Bengal Tiger (King of The Indian Subcontinent Forest)

The Bengal tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent. It lives in Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and northern India. Bengal Tigers present in India are mainly found in subtropical and temperate upland forests. In Bangladesh, they can be seen living in the Sundarbans mangrove region where they are known to swim between islands. The prime lowland forest is their favorite habitat within Nepal, and in Bhutan, they live in the subtropical Himalayan foothills and north temperate forests.

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. Their distinguishing striped coat is useful for camouflage and is just like our fingerprints, unique to every individual. A white Bengal Tiger with black stripes is owing to gene mutation and not because they are albino.

Males and females have an average total length of 270 to 310 cm and 240 to 265 cm respectively, including a tail of 85 to 110 cm long. They typically range 90 to 110 cm in height at the shoulders. The standard weight of males ranges from 175 to 260 kg, while that of females ranges from 100 to 160 kg.

The smallest recorded weights for Bengal tigers are from the Bangladesh Sundarbans, where adult females are 75 to 80 kg. They may have adapted to the unique conditions of the mangrove habitat. Their small sizes are probably due to a combination of intense intraspecific competition and the small size of prey available to tigers in the Sundarbans, compared to the larger deer and other prey available to tigers in other parts.

Bengal tigers can climb trees, however, they are not as agile as the leopard. Bengal tigers are also strong and frequent swimmers, often ambushing drinking, or swimming prey.

Bengal tigers make a range of vocalizations. One of the most recognized is the roar which can be heard as much as 3.2km away.

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 of its diet. Because of the encroachment of humans into tiger habitat, it also preys on domestic livestock.

Bengal tigers have been known to take other predators, such as leopards, wolves, jackals, foxes, crocodiles, Asiatic black bears, sloth bears, and dholes as prey, although these predators are not typically a part of their diet.

These powerful hunters are most active at dusk and dawn when they use tall grass and trees to stalk prey and silently attack. In most cases, tigers approach their victim from the side or behind from as close a distance as possible and grasp the prey's throat to kill it. Then they drag the carcass into cover, occasionally over several hundred meters, to consume it.

The tiger in India has no definite mating and birth seasons. Males reach maturity at 4–5 years of age, and females at 3–4 years. After a gestation period of 104–106 days, 1–4 cubs are born in a shelter situated in tall grass, thick bush, or in caves.

They suckle for 3–6 months and begin to eat small amounts of solid food at about 2 months of age. At this time, they follow their mother on her hunting expeditions and begin to take part in hunting at 5–6 months of age.

At the age of 2–3 years, they slowly start to separate from the family group and become transient, looking out for an area, where they can establish their home range. Young males move further away from their native home range than young females.

The Bengal Tiger can survive for almost 25 years in confinement and a little less in the jungle terrains.

Habitat losses and the extremely large-scale incidences of poaching are serious threats to the species' survival. Those tigers living within the mangrove area are also sensitive to climate change as sea levels rise and alter the structure of mangrove systems. The most significant immediate threat to the existence of wild tiger populations is the illegal trade in poached skins and body parts between India, Nepal, and China. Other factors contributing to their loss are urbanization and revenge killing. Farmers blame tigers for killing cattle and shooting them. In the past, evidence showed that humans and tigers cannot co-exist.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still lists these tigers as endangered. In India and Nepal, 11 main protected areas are existing to protect prime Bengal Tiger habitat. The Tiger Project, established in the 1970s, has helped stabilize Bengal Tiger populations in these reserve areas although overall populations are still decreasing. Much more work is still needed to ensure their survival in the wild.

#Wildlife #Mangrove #Rainforest