White tigers are an endangered species and it is said that less than a
dozen have been seen in India in about a hundred years. In fact no sightings
have been reported since 1951. This may be caused by the fact that the Royal
Bengal tiger population has dropped from 40,000 to 1,800 in the past ten years
and as few as one in every 10,000 tigers is white (www.cranes.org/whitetiger).
White tigers are neither albinos nor a special species. They differ from the
normally colored tigers by having blue eyes, a pink nose, and creamy white fur
with black stripes. If they were albinos they would have pink eyes and a lighter
nose color. A tigers stripes are just like human fingerprints meaning that no
two tigers have the same pattern of stripes. White tigers aren't necessarily
born from other white tigers. White tigers get their color by a double recessive
allele. A Bengal tiger with two normal alleles or one normal and one white
allele is colored orange. Only a double dose of the mutant allele results in
white tigers (www.cranes.org/whitetiger). In fact it is even normal to find
normal colored cubs in a litter of white tigers (www.5tigers.org.com). The
scientific name for a tiger is Panthera Tigris Tigris. It was initially felis
tigris but the genus was changed to panthera because of the tiger's
characteristic round pupils (www.geocities.com). The largest of the big cats may
grow to over 12 feet long from its head to the tip of its tail, and weigh as
much as 660 pounds (Cavendish,696). The white tiger has long been the focus of
human fear and respect for years because of its powerful muscular body, loud
roar, and frightening snarl revealing large, sharp teeth. Tigers spend all of
their time alone which is very unusual (Thapar,115). Each tiger has its own
territory, which it marks by scratching the barks of trees, spraying urine, and
leaving piles of feces (Cavendish,696). Males are particularly aggressive toward
other males and in some cases fights result in death of the weaker tiger. The
territories may contain two or three female tigers but in most cases the area
extends to over 40 square miles (DuTemple,15). Tigers are nocturnal animals and
prefer to hunt their food under the cover of dense vegetation. They hunt by
stealth, stalking their prey silently through the trees in a low crouch until it
is within 66 feet (McClung107). The tiger then bounds forward, knocking its
victim over with a swipe of its huge forepaw and pouncing on their victims back
as it falls to the ground (Cavendish,696). Tigers never creep up on their prey
in the same direction as the wind is blowing because the scent of the tiger will
be carried to their victim (Morris,87). The tiger kills small prey by a single
bite to the back of the neck with its large, powerful jaws and sharp teeth
(Cavendish,696). It deals with larger prey by getting a suffocating grip on the
throat. Once it has made a kill, the tiger usually drags the carcass under cover
before beginning to feed (Morris,87). As the tiger eats it will make loud
growling and snarling noises to warn the predators in the area (Thapar,52). If
for some reason the tiger has to leave its dinner before it is done eating it
will cover the body with twigs and leaves before leaving (Morris,88). Tigers
need to eat about 40 pounds of meat a day and will commonly cover up to 12 miles
every night in search of their prey (McClung,150). Tigers usually eat deer, wild
pigs, wild cattle, young rhinos, baby elephants, domestic animals at near by
farms, and occasionally leopards (Morris,88). Once in a while a tiger might eat
a human but this is much less common than you would think, because tigers are
very shy of human beings and try to stay away from them (Morris,88). Once tigers
have reached three or fours years old they are old enough to breed. Tigers breed
every two to three years and the female is the one that goes looking for a mate
(McClung,212). The females will go around leaving their scents on bushes or
rocks and wait for interested males to come. When the cubs are born, however,
the male and female tigers go their separate ways and the female is left with
the responsibility of raising the cubs. The average time that tigers are
pregnant is usually about 108 days before the cubs are born (www.noahsays.com).
The female usually has litters of about three to four cubs in a special den that
she has chosen where she feels the cubs will be safe. The cubs are blind at
first and weigh about 2.5 pounds and they rely on their mother for everything (www.noahsays.com).
