Mammals

CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Carnivora
FAMILY: Felidae

SIZE:
Males average 9 feet in length from head to tail and weigh about 400 lbs.; females are smaller at 8 feet long and 250 lbs.

RANGE:
Eastern Burma through Thailand, Loas, and Cambodia

HABITAT:
Remote forests in hilly to mountainous terrain

DIET:
Wild - Wild pigs, wild deer, and wild cattle
Zoo - Feline diet (primarily ground horsemeat)

DESCRIPTION:
Reddish-ochre color with short narrow stripes; smaller than Bengal and Siberian tigers; black dots seen among stripes

FACTS:
Generally solitary and extremely territorial.
A tiger can see in the dark 6 times better than humans.
One of the only cats that like water; good swimmers.

YOUNG:
Typically mate in spring and summer; female bares 2-4 young. Young are nursed for 5 or 6 months; can leave the den when two months old; can hunt alone at 11 months.

STATUS:
CITES App. I; all tiger species are extremely ENDANGERED with some on the brink of extinction. Over hunting and illegal tradeing along with human encroachment have made these tigers the fastest disappearing species of all tigers.

They number between 1100-1800 in the wild. Less than 80 in captivity worldwide (31 in U.S.); housed in 16 different zoo and facilities including the Alexandria Zoo.**

REFERENCE:
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, Mammals III, Dr. Bernhard Grzimek
**International Species Information System as of 30 September 2000

NOTE:
5 subspecies of tiger remain: Bengal, Siberian, South China, Sumatran, Indochinese. 3 other subspecies (Bali, Java, and Caspian) are already extinct.