Tiger
Panthera tigris
— Where the name comes from
From the Latin tigris, from the Greek tígris, probably from an old Iranian language in which the root meant “pointed, swift as an arrow” — the same one that names the river Tigris for the speed of its current.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivores
- Habitat
- Tropical forest, mangroves, Siberian taiga
- Range
- Fragmented: India, Indochina, Sumatra, the Russian Far East
- Size
- 250–390 cm overall, up to 300 kg (Siberian subspecies)
- Diet
- Carnivore — deer, wild boar, gaur
- Lifespan
- 10–15 years in the wild
— Characteristics
- 01
The largest living cat. Solitary and territorial.
- 02
Swims willingly and well, which is rare among cats.
- 03
The pattern of the stripes is unique to each individual, like a fingerprint.
— What sets it apart
The stripes are not only in the fur: shave a tiger and the pattern is still there, printed on the skin. It is the follicle itself that is pigmented. And the orange coat, which to us shouts out of the vegetation, is forest green to ungulates — dichromats, unable to tell red from green.
