Bengal Tiger Cubs Playing - Wild World TV - Wild Life - 14

The Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies.It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna.
The tiger is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late Pleistocene, for about 12,000 to 16,500 years. Today, it is threatened by poaching, loss and fragmentation of habitat, and was estimated at comprising fewer than 2,500 wild individuals by 2011. None of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within its range is considered large enough to support an effective population of more than 250 adult individuals. The Bengal tiger's historical range covered the Indus River valley until the early 19th century, almost all of India, Pakistan, southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and southwestern China. Today, it inhabits India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and southwestern China. India's tiger population was estimated at 2,603–3,346 individuals by 2018. Around 300–500 individuals are estimated in Bangladesh, 355 in Nepal by 2022, and 90 individuals in Bhutan by 2015.
The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black rings. The white tiger is a recessive mutant, which is reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, and especially in the former State of Rewa.
Males and female Bengal tigers in Panna Tiger Reserve reach a head-body length of 183–211 cm and 164–193 cm respectively, including a tail of 85–110 cm long. Total length ranges from 283 to 311 cm for male tigers and 255–285 cm for female tigers. They typically range 90–110 cm in height at the shoulders. Subadult males weigh between 130 and 170 kg and reach 200 to 260 kg when adult; subadult females weigh 80 to 100 kg and reach between 110 and 180 kg when adult. In central India, 42 adult male Bengal tigers weighed on average 190 kg with a range of 167–234 kg; their total length was 282 cm with a range of 267–312 cm, and their average shoulder height was 99 cm; 39 adult female Bengal tigers weighed on average 132 kg with a maximum of 156 kg and an average total length of 254 cm ranging 239–277 cm. Several scientists indicated that adult male Bengal tigers in the Terai consistently attain more than 227 kg of body weight. Seven adult males captured in Chitwan National Park in the early 1970s had an average weight of 235 kg ranging from 200 to 261 kg, and that of the females was 140 kg ranging from 116 to 164 kg. Two male tigers captured in Chitwan National Park in the 1980s exceeded weights of 270 kg and are the largest free ranging tigers reported to date.
The basic social unit of the tiger is the elemental one of female and her offspring. Adult animals congregate only temporarily when special conditions permit, such as plentiful supplies of food. Otherwise, they lead solitary lives, hunting individually for the forest and grassland animals, upon which they prey.
The home ranges occupied by adult male residents tend to be mutually exclusive, even though one of these residents may tolerate a transient or sub-adult male at least for a time. A male tiger keeps a large territory in order to include the home ranges of several females within its bounds, so that he may maintain mating rights with them. Spacing among females is less complete. Typically there is partial overlap with neighbouring female residents. They tend to have core areas, which are more exclusive, at least for most of the time. Home ranges of both males and females are not stable. The shift or alteration of a home range by one animal is correlated with a shift of another. Shifts from less suitable habitat to better ones are made by animals that are already resident. New animals become residents only as vacancies occur when a former resident moves out or dies. There are more places for resident females than for resident males.
The tiger is a carnivore. It prefers hunting large ungulates such as chital, sambar, gaur, and to a lesser extent also barasingha, water buffalo, nilgai, serow and takin. Among the medium-sized prey species it frequently kills wild boar, and occasionally hog deer, Indian muntjac and grey langur. Small prey species such as porcupines, hares and peafowl form a very small part in its diet. Because of the encroachment of humans into tiger habitat, it also preys on domestic livestock.

Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order - Carnivora
Suborder - Feliformia
Family - Felidae
Subfamily - Pantherinae
Genus - Panthera
Species - P. tigris
Subspecies - P. t. tigris
Population - Bengal tiger