T 34 Tiger
Jacque Waiden
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a member of the genus Panthera and the largest living cat species native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is traditionally classified into nine recent subspecies, though some recognise only two subspecies, mainland Asian tigers and the island tigers of the Sunda Islands.
Throughout the tiger's range, it inhabits mainly forests, from coniferous and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the Russian Far East and Northeast China to tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests on the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The tiger is an apex predator and preys mainly on ungulates, which it takes by ambush. It lives a mostly solitary life and occupies home ranges, defending these from individuals of the same sex. The range of a male tiger overlaps with that of multiple females with whom he mates. Females give birth to usually two or three cubs that stay with their mother for about two years. When becoming independent, they leave their mother's home range and establish their own.
The tiger is among the most popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. It has been kept in captivity since ancient times and has been trained to perform in circuses and other entertainment shows. The tiger featured prominently in the ancient mythology and folklore of cultures throughout its historic range and has continued to appear in culture worldwide.
The Old English tigras derives from Old French tigre, from Latin tigris, which was a borrowing from Classical Greek τίγρις 'tigris'.[4]Since ancient times, the word tigris has been suggested to originate from the Armenian or Persian word for 'arrow', which may also be the origin of the name for the river Tigris.[5][6] However, today, the connection between the animal and the river is doubted and they are likely to be homonyms.[6]
In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described the tiger in his work Systema Naturae and gave it the scientific name Felis tigris, as the genus Felis was being used for all cats at the time. His scientific description was based on descriptions by earlier naturalists such as Conrad Gessner and Ulisse Aldrovandi.[2] In 1929, Reginald Innes Pocock placed the species in the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris.[7][8]
Nine recent tiger subspecies have been proposed between the early 19th and early 21st centuries, namely the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South China, Siberian, Caspian, Javan, Bali and Sumatran tigers.[9][10] The validity of several tiger subspecies was questioned in 1999 as most putative subspecies were distinguished on the basis of fur length and colouration, striping patterns and body size of specimens in natural history museum collections that are not necessarily representative for the entire population. It was proposed to recognise only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely P. t. tigris in mainland Asia and the smaller P. t. sondaica in the Greater Sunda Islands.[11]
The tiger shares the genus Panthera with the lion, leopard, jaguar and snow leopard. Results of genetic analyses indicate that the tiger and snow leopard are sister species whose lineages split from each other between 2.70 and 3.70 million years ago.[37] The tiger's whole genome sequencing shows repeated sequences that parallel those in other cat genomes.[38]
The fossil species Panthera palaeosinensis of early Pleistocene northern China was described as a possible tiger ancestor when it was discovered in 1924, but modern cladistics places it as basal to modern Panthera.[39][40] Panthera zdanskyi, which lived around the same time and place, was suggested to be a sister species of the modern tiger when it was examined in 2014.[40] However, as of 2023, at least two subsequent studies considered P. zdanskyi likely to be a synonym of P. palaeosinensis, noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation.[41][42] The earliest appearance of the modern tiger species in the fossil record are jaw fragments from Lantion in China that are dated to the early Pleistocene.[40]
Middle- to late-Pleistocene tiger fossils have been found throughout China, Sumatra and Java. Prehistoric subspecies include Panthera tigris trinilensis and P. t. soloensis of Java and Sumatra and P. t. acutidens of China; late Pleistocene and early Holocene fossils of tigers have also been found in Borneo and Palawan, Philippines.[43] Fossil specimens of tigers have also been reported from the Middle-Late Pleistocene of Japan.[44] Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that all living tigers have a common ancestor that lived between 108,000 and 72,000 years ago.[31] Genetic studies suggest that the tiger population contracted around 115,000 years ago due to glaciation. Modern tiger populations originated from a refugium in Indochina and spread across Asia after the Last Glacial Maximum. As they colonised northeastern China, the ancestors of the South China tiger intermixed with a relict tiger population.[27][28]
