top 10 most interesting facts about tigers

The tiger is the most iconic of the big cats. They are also the largest of all cats. 

In various Asian cultures, tigers are a common symbol of power and protection, and there is a reason for this: they are attractive and attractive creatures, they lead a lonely life, but they are fierce.

Given our fascination with them, we have some understanding of tigers, but to understand these cats, we need to know more. Today we will talk about 10 fascinating facts about tigers.

1. The tiger is very old, at least on a human scale. The oldest known tiger ancestor, Panthera zdanskyi, can be traced back to 2.15 million to 2.55 million years ago. According to the researchers, the tiger remains found in China's Gansu province "are strikingly similar in shape to existing tigers," although its head and teeth are different in size. Then, Longdanhu is probably located in a relatively distant tiger species on the family tree.

2. Tigers can survive under various conditions. From rain forests to mountains, tigers "can endure all kinds of environmental conditions." "They can live at temperatures of minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit) in Russia to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in India, and they can adapt to annual rainfall as low as 600 mm to as high as 8,000 mm," Ullas Karanth, Asia Director of the Wildlife Conservation Association told Business Insider.

What is the secret lurking under the tiger's skin? 

3. Tiger fur hides their skin... it is also striped. Yes, if you remove the fur, the tiger's skin will still show their stripes. Snow leopards and their spots are the same. The reason is probably because the cat's colored hair follicles are visible embedded in the skin, similar to beard stubble. This pigment does not appear on the skin of other striped or spotted animals. For example, zebra skin appears black underneath their striped black and white coat.

4. The tiger coat is unique. In addition to being visible on the skin, each tiger's stripes are unique. Therefore, in order to protect the tiger, the tiger can be identified and tracked through visual inspection. Despite their uniqueness, the stripes serve the same purpose: to camouflage the tiger's body, making it more difficult for prey to spot them before they strike.

5. Tigers are very careful and lonely hunters. Unlike lions, hunting together and living together as a family unit, tigers hunt alone at night. However, they are ready. Their eyesight is about six times better than us humans at night, and their hind and front legs are long, and they can jump nearly 33 feet (10 meters). The fastest speed can reach 40 mph (65 km/h). You may think tigers are top hunters, but the tiger hunting success rate is only 10%.

6. Tigers are not afraid of water. Most cats don't like water. They will definitely drink water, but most cats do not like to be near water, not tigers. Perhaps due to their environmental adaptability, tigers will swim and play in the water, and even sit in the water to enjoy the coolness in hot weather.

7. There are nine subspecies of tigers. First time I heard? But three of them have become extinct. The tigers currently common on the earth are Sumatran tiger, Siberian tiger, Bengal tiger, Indochinese tiger, South China tiger and Malayan tiger. The wilds of the Caspian Sea, Java and Bali are considered extinct. There is another problem. From a scientific point of view, there are only two subspecies: the Tigris leopard tribe composed of the Bengal tribe, which is composed of the Bengal, Malayan, Indochina, South China, Siberian and Caspian tiger populations and the Java tiger, among which Java, Bali and Sumatra Tigers belong to this race. The classification of tigers into different subspecies is based on the locations where tigers are found in the wild.

8. The tiger's roar can reach up to 114 decibels, which is 25 times that of a lawn mower. For humans and other animals, the vocal cords are triangular and enter the respiratory tract. Because the vocal cord ligaments contain fat, tigers (and lions) have square vocal cords. These squares allow these big cats to make a louder roar with lower lung pressure.

White tiger is the result of genetic mutation. 

9. White tigers are rare in the wild. White tigers are not albinism, they have not turned white, so they can better survive in the snow. Their white fur is the result of a genetic mutation, which cuts off the genes that produce yellow and red pigments. This mutation is recessive, so both parents must have genes to be expressed in offspring. The white tiger can be traced back to the white tiger captured in the wild in 1951. Since white tigers only appear once every 10,000 tigers, the frequent hybridization of captive white tigers will produce more white tigers, even if this may cause health problems, including deformed feet and faces, heart problems and impaired vision.

10. The number of tiger populations is disputed. In 2016, the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum announced that the number of wild tiger populations was 3,890, which was regarded as a rebound of the tiger population. The agency estimated that there were approximately 3,200 people in 2010. This count has been criticized by other organizations due to methodological issues and incomplete data. Some experts believe that, given the elusive nature of cats, we may never know their true population in the wild. What we do know is that the remaining tigers are scattered within the previous 7% range.