Tigers

Tigers  by Katie S.

 Within the species of tiger, there are five different kinds. They are called the Bengal, the Sumatran, the Siberian, the South China, and the Indo- Chinese. These are the only five that are not extinct. The major differences between them are where they live. The Bengal tiger lives in the hot forests of India. The Indo- Chinese lives in China, Thailand, and Myanmar. The Sumatran lives on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The Siberian is the biggest of all tigers, and it lives in the forests on the Amur river between Russia and China. The South China tiger lives in southern China, and it is the most endangered.

 Tigers are predators. This means that they hunt for their food. They are also carnivores, which means they only eat meat. Tigers mainly eat deer, water buffalo, wild pigs, guar, and monkeys. Tigers catch their prey by hiding in the tall grass and watching the prey. When the prey has its back turned, the tiger pounces. In midair, the tiger sinks its sharp claws into the prey's neck and snaps the spine. The prey cannot breathe and it dies. Then the tiger drags the prey off and makes sure it is not being followed.

Hybrid tigers are uncommon, and can only be found in captivity. For example, a male lion crossed with a female tiger is a liger, and a male tiger crossed with a lioness is a tigon. A tigard is a male tiger crossed with a leopardess. A tiguar is a male Siberian tiger crossed with a female jaguar. A male leopard crossed with a female tiger is a dogla. These are the known offsprings of a tiger crossed with another big cat.

Tigers come in many colors, some due to genetic mutation. The ghost tiger is almost all white, sometimes with very few feint tan stripes. The classic, or standard tiger is orange with black stripes. The white tiger is white with black stripes. The Golden tabby, or Strawberry tiger is orange with a range of stripes varying from light tan to dark tan. Melanistic tigers, or black tigers are all black (too much pigment in the fur). Albino tigers are all white with no stripes at all. Maltese tigers have said to be blue, but are actually gray. The few that have blue have a very pale shade of it and looks gray from a distance. Maltese Tiger

Tigers are getting to the point where they are almost extinct. There used to be eight different kinds of tiger, but now there are only five. Poachers kill tigers for their fur to make coats and other accessories. Some crazed hunters kill them for sport, and another problem is people moving into the tigers' environment. There are very few tigers left in the wild. There are about 4,000 Bengal tigers in the wild, between 1,100 and 1,800 Indo- Chinese left, about 450 Siberian tigers, and about 450 Sumatran tigers left. There are no more South China tigers left in the wild, but there are about sixty in zoos in China.Back in 1972 the World Wide Fund for Nature, along with the government of India started Project Tiger. More than forty tiger reserves were created and the species was given full protection, along with a trade ban on all tiger items. Zoos also help tigers from becoming completely extinct.