The Bengal Tiger

THE BENGAL TIGER

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The Bengal tiger is a beautiful animal. The Bengal tiger is in the class of Mammalia and the order of Carnivora. They are in the cat family, Felidae, and the genus Panthera. All tigers are of the same species, P. Tigris.

The body of the Bengal tiger is broad with legs that are slender. The coat of this wild cat is reddish orange with black, gray or brown stripes on its body. No two Bengal tigers have the same stripe pattern, just like no two humans have the same finger prints. A Bengal tiger's stripes help them hide in the shadows of tall grass. The underside of the Bengal tiger is creamy white. A male adult Bengal tiger weighs around 450-550 pounds. A female weighs around 300 pounds.

Bengal tigers are found in many different areas and habitats in Asia. The Bengal tiger lives in parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Burma. Bengal tiger's habitats are tropical jungles, brush, marsh lands, and tall grasslands. They like to be in areas where there are lots of trees and brush to hide behind so they can ambush their prey. Sometimes they climb to the top of trees so they can pounce on prey from above.

The Bengal tiger is a carnivore, which means it only eats meet. Some of its favorite foods are water buffalo, wild boar, hogs, and monkeys. They also hunt other big cats like cheetahs and hyenas. A Bengal tiger may eat up to 88 pounds of meat in one feeding. The Bengal tiger likes to kill either young or old animals because they don't run as fast. Bengal tigers are nocturnal, and do most of their hunting at night. Although the Bengal tiger is a solitary beast, sometimes they can be found in a group of four to five tigers. This group is called a ''streak'' or an ''ambush''. It is very rare to find a group of Bengal tigers living together in the wild.

All tigers are endangered, but the Bengal tiger is the least threatened of the remaining tiger subspecies. Although they are the least threatened, the cubs are more endangered than the adult because they are born blind helpless and this makes them easy prey for predators. The Bengal tiger is endangered because of habitat loss, poaching for its fur, and hunting for its bones used in Chinese medicine. Scientists believe there are only around 4,000 total tigers left in the wild, and about 3,000 of these are Bengal tigers.

Bengal tiger babies are called cubs and are born live. A mother usually has two to four cubs at one time. All cubs are born blind and helpless. The cubs learn how to hunt from their mother. Sometimes she even provides a live animal for them to attack. Although the mother takes very good care of them most die before they are three years old because of bigger predators attacking them. Bengal tigers usually leave their mother by the time they are three or four years old.

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