They are threatened by habitat loss, as cities and farmland expand into their territories, and are often killed when they come into conflict with humans. These big cats are also illegally poached for use in traditional medicines. The SSP, managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, aims to sustain a healthy, genetically diverse population in human care.
Tigers are ambush predators that rely on their stealth and strength to take down prey. They mostly hunt at night, lying in wait for an animal to pass by and then pouncing at just the right moment. They quickly take their prey to the ground, where they break or bite its neck with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth.
Tigers typically hunt wild boar, deer and other ungulates hoofed animals , but they have also been known to eat monkeys, buffalo, sloth bears, leopards and even crocodiles! Food plays a big role in how animal keepers take such good care of tigers at the Zoo.
Tigers, like all cats, are obligate carnivores — meaning they can only efficiently digest meat. Keepers feed the tigers a commercial carnivore diet that looks a lot like ground beef but is designed to meet their nutritional needs.
The tigers also eat beef chunks, bones and frozen-thawed rabbits. They weigh each animal once a week to ensure that they notice any variations and can adjust diets or catch any potential problems early. You bet! Tigers are excellent swimmers. There are even reports of tigers hunting in the water in the wild. Skip to main content. Entry passes are required for all guests, including infants. All visitors ages 2 and older are required to wear a mask in all indoor spaces at the Zoo, regardless of their vaccination status.
Fully vaccinated visitors do not need to wear a mask in outdoor areas. And More Tiger Facts. It also tends to be a paler orange than its more vibrant cousins. Sometimes, the bears strike back by killing young and female tigers. The Bengal tiger is one of the most well-known tiger breeds. It has orange fur with white tufts around the ears and black stripes down the back, and it boasts strong jaws, powerful hind legs and front paws that can literally decapitate its prey.
Additionally, some Bengal tigers are born with a genetic mutation that gives them white fur and blue eyes. Both parents need to carry the gene for a cub to be born this way. As one of the oldest tiger species, Bengal tigers have been around for 12, — 16, years. They date back to the Late Pleistocene period. Like its name suggests, the Indochinese tiger is found around the Indochina region of Asia. Its biggest populations are in Thailand, Burma and Vietnam.
This is in honor of famous British hunter Jim Corbett. He was often called on to kill man-eating tigers and leopards in the early 20th century. Like all living tiger species, the Indochinese tiger is endangered, and its numbers are dwindling fast. There are only around — left. Illegal trade is the main reason for its decline. Pelts can be traded; claws and bones can be ground into pastes and poultices; internal organs can be eaten. The Malayan tiger has many similarities with the Indochinese tiger.
Regardless of what you call them, Malayan tigers are in trouble. There are less than mature adults who are capable of breeding. Deforestation is one of the biggest reasons for the downfall of the Malayan tiger.
Poaching is another. Like the Indochinese tiger, its bones and pelts are used in everything from traditional medicines to cultural rituals, and a tiger kill is considered a great status symbol among hunters. The South China tiger is an extremely rare species. In fact, it might even be functionally extinct. So what happened? They declared them a pest and tried to exterminate them. The number of South China tigers dropped from more than 4, to The good news is that the government has changed its stance and is now trying to protect this critically endangered species.
Another interesting fact about the South China tiger is that it might have a genetic mutation that gives it blue fur. This has never been proven, but eyewitnesses used to swear that they saw blue-white tigers in the mountains of China.
If true, it would be an inherited trait much like the white mutations of the Bengal tiger, and an amazing animal to see! Outside of zoos, Sumatran tigers are only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They tend to be smaller than other breeds.
For example, they have about half of the heft of a Bengal or Siberian tiger. Their stripes are another distinguishing feature. They have very dark, defined lines, and they stretch over the entire body.
Genetic analyses in showed that Indo-Chinese tigers were a separate subspecies from Malayan tigers. Sumatran tigers are protected by law in Indonesia, with tough provisions for jail time and steep fines, according to the WWF. But despite conservation and anti-poaching efforts, tigers are still hunted and tiger parts and skins remain in high demand. The Sumatran tiger has the darkest coat of all tigers. Its broad, black stripes are closely spaced and often doubled. Unlike the Siberian tiger, it has striped forelegs.
Sumatran tigers are the smallest tiger subspecies. Males average 8 feet 2. Females are closer to 7 feet 2 m in length and weight about pounds 90 kilograms. One of the three extinct subspecies of tiger, the Bali tiger went extinct in the 's, according to the Save the Tigers Fund. The causes of extinction include hunting, loss of forest habitat and loss of their prey base. None of these tigers exist in captivity.
This now-extinct species inhabited the Indonesian island of Java into the 's. Tigers were last positively recorded from Java's Meru Betiri National Park in , and likely disappeared from much of the rest of the island by the s, according to the IUCN.
The Caspian tiger also called the Hyrcanian tiger or Turan tiger became extinct in the 's. Its extinction can be attributed to hunting of both tigers and their prey, habitat loss and conversion, and increased vulnerability of small populations.
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