10 Amazing Animal Facts (Tiger)

Tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to 3.38 m over curves and weighing up to 388.7 kg in the wild. The tiger is the most powerful of all the big cats, and is native to east and southern Asia. There are six different subspecies of tiger which are the Bengal tiger, the Indochinese tiger, the Malayan tiger, the Sumatran tiger, the Siberian tiger and the South China Tiger. The white tiger is actually a Bengal tiger and is therefore not a subspecies itself.

Fast Facts about Tiger

1. Tigers hunt snakes, boar, buffalo, crocodiles, deer, leopards and camels and are extremely effective at catching their prey due to their silent, stalking approach and their powerful bodies. Tigers are also known to hunt sloth bears, dogs, and pythons as well as monkeys and hares. They quietly stalk their prey until they are close enough to pounce – then they kill their victim with a bite to the neck or back of the head. Ouch!

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2. Tiger can reach a speed of up to 90km an hour, making the tiger extremely fast. Tigers have even been known to conflict with rhinos and elephants with the tiger generally winning.

3.  A tiger’s legs are so powerful that they can remain standing even when dead, they have been known to have been shot, bleed out, and die, all while standing up. Pretty weird.

4. A group of tigers is known as an ‘ambush’ or ‘streak’ but they are hardly seen in groups; Tigers are solitary animals.

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5. There are more tigers held privately as pets than there are in the wild.

6. Lions and tigers are closely related. If you shaved them you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart because their body structure is so similar. Tigers that breed with lions give birth to hybrids known as tigons and ligers.

7. Tigers are good swimmers, they have the ability to swim, jump and climb trees very effectively.

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8. They may be big and heavy, but tigers are by no means slow movers. In fact, at full speed they can reach up to 75km/h!

9. Tigers can tell the age, gender, and reproductive condition of other tigers by subtleties in the smell of urine markings.

10. The lifespan of a tiger is 20 – 26 y (In captivity) and 10 to 15 years out in the wild.