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Bengal
Tiger (bagh) one of the largest living cats on earth,
belongs to family Felidae, order Carnivora. The Bengal
Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is recognized as the
national animal of BANGLADESH and is renowned as the
Royal Bengal Tiger. Its body is rich yellow to reddish
ochre in colour with vertically arranged black stripes,
more pronounced towards the rump and thighs; its
underparts are whitish. Its cubs are born with stripes.
The yellow tail has a series of black rings and ends up
with a black tip. The backside of the ears is black and
has a clearly visible white spot. The animal has round
pupils, retractile claws, head-body length 140-280 cm,
and a tail measuring 60-110 cm. Its height at its
shoulder is 95-110 cm; males weigh 180-280 kg and
females 115-185 kg; the female is smaller.
The heaviest tiger that has been
recorded in the Guinness Book of Records at 465 kg is
the Amur (Siberian) Tiger (Panthera tigris attaica).
Tigers prey on medium to large
mammals such as deer, wild pigs and porcupines. They can
bring down animals twice their size. Prey species
determine how many tigers can survive in a given area.
An agile animal, it swims well, and patrols its
territory by marking it with droppings and other signs.
Tigers are monogamous and usually give birth to 2-5 cubs
after a gestation period of about 14-15 weeks; the
majority of the cubs are born between February and May
and nursed by their mothers for 5-6 months. The young
cubs stay with their mother for a year or more. A female
becomes sexually mature in 3 years and a male in 4
years.
In Bangladesh tigers were once found in every forest,
but are now confined to the mangrove forests of the
SUNDARBANS, and are treated as a critically endangered
species.
Of the eight subspecies of tigers five still survive:
the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) lives in
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Western Myanmar and
Nepal; the Amur (Siberian) Tiger (P. t. attaica) in
Siberia, Manchuria and Northeast China; the south China
(Amoy) Tiger (P. t. ameyensis) in China; the Sumatran
Tiger (P. t. sumatrae) in Sumatra; and the Indo-Chinese
Tiger (P. t. corbetti) in Cambodia, China, Laos,
Malaysia, Eastern Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Three
subspecies of tigers the Javan Tiger (P. t. sondaica),
the Bali Tiger (P. t. balica), and the Caspian (Turan/Hyrcanian)
Tiger (P. t. virgata) have become extinct in the last 50
years. Today it is estimated that fewer than 7,000
tigers survive in the wild in the following countries:
Bangladesh (300-362), Bhutan (67-81), China (110-140),
India (2,500-3,750), Myanmar (230-465), Nepal (93-97),
Russia (330-337), Vietnam (200), Cambodia (150-300),
Laos (?), North Korea (c 10), Thailand (250-501),
Malaysia (491-510), and Indonesia (400-500).
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