Tiger
by Deena Stoddard
Title
Tiger
Artist
Deena Stoddard
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
A powerful hunter with sharp teeth, strong jaws, and an agile body, the tiger is the largest member of the cat family (Felidae). It is also the largest land-living mammal whose diet consists entirely of meat. The tiger's closest relative is the lion. Without the fur, it is difficult to distinguish a tiger from a lion, but the tiger is the only cat with striped fur. Scientists have classified tigers into nine subspecies: Bali, Java, Caspian, Sumatran, Amur (or Siberian), Indian (or Bengal), South China, Malayan, and Indo-Chinese. The first three subspecies are extinct.
The tiger's current distribution is a patchwork across Asia, from India to the Russian Far East. Tigers require large areas with forest cover, water, and suitable large ungulate prey such as deer and swine. With these three essentials, tigers can live from the tropical rainforests of Sumatra and Indochina to the temperate oak forest of the Amur River Valley in the Russian Far East.
Tigers can live to 20 years of age in zoos but only 15 years in the wild. And most wild tigers do not live that long. Only half of all cubs survive to independence from their mother at about two years of age. Only 40 percent of these survivors live to establish a territory and begin to produce young.
The tiger is listed as endangered on the U.S. Endangered Species List and on Appendix I of CITES.
This beautiful creature was captured at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri.
All images © 2011-2020 Deena Stoddard ~ All Rights Reserved
Uploaded
November 5th, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 701 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/21/2024 at 4:26 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Similar Images
Comments (43)
Recently Viewed
