with their signature orange fur and
black stripes Tigers have become icons
of beauty power and the importance of
conservation Tigers have evolved into
six subspecies the Tigers tail of
evolution can be traced back to about
two million years ago when the earliest
known tiger ancestor left Africa and
ventured into Asia over time the big cat
split into nine subspecies with six
still alive today the most numerous
subspecies is the Bengal tiger
accounting for approximately 50% of the
tiger population worldwide Tigers are
the world’s largest cats on average the
big cats weigh about 450 pounds but the
largest is the Siberian tiger subspecies
measuring up to 13 feet long and
weighing up to 660 pounds this extra
weight is primarily because of large
powerful muscles
unlike lions the second largest of the
big cats
Tigers have more muscle mass and are
therefore heavier Tigers have webbed
toes often living near bodies of water
Tigers have adapted for a semi-aquatic
lifestyle they appeared to enjoy being
in the water unlike most cats and are
excellent swimmers using their powerful
muscles to propel their bodies in the
water they’ve also evolved to have
webbing between their toes the webbing
allows the big cats to push around a
greater volume of water with each stroke
of their paws white Tigers are a type of
Bengal tiger the classic black and
orange coloration of most Tigers is
caused by the pigments eumelanin which
turns fur black and pheomelanin which
turns fur orange the production of
pheomelanin is triggered by the gene slc
for 5a to white tigers carry a mutated
version of this gene which prevents them
from
reducing orange pigmentation fewer than
4,000 Tigers remain in the wild at the
turn of the 20th century approximately
100,000 Tigers roamed the wild living as
far west as Turkey and as far north as
Russia but due to deforestation human
development and poaching their range
severely decreased and within 100 years
the world’s tiger population declined by
about 96 percent over the past few
decades programs have been put in place
to protect tigers and their habitats
with the help of the global community tiger populations may slowly rebound
black stripes Tigers have become icons
of beauty power and the importance of
conservation Tigers have evolved into
six subspecies the Tigers tail of
evolution can be traced back to about
two million years ago when the earliest
known tiger ancestor left Africa and
ventured into Asia over time the big cat
split into nine subspecies with six
still alive today the most numerous
subspecies is the Bengal tiger
accounting for approximately 50% of the
tiger population worldwide Tigers are
the world’s largest cats on average the
big cats weigh about 450 pounds but the
largest is the Siberian tiger subspecies
measuring up to 13 feet long and
weighing up to 660 pounds this extra
weight is primarily because of large
powerful muscles
unlike lions the second largest of the
big cats
Tigers have more muscle mass and are
therefore heavier Tigers have webbed
toes often living near bodies of water
Tigers have adapted for a semi-aquatic
lifestyle they appeared to enjoy being
in the water unlike most cats and are
excellent swimmers using their powerful
muscles to propel their bodies in the
water they’ve also evolved to have
webbing between their toes the webbing
allows the big cats to push around a
greater volume of water with each stroke
of their paws white Tigers are a type of
Bengal tiger the classic black and
orange coloration of most Tigers is
caused by the pigments eumelanin which
turns fur black and pheomelanin which
turns fur orange the production of
pheomelanin is triggered by the gene slc
for 5a to white tigers carry a mutated
version of this gene which prevents them
from
reducing orange pigmentation fewer than
4,000 Tigers remain in the wild at the
turn of the 20th century approximately
100,000 Tigers roamed the wild living as
far west as Turkey and as far north as
Russia but due to deforestation human
development and poaching their range
severely decreased and within 100 years
the world’s tiger population declined by
about 96 percent over the past few
decades programs have been put in place
to protect tigers and their habitats
with the help of the global community tiger populations may slowly rebound
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