Gabriela Sympson Ms. Confer Biology July 8,2011

 Part of the Animalia Kingdom  2 nd Largest and heaviest cat in the cat family  Lives in the forest of India  Solitary animals  Males cover 20 square miles of land  Women cover 17 square miles of land  Has many dens and use which ever is most convenient at the time

TThe Bengal tiger is the classic orange and black but some are black and white AAlthought tigers are black and white they are not albino they have blue eyes NNo other tiger has the same stripe pattern HHeight from head to body is 6-8 ft. tall, tail 2-3 ft. WWeight pounds LLoves to be in water TThis picture show the detail of the tiger and it’s stripes

 The tigers have stripes to help them blend into their surroundings  The tigers hearing is very sharp they can hear sound waves below the range of normal sound  This picture shows how well the tigers can blend into the grass using their stripes to get prey

 A female tiger’s gestation period is three and a half months  It’s difficult to see a pregnant tiger because the don’t show until their last days  Spends last few days of pregnancy looking for a safe place to birth her cubs and a place that has and adequate amount of prey

 Females give birth to litters about 2-6 cubs  Self raised by the mom.  By one year the babies go out with their mother to hunt.  Babies stay with their mom until their 2 years old and then go out on their own to find their own territory.  By age five the tigers gave reach full maturity  Have white spots on the back of their head to identify each other

 Tiger cubs are normally born blind  And average cub weighs 785 pounds at birth  After six to twelve days the cubs eyes start to open but they don’t have their full vision for after a few weeks

 Bengal tiger are carnivores( they eat meat)  Such as  Buffalo  Deer  & wild pigs  The average Bengal tiger can eat up to to 60 pounds of food in one night  Usually get sick when prey is low in an area

 Tigers can live to about 15 years in the wild and about years in a controlled environment  Most tigers from lack of food

 Tigers are rapidly becoming extinct due to humans  Humans use tigers for medicine to cure ulcers, bites, and burns  Humans also use the tiger for food  Wild dogs are always on the hunt for tigers

 Hunt mostly at dusk and dawn to help them hide.  When done with prey or full they leave the pray for other mammals to eat  After the kill their prey they eat it by the water

 Have long horizontal nerves near the eye which allows them to have a better peripheral vision  They have structure behind the eye called the tapetum lucidum it allows them to have better night vision  Have large lenses and pupils to increase the amount the of light let in. This is what gives them night vision.

 here is a video that I found that show a Bengal Tiger in it’s habitat  oer57tcW0D4&feature=player_detai lpage

 Aggressiveness between tigers depends on how many tigers are in the area  Female tigers have smaller territories but are safer for raising children  Female tigers normally have territories next to or take over their mothers territory  This picture shows the tiger marking it’s territory using scent and by scraping the tree

 Tigers or mostly active at night this pattern may change due to seasons or prey activity.  Tigers constantly groom themselves to keep their coats in tip top shape and to moisturize using the oils that are given of by their glands.  They spend most of their day in water  They constantly patrol their territory

 Male and female tigers communicate through marking territories  Define boundaries by using urine because of the smell and sometimes feces  All tigers have a signature scent to mark territories, for cubs to find their mother, and to identify each other.  This scent is located in the toes  Tigers communicate by using their tales. If the tail is loosely hanging the tiger is relaxed; if the tail is moving from side to side rapidly it is showing aggression

 The Bengal tigers roar can be heard from 2 miles away  Tigers purr only when they breathe out while domestic cats purr when breathing in or out  After killing it’s prey it starts eating from the hind area first

 Emanoil, Mary. Encyclopedia of Endangered Species, Detroit: Gale Research Co  Worrall, Mary. Oxford Children's Encyclopedia volume 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press  "The Tiger Page", Wildlife/tigers.html, (October, 2000) Wildlife/tigers.html 