Anna Claybourne - Tigers

In the shadows between the trees of an Indian forest, half-hidden in the long, wavinggrass, a powerful predator lurks. Unseen by a quietly grazing chital deer, the tigerstealthily creeps closer, crouching low to the ground. A few moments later, it pounces,a flash of orange and black. It leaps onto the chital, its huge jaws clamping aroundits neck. The tigers dinner is served.

Like small pet cats, tigers, along with other big cats, belong to the cat family,which scientists call the felids. The felid family includes many small and medium-sizedcats, such as the Scottish wildcat, lynx, bobcat, and ocelot. Only the biggest membersof the family are known as big cats. There are several types, or species :

• Tigers
• Lions
• Leopards
• Snow leopards
• Jaguars
• Pumas
• Cheetahs
• Clouded leopards

Cats are part of a larger animal group, the mammals. Humans are mammals too, andso are dogs, mice, seals, and elephants. Mammals all share several features. Theyhave bony skeletons on the inside, and hair or fur on the outside. They are warm-blooded,meaning they can stay warmer than their surroundings. And mother mammals feed theirbabies on milk from their bodies.

Of all the big cats living in the wild, the tiger is the biggest. A large male Siberiantiger on all four legs would stand face-to-face with an average 8-year-old human.From nose to tail, he would be almost as long as a small car. He could jump 45 metres(1316 feet) high, higher than a ceiling, or leap up to 9 metres (30 feet) rightacross a road. A tigers legs are thick and sturdy, its tail is long and heavy, andits body is packed full of powerful muscles.

Like other cats, tigers are predators, and hunt other animals to eat. A tigers bodyis built for leaping suddenly onto large prey , like a wild boar or deer, and holdingit tight so it cannot escape. However, tigers dont hunt all the time. Like pet cats,they also love to snooze, lounge around, clean themselves, and play.

Tigers bright orange and black stripes make them instantly recognizable to us. However,the stripes actually provide camouflage among the long grasses and leafy forestsof Asia, where tigers live. Camouflage is vital for tigers, as they hunt their preyby stalking it as quietly and invisibly as possible. Like our fingerprints, eachtiger has its own unique pattern of stripes.

There is one big cat thats bigger than a tiger: the liger. A liger is the offspringof a tiger mother, and a lion father, and can grow to almost 4 metres (13 feet) long.However, ligers only exist in zoos. They arent really a true species, and are notfound in the wild.

This Bengal tiger is in the middle of a breathtaking leap.

Scientists classify all living things, meaning they sort them out into groups toshow how they are related. Each species belongs to its own particular group or genus.Each genus belongs to a larger family, each family is part of a larger order, andso on.

A classification triangle like this is a good way to see how a particular animal,such as the tiger, is classified. At the top is the largest group that tigers belongto, the animal kingdom. As you go down, the classification narrows into smaller andsmaller groups, such as mammals and cats.

This diagram shows how the tiger is classified.

There is only one species of tiger, but it is divided into six types, or subspecies.The subspecies all look similar, but are different in size and in some body features,such as the thickness and colour of their coats. The six subspecies are:

• Siberian or Amur tiger
• Bengal or Indian tiger
• Sumatran tiger
• Indochinese tiger
• South China tiger
• Malayan tiger

There used to be three other subspecies too: the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers.They all became extinct during the 1900s.

This is a rare Malayan tiger cub.

Where do tigers live?

A wild Bengal tiger at home in the grassy Indian jungle.