The tiger is the largest cat species in the world; the largest tiger sub-species is the Siberian tiger. The approximate weight of the male is 500 pounds and the female is 300 pounds. The average length of the male tiger is 10 feet and the female 8 feet. The average height of a tiger is 3 feet. The appearance of the tiger depends to a great extent on where the animal lives.
Once tigers ranged from Java, Bali, southern Asia, eastern Turkey, to the eastern shores of Asia on the Okhotsk Sea, to the island of Sumatra, and to the west of India. Today, tigers are not found west of India or on the islands of Java and Bali. The remaining tigers are in China, Southern Asia, and Russia's far east; these are mostly isolated habitats, and tigers are greatly reduced in numbers.
Depending on geographic locations, tigers can be found in a variety of habitats. They range from tropical forests, evergreen forests, ravines, woodlands, mangrove swamps, grasslands, savannas, and rocky country.
The main predator of the tiger is humankind. They have been trapped, poisoned and hunted heavily by humans not only to eliminate threats to livestock, but also for sport, trophies, skins, and sources of traditional medical products.
Superstition has surrounded tigers for centuries; their body parts are used in Asian medicines. Necklets of tiger claws are thought to protect a child from "the evil eye"; tiger whiskers are considered either a dreadful poison (in Malaysia), a powerful aphrodisiac (in Indonesia), or an aid to childbirth (in India and Pakistan); the bones, fat, liver and penis of a tiger are prized as medicines.
Humans have also altered the natural habitats of tigers by their destruction and encroachment on the tigers' feeding range; humans are destroying their habitats by cutting down trees, moving into their preferred locations, polluting the water and air, and hunting their prey.
We have lost 97% of our wild tigers in just over a century. With as few as 3,200 remaining, action is needed to increase and strengthen their habitat and protect the species from major threats such as poaching.
Sources : http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/tiger.htm
www.wwf.org
