Tiger

Kingdom: Animalia; Class : Mammalia; Order : Carniovra; Family : Felidae; Genus : Panthera; Species : Panthera tigris

Binomial name Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms :
Felis tigris Linnaeus, 1758; Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858; Tigris regalis Gray, 1867

Conservation status Endangered

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a mammal of the Felidae family, the largest of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore. Reaching up to 4 metres (13 feet) in total length and weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), tigers are comparable in size to the biggest extinct felids. Aside from their great bulk and power, their most recognizable feature is the pattern of dark vertical stripes that overlays near-white to reddish-orange fur, with lighter underparts.

Highly adaptable, tigers range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands to tropical mangrove swamps. They are territorial and generally solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey demands. This, coupled with the fact that they are endemic to some of the more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Of the nine subspecies of modern tiger, three are extinct and the remaining are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct causes are habitat destruction and fragmentation and hunting. Their historical range, which once reached from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus through most of South and East Asia, has been radically reduced. While all surviving species are under formal protection, poaching, habitat destruction and inbreeding depression continue to be threats.

Habitat
Tigers are found in a variety of habitats, including both tropical and evergreen forests, woodlands, grasslands, rocky country, swamps, and savannas. The Caspian tiger was also found in steppes and mountainous areas. Compared to the lion, the tiger prefers more dense vegetation, for which its camouflage is ideally suited, and where a single predator is not at a disadvantage compared to a pride. Among the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers.


Range
In the historical past tigers were widespread in Asia, from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and Indonesia. During the 19th century the striped cats completely vanished from entire western Asia and became restricted in the remaining parts of its range almost exclusively to isolated pockets. This fragmented relic range extends from India in the west to China and Southeast Asia in the east today. The northern limit is close to the Amur River in south eastern Siberia. The only large Island inhabited today is Sumatra. From Java it obviously disappeared in second half of the 19th century and from Borneo it is known only from fossil remains.
Taxonomy and evolution
The oldest remains of a tiger-like cat, called Panthera palaeosinensis have been found in China and Java. This species occurred about 2 million years ago at the beginning of the pleistocene and was smaller than a tiger. Early true tiger fossils stem from Java and are between 1.6 and 1.8 million years old. Distinct fossils from the early and middle Pleistocene were discovered in deposits from China, Sumatra and Java. A subspecies called Trinil tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis) occurred about 1.2 million years ago and was found at the locality of Trinil, Java, Indonesia.In India, and northern Asia the tiger appears for the first time in the late pleistocene. Fossil tigers were also found in eastern Beringia (but not on the American Continent) and Sakhalin island. Tiger fossils of the late Pleistocene have also turned up in Japan. These fossils indicate that the Japanese tiger was not bigger than the island subspecies of tigers of recent ages. This may be due to the phenomenon in which body size is related to environmental space (see insular dwarfism), or in the case of a large predator like a tiger, availability of prey. Until the Holocene tigers occurred also in Borneo, where it is not present today.