Tiger

The biggest cat

The tiger is the biggest cat in the world. Every tiger's stripes are different — like fingerprints! Unlike most cats, tigers love water and are great swimmers. They live alone and hunt at night. A tiger's skin is striped too — shave the fur and the stripes are still there.

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest cat, up to 300 kg. Six subspecies survive in 13 Asian countries; the most numerous is the Bengal tiger (India, Bangladesh, Nepal). In the Sundarbans mangroves, tigers swim in salt water and even catch fish. It is a solitary hunter with a territory of 20–400 km². In 1900 there were 100,000 tigers; by 2010 only 3,200. Thirteen countries pledged to double numbers, and by 2023 there were about 5,500 (3,682 in India). Stripes camouflage it in forest shadows; a tiger is orange because its prey (deer) can't see red — to them it looks green.

Fun facts

• A tiger can swim 6 km and hunt in water.
• A tiger's roar can be heard 3 km away.
• A tiger eats 40 kg of meat in one sitting — then may not eat for days.
• To deer, a tiger looks green, not orange — that's why it disappears in the grass.