Our kids love to read tiger stories. Frankly speaking, their glory is no less than that of legendary animals. Unfortunately, they’re not human friendly. These largest wild cats are solitary hunters, they don’t hunt in groups. Would you like to know a bit more about this predator? So here are the 20 facts about tigers for your knowledge:
1. You’ll find total six subspecies of this animal across the world.
2. The Siberian tiger, the Bengal tiger, the South China tiger, the Malayan tiger, the Indochinese tiger and the Sumatran tiger are those six species.
3. You know, tigers can even mate with the lions, leopards and other cats.
4. When tigers mate with lions, the hybrids produced are generally very large in size.
5. The hybrid of a female lion and male tiger is called Tiglon, which is a smaller size offspring. On the other hand, the hybrid of a male lion and female tiger is a Liger, which is of much bigger size offspring.
6. What types of fur colors can be seen in tigers? You may see tigers with white, gold, black and even blue fur depending on their genes.
7. A tiger can live for up to 25 years, whether in the zoos or in the open jungles.
8. It is weird but tigers have better memory than humans.
9. To be very precise, the memory of a tiger can last thirty times longer than a human.
10. The brain of a tiger weights about 300g. This is the largest brain size among all carnivores.
11. Tigers use their paws and teeth to hunt their prey. Although it mostly prefers to use its sharp teeth when killing, it might like to use its paws in some cases.
12. They try to kill through blood loss or strangulation. Their sharp and robust teeth can make their prey lifeless in seconds.
13. Among many other misconceptions, it’s also the one that a tiger’s body parts can be used as a medicinal cure for the sufferers.
14. For example, it’s said that some body parts of tigers can be used for treatment of digestive problem and arthritis, which is totally wrong.
15. This type of ill thought has been the main reason for unauthorized tiger killings. Poaching tigers for producing some medicines are common practice in some countries though.
16. Some species of the tigers have gone to extinction. There were Bali tigers earlier. We don’t have this special tiger species anymore.
17. Poaching tiger or using it for producing medication is completely illegal in China. Such act may be punishable by death.
18. Despite imposing strict rules, the government could not ban poaching tigers completely in countries like Southeast Asia. Tigers are used for producing medications in Cambodia and Laos.
19. Do you know tiger’s saliva acts like an antiseptic for them? They lick their wounds to disinfect and heal them quickly.
20. A tiger’s attacking technique varies according to the need. If a crocodile attacks it when the tiger is in the water, it immediately strikes it in the eyes and makes it blind.
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