Bengal+Tiger

[[image:whitetiger.jpg width="172" height="206" align="left"]] **Siberian Tiger**
//**Panthera tigris**// alayna9 Eyes are large with excellent vision. Hearing is good with well developed ear flaps. They have large canine teeth and strong, powerful jaws. Paws are heavily padded; claws are retractable. Coloration is bright fawn to reddish tan, shading to white underneath, and sharply marked with uneven black stripes: a unique pattern for each individual. Fur is short and thick. Whiskers (vibrissae) are long with thick individual hairs. http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azbentig.html

Head/body length: 5 feet 10 inches- 9 feet 1 inch; tail length: 36 inches; weight: 350-550 pounds; shoulder height three feet or less. http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azbentig.html
 * Size**

**Diet**
Carnivorous. Diet varies according to locality. Prefers deer, wild pigs, young buffalo, young elephants and cattle in general, any prey over 100 pounds in weight. But when driven by hunger will eat almost anything: fowl, fish, lizards, frogs, crocodiles, carrion, or even humans, on occasion. Hunting method is a slow patient stalk through cover until close enough for the final spring. For prey less than half a tiger 's weight, the killing bite is delivered to the nape of the neck. For larger prey, a throat bite is prefered. Tigers are heavier predators than lions, and average about 50 deer each, per year. Only one hunt in 20 is successful. Man-eating and cattle-killing are usually attributed to older tigers, injured tigers, or young adults unable to leave an over-crowded territory. http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azbentig.html

**Population**
Endangered. They have been hunted heavily by man for sport, skins, and as a source of traditional medical products. Superstition has surrounded tigers for centuries; necklets of claws are thought to protect a child from "the evil eye", whiskers have been considered either a dreadful poison (Malaysia), a powerful aphrodisiac (Indonesia), or an aid to childbirth (India and Pakistan) and the bones, fat, liver and penis are prized as aphrodisiacs or medicines. The main tiger population of the Indian subcontinent has suffered a serious decline in the last 50 years. It is estimated that some 200 tigers yet survive in Nepal, and perhaps 4000 in India, up from a low of 2000 in the 1970s. A government program, called Project Tiger, established nine sanctuaries designed to provide ample habitat and prey. However, small isolated parks may promote inbreeding and the future of the Bengal tiger is still in question. In the 90s, there has been a resurgence of poaching for the escalating Chinese and Korean markets, in spite of a Chinese ban on tiger products in 1993 and South Korea's joining of CITIES. http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azbentig.html

**Lifespan**
A White Tigers life span in the wild is about 10-15 years. A White Tigers life span in a zoo is approximately 16-20 years. [|http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051798/WTBiology.html]

**Habitat**
Around 80% of Siberian tigers live within the coniferous, scrub oak and birch woodlands of the Primorski Krai region of Russia (eastern Russia), with low numbers also being found in northeast China and northern North Korea. http://www.yptenc.org.uk/docs/factsheets/animal_facts/siberian_tiger.html

Range
Almost all wild Siberian tigers live the Southeast corner of Russia in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range east of the Amur River. Their former range included northeastern China and the Korean Peninsula. http://tigersincrisis.com/siberian_tiger.htm

Offspring
Consider this: Only 1 in 4 tiger cubs from a white tiger bred to an orange tiger carrying the white gene are born white, and 80% of those die from birth defects associated with the inbreeding necessary to cause a white coat. Of those surviving, most have such profound birth defects, such as immune deficiency, scoliosis of the spine (distorted spine), cleft palates, mental impairments and grotesquely crossed eyes that bulge from their skull that only a small percentage are suitable for display. Due to these birth defects the white tigers often die an early death. According to some tiger trainers, only 1 in 30 of those white cats will consistently perform. The number of tigers that have to be produced and disposed of in order to fill the public’s desire to see white tigers on display is staggering. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/white_tigers.htm

**Interesting Facts**
A tigers paw prints are called "pug marks" The white tiger is not an albino. The first known white tiger was captured in the jungles of Rewa in 1951, by the Maharja of Rewa. This tiger was named Mohan.