Don’t you agree with me when I say that a tiger is one of the most beautiful animals on Earth? Personally, I struggle to think of anything that tops its beauty, but a quick Google search will confirm that they’re certainly in the top 10. I recently did some research and found ten fun and interesting facts about tigers that made them even more impressive in my eyes.
1. Tigers Are the Largest Members of the Cat Family
Alright, you probably knew this, but you need to bear with me on this one. Give yourself a chance to fully grasp the size of these cats if you haven’t seen one in person. Knowing that they’re the biggest of the big cats is one thing, but did you know that Amur or Siberian tigers can weigh up to 660 lbs.? Or that they can be 10 feet long from nose to tail? Now that’s impressive!
2. Tigers Have Lived on Earth for a Long Time
This is pretty crazy, but apparently tigers have been around for more than 2 million years! I can’t even begin to fathom what Earth was like 2 million years ago. The earliest tiger fossil was found in Henan in China and yes, they believe it’s that old! I’ll give you a second to let that sink in!
3. Tigers Are Endangered
Unfortunately, our own kind has failed yet another animal species. It’s almost like we’re trying to see how many we can eliminate.
After more than 2 million years on Earth, due to reasons like habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade, tigers are facing extinction. In fact, 3 of the 9 subspecies are already extinct.
4. Tigers Have Unique Stripes
Tigers didn’t make the list of animals that have unique fingerprints. Instead, they have unique stripes. Scientists use this knowledge when studying tigers. With the help of camera traps, they can count the number of tigers in an area by counting and comparing their stripes.
5. Tigers Have One Weekly Meal
Tigers are apex predators and one of the deadliest animals in India. You’d expect that they have free reign when it comes to sourcing meals, right? Well – as it turns out – these beauties have trouble landing large meals.
Instead of hunting down a deer every day, they have a pretty bad success rate. Only 1 out of every 10 (or 10%) of their hunts is successful. This means that the average tiger only enjoys one main meal per week. Don’t you go ahead and feel too bad for them because one meal is enough to keep them going! Plus, they spend the rest of the time snacking on smaller prey like rodents and birds.
6. Tigers Hide Their Meals
Well, after what we just learned, this one probably doesn’t shock you. I don’t know about you but I’d also hide my food if I didn’t know when my next meal would be.
Tigers hide the remains of their food when they can’t eat it all in one sitting. They may be apex predators but that doesn’t stop vultures and other scavengers from stealing their food. So, they dig holes in the ground and cover their food with leaves and dirt.
7. Infant Tigers Are Blind
Tiger cubs are blind from birth and it takes six to twelve days for their eyes to open. Then, it takes a couple more weeks for their blurry sight to fully develop to perfect vision. Because of this, baby tigers are very dependent on their mothers. Sadly, approximately 50% of them don’t make it past the two-year mark.
8. Tigers Have Fake Eyes
Speaking about tiger eyes; did you know that they have fake eyes? You wouldn’t think that tigers, holders of an apex predator title and biggest of the big cats, still find themselves in vulnerable positions. I certainly didn’t.
However, they can’t always be on guard. If they were, they would never rest or drink water. And yes, some animals are crazy enough to want to attack a tiger. Thus, tigers have two white spots behind their ears that act as a decoy to make predators believe that they’re looking at them.
9. Tigers Love Water
I’ve always wondered why cats hate water but what really doesn’t make sense to me is why tigers love it. For some reason, the biggest members of the cat family are rather fond of water. Apparently, they enjoy a quick dip in the closest water source, and it just so happens that they’re pretty good swimmers.
10. Tigers Can Interbreed
Before you go, there’s one last fact that we haven’t touched yet, and I definitely saved the strangest for last!
Have you ever heard of a liger or tigon? Those are the names of the two different tiger and lion hybrids. A liger is the product of a male lion and female tiger crossbreed, while a tigon is the opposite. There you have it; tigers can interbreed with lions!
