International Tiger Day – 29th July
International Tiger Day – 29th July
Global Tiger Day is celebrated every year on July 29th as a way to raise awareness about this magnificent endangered big cat, Tiger.
The tiger, Panthera tigrisis the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panthera. There are eight recognized subspecies and only five species are extant; Siberian, Bengal, Indochinese, South China, Sumatran. Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers are the largest.
Tiger is most recognizable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside.There is notable sexual dimorphism between male and female tigers, female Tigers are smaller. Generally, males vary in total length 220 to 310 cm and weight between 90 to 300 kgs. Females vary in total length from 190 to 275 cm, weight 65 to 167 kg.
Tigers are powerful Apex predators. They have short thick neck, broad shoulders and massive forelimbs, ideal for grappling with prey while holding on with long retractile clams and broad forepaws. A tiger`s tongue is covered with hard papillae, to scrapple flesh off the bones of prey. It is territorial and generally a solitary but social predator.
Tigers live in wide variety of habitats various types of forests including mangrove swamps, elevators up to 3960 metres and climate variants from warm moist areas to temperature low as -40 degrees Celsius. It now mainly occurs in the Indian subcontinent, the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumathra and the Russian Far East, while its status in the Korean Peninsula is unknown.
They mostly feed on large and medium-sized mammals, particularly ungulates weighing 60–250 kg. Tigers are capable of taking down larger prey like adult gaur and wild water buffalo, but opportunistically eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines and fish. They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, bears, snakes and crocodiles. Tiger attacks on adult Asian elephants and Indian rhinoceros have also been reported. More often, tigers take the more vulnerable small calves.
Tiger cubs stay with their mother for about two years and then become independent, leaving their mother`s home range to establish their own.
Across their range, tigers face unrelenting pressures from poaching, retaliatory killings, and habitat loss. They are forced to compete for space with dense and often growing human populations.
– Source: Internet –