Natural Killing Machines: Tigers kill their prey by strangulation or blood loss. Tigers hunt their prey down by delivering a fatal bite to the neck which may strangulate the prey or cut through a major artery leading to massive blood loss and instantaneous death.
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On some occasions, tigers also kill their prey with their paws. A strong smack by the tiger's paw can even crack the skull or break the back of cattle. Tigers are able to bite through the bones of their prey very easily. A very interesting observation has been made in Amur and Bengal tigers. They have been noticed to imitate the calls of their prey on rare occasions. The former have been observed to imitate calls of black bears (their natural prey) and the latter have been found to imitate the calls of the sambhar (their natural prey).
Immense Muscular strength: The legs of tigers are so powerful that they can remain standing even when dead! Tigers are able to draw prey twice their own weight across long distances by virtue of their strength. Male Bengal tigers weigh about 180-350 kg! In spite of weighing so much, tigers are extremely agile and can leap distances of about 6m and jump vertically up to 5m.
I know what you did last summer: Tigers have an excellent memory and a tiger's short term memory lasts 30 times longer than ours. Wildlife researchers and forest officials who study tigers closely attest to this fact. There have been cases where tigers have been known to take their revenge on humans who killed their cubs. Tigers which turn man-eaters also hunt with extreme caution and planning which bears witness to the tiger's intelligence
Image by: Keven Law
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Coloured Tigers: Even though black and orange striped tigers are most common, some rare varieties of white, black, blue and golden tigers have also been reported. White Bengal tigers are rarely reported in wild and usually found in captivity.
These tigers lack the pheomelanin gene which produces the orange colour in Bengal tigers. White tigers also tend to grow faster and heavier than orange Bengal tigers. Black tigers have been reported in history and are rarely found in the wild. The colour of these tigers is due to pseudo melanism where the black stripes of the tiger are so close together that their tawny background is hardly visible. Blue tigers, also called Maltese tigers have been reported in the Fujian Province of China and in Korea. It is possible that these tigers are extinct at present.
Image by: Stewiemgr
Golden tigers are not found in the wild and are inbred in captivity. They possess a recessive gene that results in diluting the black stripes on the tiger. The striping of these tigers is much more paler and fades into spots or blotches.
Image by: Brad Coy
Eye to eye with the tiger: Tigers love to hunt their prey by surprise and get disinterested in the prey if they lose the element of surprise. So, if you are unfortunate (or fortunate) enough to come face to face with the Bengal tiger, the best thing to do is make yourself look big and scary and and look the tiger in the eye. Never, ever turn your back to the tiger as this can be a fatal mistake.
From the above facts, it must be clear to you why there is such a huge fuss about tigers! Tigers are the umbrella species of their ecosystem and attract attention of the common man with their magnetism and uniqueness. With the help of tiger conservation strategies it will be possible to maintain ecological balance.
So, join hands to save the tiger!
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