Tigers have been found in the wild.