Bengal tiger

Bengal tiger(Tigersubspecies)

Royal Bangel Tiger

Bengal tiger ( Panthera tigris Tigris ): is the tiger of the subspecies, also known as the Indian tiger. The wild male Bengal tiger weighs 160-270 kg, second only to the Siberian tiger in size. The fur of an adult Bengal tiger is brown and white, with black stripes. There are also a small number of Bengal white tigers with black stripes on a white background because of genetic variation. Large body, uniform body, medium to long limbs, toe-like. The head is large and round, the snout is short, and sight, hearing, and smell are well developed. The canine teeth and split teeth are well developed; the upper split teeth have three tips and the lower split teeth have 2 tips; the molars are more degenerate, and the crown diameter is less than the height of the lateral incisors. The fur is soft and often has prominent patterns. Forefoot 5 toes, hind feet 4 toes; claws are sharp and retractable. The tail is well developed. Hi, alone. Carnivorous, often ambushing other warm-blooded animals.

The habitat is very wide, including the Himalayas coniferous forest, swamp reeds in the alpine region, the dry hills of the Indian Peninsula, the lush rainforest and dry broad-leaved forest in northern India, and the mangrove area along the coast of the South Asian subcontinent. They often live alone, and only live together during the breeding season. There are no fixed nests, mostly wandering in the mountains and looking for food. Can swim, not good at climbing trees.

It is the largest and most widely distributed subspecies of tiger in the world. 1758, Bengal tiger by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus as the Tiger of the type species. Bengal tigers are mainly distributed in India and Bangladesh, and are rare animals in these two countries. There is a small cross-border distribution of Medog in Tibet, China.

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Latin name	Panthera tigris tigris	Section	Feline
nickname	Indian Tiger, Bhutanese Tiger, Bengal Royal Tiger	Subfamily	Pantherae
boundary	animal world	Tribe	Leopard
door	Notochords	Genus	Panthera
Asia Gate	Vertebrate subphylum	Subgenus	Subgen
Gang	Mammalia	Species	tiger
Subclass	True Beast	subspecies	Bengal tiger
Subclass	Carnivora	Namer and year	Linnaeus, 1758
		English name	Bengal Tiger

Morphological characteristics

Bengal tiger males have a shoulder height of 90-110 cm, an average body length of 290 cm, and a weight of 160-270 kg. Majestic posture, strong and tall. The head is round, the kiss is wide, the eyes are large, and there are black stiff hairs between the sides of the mouth, which are about 15 cm long. Unlike the lion's long kiss, so the face is narrow and long, the tiger's snout is short, and its head is large and round. The neck is thick and short, almost as wide as the shoulders. There are bristles on the cheeks. The shoulders, chest, abdomen, and buttocks are narrow, flat on the sides, strong limbs, canine teeth, and claws are extremely sharp, the mouth has a long and hard beard, beautiful hair, short, the head stripes are dense, the ear It is black with white spots. The background color of the whole body is apricot yellow, and the coat color changes from north to south from yellow to red. There are double rows of dark stripes on the back, which are narrower than the black stripes of other tiger subspecies. The ventral surface and the inside of the limbs are white, there are about 10 black rings on the tail, and there is a white area above the eyes. [2] 

Bengal tiger is a powerful predator. It is ideal for hunting large prey, with short and muscular forelimbs and long and sharp retractable claws. It also has a slender, strong, and flexible body, and its short and thick neck and wide and powerful shoulders are conducive to capturing and subduing other large prey. The skull is shortened, increasing the strength of the powerful jawbone, allowing the tiger to squeeze the captured prey tightly. [3] 

Habitat

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Bengal tigers have a wide range of habitats, including coniferous forests in the Himalayas, swamp reeds in the alpine regions, dry mountains on the Indian peninsula, lush rainforests, and dry broad-leaved forests in northern India, and the red coastal areas Forest area. It is a typical mountain forest animal. It can live well in tropical rain forests, evergreen broad-leaved forests in the south, and deciduous broad-leaved forests and conifer-broad-leaved mixed forests in the north. The main activities in Bangladesh and India's tropical monsoon climate and the Sundarbans delta 's mangrove forests, rain forests and grasslands in other areas where there are traces of it.

