Did you watch the tiger kings? Here are some facts about tigers that the show left out
Since Netflix aired ‘Tiger Kings’ back in mid-March, it seems that tigers are all the rage. The show did not focus much on tigers themselves and may have piqued your curiosity.
Here are some little-known facts about tigers that will only have you even more mesmerized by them:
-
The tiger’s roar is scarier and more aggressive than the lion’s. In fact, the roar you hear when you see the MGM logo during a movie is not a lion at all; it’s a tiger.
-
Tiger urine smells like a popular snack. Can you guess what it is? No? Buttered popcorn!
-
Tigers do not normally hunt humans. However, they can develop a taste for human flesh. In India at the turn of the century, one tigress managed to kill 436 people over the space of a few years. According to recent statistics, on average, they kill 40-50 people per year.
-
Their pupils are round like humans instead of slitted like those of the domestic cat. They can even see in color.
-
Tigers cannot purr. The sounds a tiger makes include hisses, growls, meows, and a strange sound called a chuff which is soft and non-threatening. It is often used in greeting.
-
In addition to those sounds, tigers can actually imitate the vocalizations of other animals in order to catch them. They are able to simulate the call of a little deer called a sambhar that lives in India. This cry can attract other sambhars, giving the tiger an easy kill. They can also imitate the sound of a bear to draw them close.
-
The average lifespan of a tiger is 25 years, whether they are in captivity or in the wild.
-
Unlike domestic cats, they love water and can swim for several kilometers.
-
The tiger has the largest brain of all the carnivores. Its brain weighs a little more than half a pound.
-
If you shave the fur of a tiger, their skin is still striped.
-
Tigers can run at 60km/h for short bursts.
-
If you cross a male lion with a female tiger, you get a Liger. This is the biggest cat in the world, weighing around 800-900 lbs. It stands about 5 feet tall and is almost 11 feet long.
-
A group of tigers is called a “streak” or an “ambush”. Although they rarely group together because they are solitary animals, an example of this is a mother with her cubs.
-
One Bengal tiger weighs as much as six men.
-
Tigers see six times better than humans in the dark. Their retina is specially adapted so that light is reflected back into it, enabling them to see very well in the night.
-
Male tigers are gentlemen. If there are pregnant females and mothers with their cubs around when they have made a big kill, they wait till they have eaten before helping themselves.
-
No two tigers have the same striped markings. Each one is completely different.
-
Pregnant tigresses give birth after only three months to blind cubs. Their eyesight develops a week after they are born. Almost half of the cubs do not survive.
-
If you look directly at a tiger, it will not hunt you. A tiger prefers to hunt by ambush, and by looking directly at it, that opportunity is lost. Villagers living in areas where tigers hunt often wear backward-facing masks depicting human faces to discourage them.
-
Tigers fast for several days before going on a serious food fest. During this time they can gorge on more than 66 pounds of meat. However, it only takes two to three weeks for them to die from starvation.
-
The teeth on a tiger are around 10 cm long and can easily bore through neck bones.
-
Tigers do not forget. Their short term memory lasts around thirty times longer than a human’s.
-
There are very few tigers left in the wild. Most of them are in captivity. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are only 3,900 tigers left, mostly in India. However, there are an estimated 5,000 tigers in captivity in the United States alone. That doesn’t count the others that are in other parts of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger
“What are you... Chicken?” Why is this expression so totally wrong
More in Pets and Animals
-
Chihuahuas; From ancient Mayas to the modern-day pocket dog
Dec 9 2020
A little history Historians have speculated that Chihuahuas are descendants of the Techichi dog who lived among the Mayas. This makes the lovely chihuahua a dog with a very rich history. The Mayas were a Mesoamerican civilization whose descendants still live in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and parts of Mexico. A highly sophisticated society for their time, they had developed complex mathematics and astrology. Their ruins still stand and can be seen in places such as Cancun, Valladolid, and Tulum in Mexico.
-
The secret powers of cats
Dec 7 2020
They are quirky and occasionally rude, loving yet independent. These guys can be adorable yet fierce and have been living by our side for many thousands of years. They partnered up with us to hunt mice and slowly made their way into our hearts. We might think that we know everything about them, but there is more to cats than meets the eye. Some very special senses To be a cat is to live in a world of heightened senses, Sometimes we might even wonder if they are aware of the supernatural as we might catch them staring at something that we cannot see.
-
What's the big deal about Savannah cats?
May 16 2020
Savannah cats are some of the most beautiful cats you can own. They have a wild look, yet they are bred to live indoors. And they are astonishingly amazing to look at. These long-legged cats are among the largest of the cat breeds, even larger than the well-known Maine Coon. They are the size of a medium-sized dog and can weigh around 20-30 lbs. Their height makes them look heavier than they actually are.
-
A close look at the "doodle" dog and what it really is
May 10 2020
What are “doodle” dogs? I’ll give you a hint. What well-known dog breed rhymes with doodle? That’s easy, poodle! So-called “doodle” dogs are mixed breeds that have been crossed with poodles. They are some of the most popular dogs currently for sale on the market and they fetch a high price for the fact that they are mixed breeds, compared to the other common crosses that are often seen. Perhaps it’s because buyers are convinced that their doodle will not shed, although some of them do, according to the breed they were crossed with.