Bengal tiger – Panthera tigris

The Bengal tiger is a feline whose best known subspecies is the Royal Tiger, it is lighter and less sturdy than the Siberian tiger. It is registered with the long red list of endangered species.

Males Length is about 2.7 m to 3.1 m with tail and a height at the withers of 100 cm to 110 cm for a weight of 225 kg on average. Females length is about 2.3 m to 2.7 m with tail and a height at the witherw from 90 cm to 100 cm for a weight of 135 kg on average.

It is solitary, nocturnal and diurnal, it is carnivorous, longevity is about 15 years and feeds on deer, monkey, wild boar, water buffalo, antelope.

The largest population of Bengal tigers is in the nature park in Bengal and in Bangladesh, India, Burma and Nepal

Tigers need a vital space in which they can hunt. They mark and defend territories. A tiger has several holes in his field, It likes to frequent the dense and open forest, savanna, swamps. It sleeps in the forest and moves in the morning and late in the day in open savanna and along the marshes in search of water and prey.

The Bengal tiger does not like to share his estate with tigers and other animals. All tigers mark their territory by urinating very strong secretions that indicates their presence. It is very difficult to follow his trail, as well as the Bengal tiger is of large size, it is discreet and shy nature, it is also the only cat to feed on decomposition starting meat.

Bengal tigers reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years for females and 4-5 years for males. They breed in spring. During this period, the female is fertile only 3 to 7 days. After mating, the male returns to his field and is not involved in the breeding of young. 15 weeks later (95-112 days), the tigress gives birth to 2 to 4 youngs, blind for the first 10 days. The female breastfeeds for 8 weeks and then also brings them to eat small prey. At 6 months, they are left alone in the den for days, while the mother is hunting, At 11 months, they can hunt alone and 16 months they are strong enough to tackle large prey. Young tigers remain 2 or 3 years with their mother; it is then ready to mate again.

Tigers hunt on the lookout night or day. Powerful and fast over short distances, they stalk their prey never further than 500 meters. From a very big leap, they attack their prey, 250 kg fall on their victims. The tiger hunting prey sometimes weighing about 900 kg more than three times its weight.

It rarely eats its prey in the same place where he was killed. It prefers to drag its prey in a safe place, it attacks the old weak animals, wounded, sick, pregnant females and young. It sometimes attacks the porcupines but if the quills lodge in their paws, tiger may die