Lifestyle

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territory

Bengal tigers have a wider habitat. The territory of a tiger ranges from a dozen to hundreds of square kilometers, depending on a variety of factors such as the richness of prey and the terrain of the territory. The territory is estimated to be 10-21㎞² for females and 30-79㎞² for males.

activity

They often live alone, and only live together during the breeding season. There are no fixed nests, mostly wandering in the mountains and looking for food. Can swim, not good at climbing trees. Due to the development of the forest area and the rapid increase in population, remote areas have been developed into villages and towns in the past, and tigers often go to the neighborhoods for food. Tigers are more active at dusk, rest more latently during the day, and rarely come out without alarm. Bengal tigers are more elaborate and agile, and are very wild and fighting.

Bengal tigers have very powerful hunting skills and deterrents and will attack all living creatures that appear in front of their eyes. Even adult Asian elephants will detour when they eat. Bengal tigers have the most powerful hunting skills among cats and even prey. The world's largest white-limbed bison, hunting crocodiles is also a sloth bear killer, and there are many Bengal tigers hunting Asian rock pythons, leopards, female Indian rhinos, and sub-adult female elephants. They are one of the fastest running animals in the world, with speeds approaching 80 km / h.

feeding habits

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Carnivorous, feeding on a variety of large and small mammals. Bengal tiger prey is mainly sika deer, sambar, bison, zebra deer, spotted deer, wild boar, black impala, Asian wild buffalo and wild boar, and sometimes can climb trees. Prey on primates. Bengal tigers like to hunt at night. When preying, it first aims at the throat of the prey and uses its strong bite force to directly bite off the cervical spine of the smaller prey or suffocate the large prey. It can eat 6-20 kg of meat in one meal and will not eat for the next few days.

In Chitwan Park in Nepal, spotted deer accounted for 27.8%, sambar accounted for 15.3%, dolphin deer accounted for 13.5%, red deer accounted for 6.4%, wild boar accounted for 10.8%, porcupine accounted for 2.7%, and the rabbit accounted for 6.6%. The long-tailed langur accounts for 16.9%.

In Kanha, spotted deer accounted for 50.3% of Bengal tiger recipes, sambar accounted for 6.3%, zebra deer accounted for 5.7%, bison accounted for 2.8%, long-tailed leaf monkeys accounted for 21.6%, porcupine accounted for 10.3%, and wild boar accounted for only 1%.

In India ’s Nagarhole National Park, 22.8% of Bengal tiger recipes are spotted deer, sambar 11.4%, bison 7.5%, wild boar and red deer accounted for 8.4%, long-tailed langur 11.3%, spotted mongoose Deer accounted for 13.6%, rabbit 1.5%, porcupine 0.6%, jackal 1%, and 13.5% unidentified species.

distribution range

Distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. It is distributed in southeastern Tibet and western Yunnan in China.

The largest Bengal tiger population is in India, but there are smaller groups in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. It may also appear in China and Myanmar. Estimates of the World Tiger Recovery Plan indicate that there are about 440 in Bangladesh, about 155 in Nepal, and about 75 in Bhutan.

However, the latest census of species numbers in 2016 shows that there are 106 tigers in Bangladesh, 103 tigers in Bhutan, 198 in Nepal, and 2,226 in India.

Reproduction

Bengal tigers have always lived alone and only come together during the breeding period. The estrus mating period is generally from November to February of the following year. During the estrus, the tiger's cry is particularly loud, reaching 2 kilometers away. About 105 days of pregnancy, every 1-5 litters, usually 2 litters, the newborn tiger weighs about 1 kg, the lactation period is 5-6 months, the tiger and the cub live together for 2-3 years, the tiger follows the mother After living for about two years, its main course is to learn obedience, and then to train tree climbing, tracking, fighting, fighting, which is a necessary skill for them to survive in the future. During this period, the female tigers do not estrus and mate, so under natural conditions, female tigers can only breed once every 2-3 years. Female tigers are sexually mature at age 3, male tigers are later. The lifespan of a tiger is generally 20-25 years.