Tigers can interbreed with other Panthera cats and have done so in captivity. The liger is the offspring of a female tiger and a male lion and the tigon the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion.[45] The lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, so that ligers grow far larger than either parent species. By contrast, the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene while the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene; hence, tigons are around the same size as their parents.[46] Since they often develop life threatening birth defects and can easily become obese, breeding these hybrids is regarded as unethical.[45]
The tiger's coat usually has short hairs, reaching up to 35 mm (1.4 in), though the hairs of the northern-living Siberian tiger can reach 105 mm (4.1 in). Belly hairs tend to be longer than back hairs. The density of their fur is usually thin, though the Siberian tiger develops a particularly thick winter coat. The tiger has lines of fur around the face and long whiskers, especially in males.[47] It has an orange colouration that varies from yellowish to reddish.[55] White fur covers the underside, from head to tail, along with the inner surface of the legs and parts of the face.[47][56] On the back of the ears, it has a prominent white spot, which is surrounded by black.[47] The tiger is marked with distinctive black or dark brown stripes, which are uniquely patterned in each individual.[47][57] The stripes are mostly vertical, but those on the limbs and forehead are horizontal. They are more concentrated towards the back and those on the trunk may reach under the belly. The tips of stripes are generally sharp and some may split up or split and fuse again. Tail stripes are thick bands and a black tip marks the end.[56]
The tiger is one of only a few striped cat species.[58] Stripes are advantageous for camouflage in vegetation with vertical patterns of light and shade, such as trees, reeds and tall grass.[57][59] This is supported by a Fourier analysis study showing that the striping patterns line up with their environment.[60]The orange colour may also aid in concealment, as the tiger's prey is colour blind and possibly perceives the tiger as green and blended in with the vegetation.[61]
Pseudo-melanistic tigers with thick, merged stripes have been recorded in Simlipal National Park and three Indian zoos; a population genetic analysis of Indian tiger samples revealed that this phenotype is caused by a mutation of a transmembrane aminopeptidase gene. Around 37% of the Simlipal tiger population has this feature, which has been linked to genetic isolation.[64]
The tiger historically ranged from eastern Turkey, northern Iran and Afghanistan to Central Asia and from northern Pakistan through the Indian subcontinent and Indochina to southeastern Siberia, Sumatra, Java and Bali.[47] As of 2022, it inhabits less than 7% of its historical distribution and has a scattered range in the Indian subcontinent, the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumatra, northeastern China and the Russian Far East.[1] As of 2020, India had the largest extent of global tiger habitat with 300,508 km2 (116,027 sq mi), followed by Russia with 195,819 km2 (75,606 sq mi).[65]
The tiger mainly lives in forest habitats and is highly adaptable.[54] Records in Central Asia indicate that it primarily inhabited Tugay riverine forests and hilly and lowland forests in the Caucasus.[66] In the Amur-Ussuri region of Russia and China, it inhabits Korean pine and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests; riparian forests serve as dispersal corridors, providing food and water for both tigers and ungulates.[67] On the Indian subcontinent, it inhabits mainly tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, alluvial plains and the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.[68] In the Eastern Himalayas, it was documented in temperate forest up to an elevation of 4,200 m (13,800 ft) in Bhutan, of 3,630 m (11,910 ft) in the Mishmi Hills and of 3,139 m (10,299 ft) in Mdog County, southeastern Tibet.[69][70][71] In Thailand, it lives in deciduous and evergreen forests.[72] In Sumatra, it inhabits lowland peat swamp forests and rugged montane forests.[73]
Camera trap data show that tigers in Chitwan National Park avoided locations frequented by people and were more active at night than during day.[78]In Sundarbans National Park, six radio-collared tigers were most active from dawn to early morning and reached their zenith around 7:00 o'clock in the morning.[79]A three-year-long camera trap survey in Shuklaphanta National Park revealed that tigers were most active from dusk until midnight.[80]In northeastern China, tigers were crepuscular and active at night with activity peaking at dawn and dusk; they were largely active at the same time as their prey.[81]
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