Fun Tiger Facts for Kids

• Scientific name is Panthera Tigris
• Tigers live on the continent of Asia in grasslands, forest and swamps.
• Tigers are an endangered species.
• There are nine  sub-species:

Indochinese Tiger: Panthera Tigris Corbetti: Lives in Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.

Malayan Tiger,Panthera Tigris Jacksoni: Became a sub-species in 2004. Lives in Southeast Asia and is critically endangered.

Sumatran Tiger, Panthera Tigris Sumatrae: Smallest of all tigers. Lives in Sumatra a small Indoesian island and is critically endangered.

Siberian Tiger,Panthera Tigirs Altaica: Lives in Eastern Sibera

Bengal Tiger, Panthera Tigirs Tigirs: Most common of all tigers.  Lives in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

South China Tiger, Panthera Tigris Amoyensis: most Critically endangered. Lives in South China.

Caspian Tiger, Bali Tiger and Javan Tiger are all extinct.

• Tigers are in the cat family and is the largest cat in the world.
• A male tiger is called a Tiger.
• A female tiger is called a tigress.
• A baby is called a cub.
• They can weight between 250-700 pounds.
• They can be 6 feet – 11 feet long with a 3 foot long tail.
• Tigers can run up to 40 miles per hour and jump 16 feet high.
• A tigers roar can be heard over 2 miles away.
• They are the 3rd largest land carnivore (meat eating) in the world. Polar Bears are first and Brown Bears are second.
• Tigers like to hunt at night.  They have excellent eyesight for catching prey.
• Tigers hunt different types of deer, buffalo, antelopes, wild boars, baby elephant and rhinos and most other animals they can catch.
• Tigers like to sneak up on their prey, they watch it then sprint to catch it.  They bite their prey throat or back of the neck to kill it.
• A tiger can eat up 60 pounds of meat but usually they eat less.
• It can take a couple of days for the tiger to eat their entire prey.  They will eat until they are full then cover the animal with leaves and dirt to hide it.  When they are hungry again they will go back to finish eating.
• Unlike other cats tiger like the water.  They like to live by water.  Tigers can swim up to 4 miles.
• Like our fingerprints no two tigers have the same stripe pattern.
• Not only are tigers fur stripped but their skin is stripped too!
• A tiger retracts their claws when walking.  They do not leave claw prints in their footprints.
• Tigers like to be alone except during mating.
• Mother tigers give birth after approximately 100 days.
• A mother can give birth to 1-6 tiger cubs.  Usually they have 2-3.
• A cub lives with their mother for 2 years.
• Cubs learn to hunt from their mother and can catch prey at about 1 year old.
• White tigers are very rare.  White tigers are born with a gene that causes them to be white.  Only 1 out of 10,000 tigers are born white tigers.
• A group of tigers is called an Ambush or Streak.
• Tigers can live up to 26 years in captivity and 10-15 years in the wild.
• There are more tigers living in captivity than their are in the wild.
• The only predator to a tiger is a human.
• A major threat to tigers is loss of habitat and hunting.