Tigers can range in color from a reddish orange to a pure white. There have been some rumors of black tigers, but these rumors have never been substantiated. I find all tigers to be fascinating, but in my opinion, the beauty of a white tiger cannot be put into words. They are rare, but have been bred in captivity since the 1950's.

THE KING OF THE JUNGLE
Tigers are a solitary animal. If seen in a group, it is probably made up of a mother and her young. They remain with her until they can fend for themselves. Tigers will sometimes group together if there is little prey around. They are sometimes seen together at a kill, but normally they have their own territories.

Tigers have excellent eyesight, hearing and sense of smell. This gives them the ability to find and stalk prey. Even darkness does not cause them difficulty when hunting. Water will stop a tiger from pursuing. They have no fear of deep or running water. Prey that enters the water to escape will find that a tiger can easily follow and probably out-manoeuvre them as well.

Tigers have a heavy muscular body that makes it easy to deal with large prey. Their hind legs are longer than the front legs, which makes it easy to jump onto their prey. The combination of muscular shoulders and front legs make it easy for a tiger to hold their prey with their huge paws and sharp claws. Their short jaws increase the leverage on its carnassial teeth, giving the tiger a powerful bite. The canine teeth are used to bite the neck of their prey and the incisor, which are located at the front are used to rip flesh from the prey once it has been killed.

Tiger's normally stalk their prey until they can ambush it. This is where their striped coat helps with hunting by working as a camouflage in the forests. Their soft padded feet allow them to silently stalk their prey until the last moment when they pounce. This surprise of attack usually makes it impossible for the prey to escape, whether it be an elk, deer, or sometimes even a human.

Normally tigers will avoid human contact, but the clearing of forests for agriculture has increased the chances of encounters that can result in a human being killed. If this happens, the tiger gets the reputation of being a man-eater. This is why tiger reserves need to be large enough and have sufficient stocks of prey. This decreases the chances of tigers becoming a threat to humans.

LINKS TO INFORMATION ABOUT TIGERS AND HOW YOU CAN HELP STOP THEM FROM BECOMING EXTINCT