The Bengal Tiger
Scientific Name: Panthera tigris tigris
Range: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal
- Average life span in the wild: 8 to 10 years
- Size: Head and body, 5 to 6 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m); tail, 2 to 3 ft (0.6 to 0.9 m)
- Weight: 240 to 500 lbs (109 to 227 kg)
- Protection status: Endangered (IUCN 2010)
- Did you know? A tiger's roar can be heard as far as 2 mi (3 km) away.
Prey: Antelope, Buffalo, Cattle, Deer, Pigs.
Gestation period: Approximately 103 days
Cubs per litter: 1-5; Average: 2-3
Cub Maturity: After 8 Weeks: join mother when hunting
Approximately 6 Months: learned how to kill
11/4 - 11/2 Years: can hunt for themselves
Approximately 6 Months: learned how to kill
11/4 - 11/2 Years: can hunt for themselves
Status: 1998 Approximates 3,176 - 4,556
1997 Approximates 3,000 - 4,700
Other Information:
1) Also known as the Royal Bengal Tiger.
2) Also known as the Indian Tiger.
3) All white tigers are Bengals. All white Bengals in captivity in the USA originated from one white male bengal captured in India in 1951 and inbred with his offspring. Only Bengal tigers have the double recessive gene that causes the white coloring. White tigers are not albino.
4) There are more Bengal tigers than all 4 of the other remaining tiger subspecies added together.
For over thousand years, tigers have been hunted as status symbols, as decorative item such as wall and floor coverings, as souvenirs and curios, and for use in traditional Asian medicines. Hunting for sport probably caused the greatest decline in tiger populations until the 1930s. In the early 1990s, trade in tiger bone for traditional Chinese medicines threatened to drive tigers to extinction in the wild. Poaching is the largest immediate threat to the remaining tiger population.
- Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
- Sources:
- WWF - India (http://www.wwfindia.org/royal_bengal_tiger.cfm)
- National Geographic (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bengal-tiger/)
- IUCN RedList 2010 (http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/136899/0)
- Zoo School (http://www.zooschool.ecsd.net/bengal%20tiger.htm)
