Fun Tiger Facts For Kids – Learn About Animals

What is a Tiger?

A tiger is another kind of big cat, similar to lions, leopards, and cheetahs.

While lions are one of the largest kinds of big cats, tigers are considered the very largest big cat in the world.

Tigers can grow up to 10 feet in length, and have been known to weigh up to 400 pounds.

Tiger

Appearance

Tigers are most well known for their stripes, and while there are many different kinds of tigers, most of them are bright orange with black stripes.

There is one kind of rarer tiger that is all white with black stripes, called a white tiger.

The orange and black pattern on most tigers is designed to help camouflage them in the jungle, so that they can sneak up on their prey.

Also important for hunting prey are their very large paws and large, very sharp claws.

Temperate Forest

Habitat

Tigers are native to the Asian continent, specifically countries such as India, Laos, Thailand, China, Russia, and Indonesia.

They prefer to live in areas where there is plenty of access to water, and where there is a lot of plant life, so that they can hide themselves when hunting.

Tiger Habitat

Diet

Like lions, tigers exclusively eat meat, which makes them carnivores.

Because they have no natural predators in their area other than human hunters, tigers are considered to be at the top of the food chain, which means they can basically eat any other animal that they want.

Also like lions, tigers will eat any animal that it chooses, as it is very large, very fast, and very strong, so there is very little that it will not be able to hunt.

This can include fairly large animals, such as buffalo, elephants, boars, rhinoceros, and deer.

elephant-calf

Types of Tigers

Tigers come in 6 different breeds, all named for the region of the world that they’re from. For instance, there is the Bengal tiger, from Bangladesh and parts of India.

There are more Bengal tigers in the world than any other kind.

Another kind is the Indochinese tiger, which is slightly smaller than a Bengal tiger, and prefers to live in forest environments.

White-tailed Deer

The third kind of tiger is the Malayan tiger, and the fourth kind is the Siberian tiger, which is the biggest of all the different kinds of tigers.

Sumatran tigers are the smallest in weight and length compared to the other kinds of tigers. Finally, there is the South China tiger.

The South China tiger is the most endangered breed of tiger, with the least amount remaining in the wild.

Tiger Behaviour

Additional Cool Tiger Facts

Tigers are known to enjoy living near a lot of water so that they can swim and use the water to cool off in their warm environments.

Tigers can have lifespans up to 20 years. Tigers are very solitary animals, and they prefer to live and hunt alone, without other tigers.

The exception is when tigers have cubs, and the mothers will protect their cubs and help them learn to hunt for their first 2 years of life.

Animals

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