The hardest thing for the mother to do is to keep the cubs safe as she goes off
hunting. When the cubs are small she'll probably hide them in a cave or
in-between small crevices in the rocks where they cannot be seen. When the cubs
get bigger then the mother usually hides them in clumps of long grass until she
return from hunting (Cavendish,697). Large snakes such as pythons may sneak up
on the cubs and crush them to death and then swallow them. Leopards, wild dogs,
and hyenas are also on the prowl so the mother has to hurry back as soon as
possible (Tharpar,199). Many of the cubs do become prey before they are old
enough to protect themselves and only about two cubs will get a chance to grow
into fully grown tigers (Morris,92). The cubs drink their mothers milk until
they are five to six weeks old and when they get a little bigger the mother
usually vomits up some of her food to feed to her cubs. It is very important to
keep the cubs fur clean so the mother spends a lot of time doing this to keep
them healthy. The mother also has to spend a great deal of time grooming herself
to make sure that any cuts that she got from hunting are cleaned so she doesn't
get sick and possibly die (DuTemple,24). After all if she gets sick then she
cannot hunt and then her and her cubs will quickly starve to death. Tigers are
not like most of the cat species and they love water. Especially on hot days
they like to lay in the cool waters and relax (Thapar,200). When the cubs are
old enough the mother brings them to a water hole on a hot day to cool off and
play in the water (Thapar,200). When the cubs are half grown, they are usually
large enough to go hunting with their mothers. However they are still too young
to hunt but they watch eagerly from nearby cover as their mother stalks and
attacks her prey. Then when she brings back the kill, they rush out to join her.
The mother will then open up the skin of the animal and let her cubs eat before
she begins to eat. The cubs learn hunting techniques by watching their mother
and then practice these techniques with each other while they play. While the
mother is stalking the prey her young can keep an eye on her by watching the
white circles outlined in black on the back of her ears. These markings are also
used when two tigers fight; after the fight one tiger will turn around and let
the other tiger see the marking and this is a sign of victory (Morris,92). The
final stage of rearing the young comes when they are about two years old. At
this time the mother will just get up and walk away from her cubs and she wont
look back or never return. For the first time the young animals will have to
fend for themselves and make their own kills if they want to survive in the
jungle (Morris,92). There has been a drastic reduction in the range of the tiger
during the 20th century, mainly because of the intense hunting pressure from
humans. At one time the tiger was found in Southeast India, Russia, China, and
Southeast Asia, but at least three out of eight subspecies of tigers have become
extinct in recent years (www.noahsays.com). The Indian government has made an
attempt to conserve remaining tigers. Project Tiger was established in the early
1980's, using 830 square kilometers of the Bandipur Forest in southern India for
protection of tigers. Constantly handicapped by lack of funds, the project has
little to show for its efforts. Park officials say Bandipur has 70 tigers now,
but many conservationists think the total is less (www.noahsays.com). Some of
the tigers' difficulties have resulted from loss of natural habitat, and further
loss of their territories will lead to an even bigger drop in their numbers. The
major threat to the tiger population is hunters. Poachers want tiger parts to
sell for traditional medicinal substances used in some cultures, and also have
found a good market for their skins. Laws to help tigers exist, but they are
difficult to enforce when funds aren't available to pay for adequate security
forces (www.tigertail.com). There are many organizations to donate money to, but
now all we need is to get everyone interested in helping this beautiful species
that is greatly decreasing.

Bibliography



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David. The Animal World. Hong Kong: Octopus Books. 1980. Cavendish, Marshall.
Wildlife of the World. New York: Cavendish Corporation. 1994. DuTemple, Lesley.
Tigers. New York: Lerner Publishing. 1996. McClung, Robert. Last of the Wild.
Connecticut: Linnet Books. 1997. Morris, Desmond. The World of Animals. New
York: Penguin Group. 1993. Thapar, Valmik. Land of the Tiger. New York:
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