The tiger is a rare species that once had eight sub-species to its name. Now, however, the count of subspecies has been brought down to five due to the poachers who hunt these beloved animals.

        In such zoos the tigers are fed anything from horsemeat to chicken.  They are fed such things because they fall into the category of carnivore.  A carnivore is a meat eater and in the wild the tiger can be caught felling such animals as deer, antelopes, pigs, buffalo, and even young elephants.  The most common way for a tiger to kill is a large bite on the jugular of its prey with the tiger’s extremely large jaws.  The tiger’s jaw muscles are terribly powerful and getting caught by a tiger means almost certain death.  They are, however, pretty slow runners and terrible climbers.  One of the only things they excel at is swimming.  Despite these faults, the tiger manages to easily catch prey through stealth.  They are able to hide easily because of their stripes.  The stripes are what make it possible to hide in the high grasses or trees of the area.  Tigers usually hunt at night.  They are able to hunt in the darkness because of their acute sense of smell.  They also have excellent vision.  The speed a tiger can reach is usually between sixty kilometers an hour and seventy kilometers an hour.  They may be able to run fast, but they do have a ton of stamina, which means that most hunts are rather short.  A tiger actually needs to sleep sixteen to eighteen hours a day, which also decreases their hunting time.  Unlike their lion cousins, tigers are solitary and therefore hunt alone.

        Tigers may hunt alone, but there are instances where two tigers will come together.  Most of the time two tigers can be found sharing a large kill.  The only other times a tiger is seen with another tiger is during a reproduction or sharing a water hole.  Reproduction between tigers usually occurs when the female reaches three to four years of age.  As always the male matures later.  The male tiger reaches maturity during its fourth or fifth year of life.  The female will then give birth after a total of 98 to 110 days.  The usual amount of cubs born is between two or four.  These cubs will then live for an average of less than fifteen years.  This average is drawn without considering other threats of the lives of Bengal tigers in the modern age.

        Despite the fact that tigers are listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and protected by the Convention of International trade in Endangered Species treaty, there are poachers that hunt the wild animals daily.  Tigers are poached for many different reasons.  The main one is that their body parts are used for traditional Chinese medicine and even in some bizarre recipes.  There is also the matter of their fur, which is made into expensive coats only for the highly paid.  It has been estimated that one tiger is poached daily.  If this number were switched around to one person being killed by a tiger a day, I’m sure people would care more about it.  The number of tigers in the wild had been low for quite some time due to an old sport that Indian and British royalties used to play.  The main object of the sport was to go hunting for wild species such as the tiger and kill them to mount their heads.  The game has since been outlawed but as stated before, poaching still remains.  The estimation is that only 3,000 Bengal tigers remain in the wild.  This number is even horrendously lower for the more exotic white Bengal tigers.  In general, however, the amount of all the tigers left in the wild is 5,000 to 7,4000 tigers.  Another problem facing the Bengal tigers comes in the form of building companies.  Economic prosperity is another big reason why tigers are being killed.  Much of the tiger’s natural habitat is being destroyed to build something on it or to use its valuable resources.  This drives tigers from their homes.  If the exact area the tigers’ lives in has not been destroyed, it is still faces with the repercussions of the loggers’ actions.  Animals that the tiger depend on to live are also reaching low levels of existence.

        The Bengal tiger is one of the most beautiful animals in the world.  It is not the fastest of the big cats or the most agile, but tigers are well feared in the wild.  There are five sub-species to the tiger and all are carnivores.  These magnificent animals have many threats places on their existence.  They can be found in many zoos around the world living under protected conditions.  Hopefully the tigers will pull through and never go extinct.

Bibliography

Animals Bytes. Seasworld/Busch Gardens. 5 May 2004

http://www.seaworld.org/AnimalBytes/tigerab.html

Bengal Tigers. Lucky Duck’s Bengal Tiger Page. 5 May 2004

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3785/bengaltiger.html

The Royal Bengal Tiger. Bengalinet. 6 May 2004

http://www.bangalinet.com/bengaltiger.htm

One of Nature’s Most Feared Predators. Middle Tennessee State University. 5 May 2004

http://www.mtsu.edu/~jpurcell/Walker/Wildlife/tigers.html

Bengal Tiger. Nashville Zoo. 6 May 2004

http://www.nashvillezoo.org/b_tiger_adopt.htm