Roaming in shadowy monsoon forests, cool mangrove swamps and the cold, frosty forests of its few remaining homes, the tiger is celebrated as the striped king of beasts. The tiger can live in hot places like the bamboo jungles and rainforests of Malaysia and even in very cold places like snowy Siberia.

In India, tigers live in grasslands, dry forests, and evergreen hills. Unlike the lion, which likes open country, the tiger is a secretive animal and prefers lush forests and grasslands.

Thousands of years ago, eight different sub-species of tigers roamed all over Asia. They were named after the places in which they lived. But today three of these are extinct and only five species remain.

Bengal Tiger | Indo-Chinese Tiger
Siberian or Amur Tiger | Sumatran Tiger
South Chinese or Amoy Tiger | Extinct Tiger Species

Bengal tiger

The Indian or royal Bengal tiger Panthera tigris tigris is found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and even parts of Myanmar. It is estimated that only about 3000 of these are alive today.

They live in the mangrove swamps of the Sundarbans in West Bengal, grasslands, dense forests and even in the cold coniferous forests of the Himalayas.
A male Bengal tiger (from head to tail) is about 2.5 m. long and weighs between 180-230 kg. The female is usually just as long but is lighter, and weighs about 125-160 kg. Bengal tigers live 15 to 20 years in the wild.

These tigers mainly prey on sambar (deer), wild boar, antelopes and gaur. Females roam a territory of 10-40 sq. km and males a territory of 30-100 sq. km. The roar of the Bengal tiger can be heard even three kilometres away from it.

White tigers

White tigers are not a separate sub-species. They are regular tigers with the same face, tail and pugmarks, the only difference is that they are white in colour. They have blue eyes and pink noses. White tigers may have brown or black stripes though some have been seen without any stripes at all.

Almost all white tigers are descendants of a white tiger who was captured in a forest by the Maharaja of Rewa in 1951.

The colour of a tiger is determined by genetics. Each gene is made up of two alleles. Every tiger is given two alleles, one by its mom and one by its dad. Two alleles marking orange colour make an orange tiger. Only when a tiger has two alleles, which are white, does it get its white colour. A tiger with one white allele and one orange one is called a carrier and is coloured orange. That is why white tigers are not as common as orange ones.

If you have trouble understanding what alleles are, think of them as coloured cards. You play a game where every player gets two cards. There are, let's say, only two colours in the entire deck - red and white. And let's say there are a lot more red cards in the deck than white ones. If you get two red cards, you're in the Red Queen's kingdom. If you get two white cards (which is really, really rare), you get to be in the White Queen's kingdom. But if you get one Red and one White, you'd be either Red (because Red 'dominates' over white) or Pink (if both of them are friendly and gel together.) It's the same logic with 'White Tigers'.

Could there be Black Tigers too?

Black tigers with brown, yellow or white stripes on black skin may also exist. In October 1992, such a skin was recovered from smugglers at Tis Hazari and even displayed at the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi in February, 1993.

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Indo-Chinese tiger
The Indo-Chinese tiger Panthera tigris corbet is distributed across Thailand and is also found in south China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and even parts of Malaysia. It lives in hilly or mountainous forests. These regions are often along the borders of countries and are therefore restricted areas. Scientists have only recently been given permission to study these tigers. There are only about 1,200 to 1,800 Indo-chinese tigers left in the wild.

The Indo-Chinese tigers are darker than the Bengal tiger but lighter than Sumatran tigers. They have short, black, narrow stripes. Their stomach, throat and cheeks have large white markings.

These tigers are one of the smaller sub-species. The male is between 2.6 to 2.9 m. long and it weighs 150-200 kg. The female is between 2.3 to 2.6 m. long and weighs from 60 to 130 kg.

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Siberian or Amur tiger

The Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica is found in the coniferous, scrub, oak and birch woodlands of Russia. The Siberian tiger is the largest of all tiger species. Males can grow upto 3.5 m. and weigh around 100 to 150 kg. Females measure about 2.5 m. and weigh about 100-150 kg. Only about 400 of them left in the wild. Some tigers of this species are also found in southeast China.

They have thick white fur around their necks with white markings on their chests and bellies. The orange colouring is lighter than that of the other species. Their stripes are widely spaced and are more brown than black. Their fur is longer in order to survive the cold climate and snowy habitat that it lives in.

The Amur tiger usually preys on wild boar and elk. Due to its prey species being unevenly distributed, the amur moves about more territory than any other tiger species. Females roam a territory of 100-400 sq. km. and males a territory of 800-1,000 sq. km.

There is serious concern for the future of this tiger as it is still being poached and is also losing its habitat due to the timber trade. Even though the Russian governmemt has set up conservation parks to help save the Amur, it is still in danger of becoming extinct.

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Sumatran tiger

The Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That's where it gets its name! There are only 400-500 of these tigers in the wild, making the Sumatran tiger the second most endangered species of tiger in the world.

It is the smallest of all the tiger species. The male weighs about 120 kg. and is about 2.5 m. long. The female weighs approximately 90 kg. and is about 2.2 m. long.

Its small size makes it easier for this tiger to move through the jungle. It is also a very fast swimmer and often attacks its prey in water. Its stripes are closer as compared to other tigers and its colouration is also darker. They have a 'ruff' (longer hair) at the back of the head and neck that is more distinct than in the other sub-species.

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South Chinese or Amoy tiger
The South Chinese tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis is also known as the Amoy tiger.

The Amoy tiger is found in central and eastern China and is considered to be the evolutionary ancestor of all the other tiger sub-species.

Did you know that China is the only country in the world where four sub-species of tiger are found (in the wild)?

Anyway, coming back to the Amoy tiger, it is the one of the smallest sub-species with short, broad stripes spaced far apart. The female of this species weighs 100 to 114 kg. and its length is about 2 m. The male, on the other hand, weighs 130-170 kg. and is length ranges from 2.3 m. to 2.6 m.

The south Chinese tiger is the most endangered species in the world. There are only 20-40 of these tigers left in the wild. 40 years ago, there were around 4,000 but they are being hunted mercilessly and may soon be extinct.

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Extinct tiger species

The Caspian, Balinese and Javan tigers have already become extinct. This means that we will never ever see these tigers again.

• The Caspian tiger Panthera tigris virgata once roamed Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Mongolia, and the Central Asiatic area of Russia. It probably became extinct in the 1950s.
• The Balinese tiger Panthera tigris balica lived in Bali, where the last tiger was believed to have been killed in 1937.
• The Javan tiger Panthera tigris sondaica lived on the Indonesian island of Java and has not been seen since 1972.

Many years ago, tigers used to live all across southern Asia, but because of people hunting them down and cutting trees from the forests, there are very few places in Asia where they can be found now. We must save the existing tigers so that they do not go extinct just as these three species already have.

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