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| By: Crista |
Alone, a night of searching for prey may cover 10-20 km. (6-12 mi.) of terrain. A victim sighted, the tiger uses landscape & it's own striped coloration, which breaks up the outline of it's body against the tall grass, to camouflage.
White Bengal Tiger
Now the only
breed in zoos is the the white Bengal Tiger, and the Siberian Tiger.
Once inhabited north and east central India. All tiger subspecies are endangered
because suitable habitats have largely given way to agricultural use tigers
to require an environment that supports both dense cover and the large,
wild, hoofed mammals that are the meat of their diet.
The Bengal Tiger is most numerous in the mangrove
forests of the Sundarbans, located in Eastern India and Bangladesh, where
the river Ganges meets the bay of Bengal. It is also found in other areas
of India, as well as in some parts of Nepal and Burma.
Hunting
Since Bengal tigers are solitary and do not like to share their hunting grounds, they need large home ranges in which to hunt. Male tigers occupy about 20 square miles, A tiger usually has several dens in its home range and uses whichever one is most convenient at the time. Bengal tigers are nocturnal: they hunt at night. Though powerful and quick over short distances, they stalk their pray because they cannot outrun their faster prey. They kill their smaller prey by biting them on the back of the neck, and kill their larger prey with a bite on the throat. Tigers usually hunt wild ox and buffalo. Although tigers are capable of killing a bull more than three times its size, it likes to attack young and old animals that put up less resistance. In their natural habitat, the tigers prey on Axis deer, wild boar, and monkeys. Bengal tigers also attack on porcupines.
Breeding!
Bengal tigers usually breed in spring time. A male
will mate with a female in her home area. 20 to 80 days the male remains
with the female. She is fertile only for three to seven days. After the
mating, the male returns to his home and does not play in no part in taking
care of the cubs. About in fifteen weeks, the tigress gives birth to two
to four cubs. She raises them for eight weeks, then the Mama starts bringing
them meat as well. In about seven months, the cubs can hunt on their own.
The cubs stay with their mother for two to three years, that's when she
starts mating again.
Siberian Tiger!
The Siberian Tiger lives in a very large territory, that
ranges of more than 4,000 square miles have been recorded. It may occupy
the same territory from years if food sources are stable in the area. If
prey is difficult to get, they often migrate hundreds of miles.
Both males
and females mark their boundaries of where they live with urine and by
scratching trees. But only the male defends his territory against other
males, concentrating on the most important parts, such as a boundary close
to a female's territory or an area rich with food.
The male Siberian Tiger is capable
of hurting other males. He allows tigers of either sex to pass through
his territory, but he is more tolerant of females. The female sometimes
has her young with her.