Tiger Cool Facts That Will Make You Want to Protect These Amazing Creatures
Tigers are fascinating creatures with many fascinating facts that will inspire you to protect them. Did you know, for instance, that their cubs are born blind and must rely on their mother’s scent in order to survive?
Bears feature fake eyes designed to frighten off other animals. Furthermore, even one strike from their paws could cause irreparable bone fractures!
Their stripes are as unique as fingerprints
Tiger stripes serve a dual purpose – beauty and camouflage. Their dark orange and black stripes help the big cat blend in with trees, grasses and rocks so that it can quickly and quietly stalk prey. Furthermore, even without fur covering its body you would still recognize these striking stripes as they have become imprinted onto its skin cells and hair follicles – just like fingerprints no two tigers share the same stripe pattern!
As an added benefit, these patterns can reveal much about a tiger’s health and age. For instance, if its stripes begin fading or thin out it could indicate sickness in an animal; conversely if its stripes have become more defined or brighter it could indicate the animal is healthy and well fed.
Tiger stripes are determined by genetics and environmental factors alike, with most control ultimately falling under the purview of proteins called morphogens. When exposed to sunlight, these proteins amplify or decrease in size resulting in its distinctive stripes.
Tigers tend to be solitary animals, yet they communicate amongst themselves through vocalizations, scent marking, tree scratches and body language. Their stripes also mark their territory and indicate when danger may threaten.
Unfortunately, these magnificent animals’ breathtaking pelts can also be their downfall–they are frequently hunted for their body parts that have been used in traditional medicine and other purposes. But researchers have developed an innovative tool to address this problem; by analyzing the width, length and spacing of a tiger’s stripes experts can create an archive that can be used for identification and tracking of individual tigers.
Conservation efforts benefit tremendously from this method, enabling tiger biologists to quickly and accurately distinguish live from illegally traded tigers – an obstacle in the fight against poaching. So accurate is this method that it can even be used on shaved tigers!
They love taking baths
Tigers like to take baths during the hottest parts of their days to stay cool, often submerging themselves for up to an hour at a time in lakes and streams with only their necks submerged – not deeper – until the water and wind help clean away dirt that would otherwise collect in their folds of skin. In addition, these animals lick themselves frequently in order to clean wounds as their saliva contains enzymes called lysozyme enzymes which attack and destroy wound walls in order to avoid infections.
Tiger urine has an irresistibly sweet scent similar to buttered popcorn that marks their territory and signal the start of mating season. They may use their anal glands to produce pheromones that smell like female tigers in order to attract male tigers into their territory and attract potential prey closer. Furthermore, tigers mimic other animal calls so as to lure potential prey closer.
Although tigers can run up to 60 km/hour, most of their hunting activity occurs at slower speeds. Individuals or small groups typically hunt alone or together; larger carcasses may be hidden by covering them with leaves in order to prevent scavengers from devouring it first and return periodically throughout the week in search of leftovers.
Tigers may not be capable of leaping tall buildings with one bound, but they can easily outrun horses at full speed. Furthermore, their binocular vision allows them to see six times better at night than humans and their roars can be heard up to two miles away!
Tigers may dislike water, but they actually enjoy taking baths. A video that has gone viral shows one inspecting a tub to ensure it’s solidly constructed before diving in for an enjoyable soak.
Tigers may be faster than Superman and capable of leaping tall buildings quickly, but they’re not quite as intelligent as humans. While they don’t purr, they do use loud yowling noises to communicate over long distances and mark their territory boundaries. Swivelling ears signal whether or not another tiger is approaching and their fake eyes (white spots of fur on each ear) serve to scare other animals away from them.
They’re incredibly fast
Tigers reign supreme as powerful apex predators of the animal kingdom and their speed makes them formidable predation machines, which humans fear around the globe. Moving faster than humans can run, their powerful leaps allow them to surprise prey from great distances away – as can their high-pitched, deep roars which can be heard up to two miles away!
A powerful cat’s other impressive ability lies in their sharpened senses, including being able to see at night six times more clearly than humans can and possessing superior binocular vision and highly sensitive hearing. Furthermore, cats possess keen senses of smell which help them sniff out prey quickly before pouncing without ever knowing they were coming!
Although tigers are fast, they cannot maintain top speeds for extended periods due to using lots of energy to maintain such speeds and overheat easily. Their large bodies and weight also limit how far they can sprint.
Medium reported that tigers can reach speeds up to 47 miles per hour but usually only for short distances. Male tigers tend to be faster due to increased agility and using their body structure more effectively; on the other hand, lions’ larger manes prevent them from exceeding 40 miles per hour in speed.
Tigers are among the fastest land animals on earth, though not as fast as their more speedy cousins such as cheetahs (which can reach 70 miles per hour!). Yet their incredible speed makes them one of the greatest hunters on the planet; using it to stalk prey before ambushing it quickly with lightning-fast reflexes they are able to bring down much larger animals than would otherwise be possible through pure chasing power alone; hence their status as “kings of the jungle!”
They’re the largest cats in the world
Tigers are fierce predators that can be extremely lethal if provoked or provoked in any way, with each strike of its paw having the power to break bones and even kill! When encountering one in the wild it’s wise to remain far away; any chance encounter should be approached cautiously as any contact could endanger both you and the animal – their sharp claws have the capability of crushing skulls so don’t tempt fate by engaging.
They’re majestic animals – the world’s largest land carnivores that weigh up to 660 pounds! Their powerful roar can be heard for miles! Also agile, these magnificent beasts can climb trees like leopards. As solitary creatures they prefer spending most of their time roaming alone across vast territories.
Their hind legs are longer than their front ones, giving them excellent jumping ability. They use this skill when hunting by ambushing prey from behind before killing it with a bite to either their neck or head – pressure-sensing nerves in their canine teeth help ensure they find just the right spot to bite for quick and efficient kills.
Tigers have an interesting feature – each of them possessing a special gland which releases distinct scents to mark their territory and set themselves apart from other cats’ territories. Additionally, tigers can produce vocalizations at low pitches that our ears cannot hear (known as infrasound).
Tigers are unique among big cat species because their genetic makeup is nearly identical with domestic felines – in fact, female tigers can give birth to up to 12 kittens simultaneously! This remarkable fact truly stands out among their many impressive traits!
Tigers have long been revered in many Asian communities as symbols of power, strength and beauty. Feared and revered as kings of the jungle, but highly vulnerable to human activity such as poaching and habitat loss – leading to their numbers decreasing by around 7% since 1900 in their natural environments.