Main variant

In 1758, the Bengal tiger is the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus as the Tiger of the type species. The Bengal Tiger has currently found four variants, namely:

White tigers are all white with black or dark brown markings. Wild white tigers are extinct. There are more than 300 white tigers in zoos all over the world (2011). The white tiger is just a variant of the Bengal tiger. The color is different from the ordinary Bengal tiger. It is a simple white with dark brown or black stripes. The wild white tiger is extremely rare and almost unseen.

The snow tiger is white all over, with light brown markings, and the wild is extinct. The number is much smaller than that of the white tiger.

The golden tiger has a golden body and brown markings. The wild is extinct, and the number is even rarer than the snow tiger.

Pure white tiger with a white body and no markings. Only two cases have been found in zoos all over the world

Population status

Most Bengal tigers live in India. The national tiger census methodology is a more scientific way to infer the density of specific locations resulting from the use of geographic information systems for camera photography and sign investigation. The estimated number of survey results in 2010 was 1,706 (1,520-1,909) (2011), an increase from 1,411 in 2006 (2008). Part of the increase is that the 2011 survey (Sunderbans, Northeast, and parts of Maharashtra) included new areas, but in Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharash The density of tigers in the regions of Trapan and Karnataka has increased. However, the survey found that the range of Bengal tigers connecting the habitat corridor decreased by 12.6% from 2006 to 2010 (2011). 

The Indian government estimates the number of other areas of the global Bengal tiger recovery plan, including Bangladesh (440), Nepal (155), and Bhutan (75). The total number of subspecies is estimated to be less than 2,500 (2,376). No subpopulation is larger than 250. (2011) 

It is estimated that the number of wild Bengal tigers is about 3159-4715, and about 333 are caged mainly in zoos in India. However, due to habitat destruction, tourism development, poaching, etc. Reduced to less than 2,500. (2011)

About 70% of the world ’s wild tigers live in India, but due to human over-exploitation of the environment and illegal hunting, their habitats are seriously threatened. After repeated efforts, people tried to curb illegal transactions and protect Indian tigers from environmental pressure, but they still could not stop the decline in the number of Indian tigers, and even dropped to 1,411 in 2006. According to data released by the Indian government in the past three years from 2011 to 2014, the number of Bengal tigers in India has increased by nearly a third, from 1,706 in 2011 to 2,226 in 2014. This achievement has greatly encouraged workers to protect endangered species. Proponents say the new statistics bring great news. 

Between 1994 and 2010, a total of 923 tigers were killed by hunters. According to statistics from the Wildlife Conservation Society of India, 40 Indian tigers were killed by poachers in 2013, the highest number of hunts since 2005. From 1994 to 2010, 923 Indian tigers were killed by poachers. It should be noted that a century ago, the number of tigers living in India was 45,000, and now the number of tigers in India accounts for only a small part of them. In 2015, according to the report of the British "Guardian" website on January 20, on Tuesday, according to official data released by India, the number of Indian tigers (also known as Bengal tigers) increased by nearly one third in three years, From 1706 in 2011 to 2226 in 2014. This achievement has greatly encouraged workers to protect endangered species.  

In 2015, in Bhutan, the number of Bengal tigers was about 50-150. Nepal has about 150-200, and Bangladesh has 100-150.

In August 2019, two infrared camera sites placed in Medog County, Tibet Autonomous Region of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences captured wild Bengal tigers three times. This is the first time that Chinese researchers have taken pictures in the wild. Live photos of Bengal tigers. According to literature records, Chinese Bengal tigers are distributed in southeastern Tibet and western Yunnan. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the researchers estimated that there were 11 tigers in the area based on the number of large carnivores preyed on the livestock around Nanga Bava, the footprint, and the pace of the large cats. Tigers are top predators and have high requirements for the authenticity and continuity of the ecosystem. The infrared camera photos of wild Bengal tigers obtained in this investigation are direct evidence of the distribution of Bengal tigers in the wild environment in China, indicating that the current ecological environment of Motuo County can carry the survival and reproduction of wild Bengal tiger populations

Protection level

Included in the " IUCN Red List of Endangered Species " (IUCN) 2011 ver 3.1-Endangered (EN).

Included in the " Washington Convention CITES Appendix Ⅰ level protected animals.