White Tigers In Captivity example essay topic

Tigers are a fascinating, and endangered, animal. They develop fast, and go off on their own when they " re mature. Tigers live in various climates, and eat various things as well. They are very strong, and have amazing energy. Not only are they magnificent to watch, but there are many interesting, and not well known, facts about them. Tiger cubs, at birth, are blind and cannot do anything for themselves.

They only weigh about three or four pounds, and are cared after until they mature. After the age of two, tiger cubs go off and fend for themselves. An adult tiger weighs, on average, 420 pounds and can be nine feet long, and the adult female, 300 pounds and eight feet long, both with tails as long as three feet. Females sexually mature at three and a half to four years old, and their gestation period is 98 to 109 days. Part of "growing up" for a tiger, is learning to hunt.

Tigers eat nearly anything they can get to. They eat mainly hoofed animals, but sometimes eat frogs, fish, and monkeys. They prefer such things as deer and wild pigs, but have been known to eat young rhinoceroses and elephants. Several tigers may share a single kill, and they eat everything except the bones and stomach of the prey. They like to live in swamps, rain forests, and thorn scrubs. Tigers are physically fit to live in their environments, and kill their prey.

To kill their prey, tigers either bite the prey's neck, or choke it by holding its throat. Besides being able to leap 13 feet and six feet into the air, having excellent sight and amazing hearing, tigers are also great swimmers. Tigers can swim for three miles without resting. They have also swam from island to island. Their roar can also be heard from up to two miles away, and sometimes farther. Many people do not know some of the amazing facts about tigers.

Tigers are the biggest member of the cat family, with lions coming in at a close second. Their paw pads are very sensitive and are easily damaged, which prevents them from following prey that may wonder on such things as rocks that are hot. Another interesting fact about the tiger is that there are no white tigers left in the wild, only in captivity. On top of that, all of the white tigers in captivity came from the same female, which was caught in 1952.

White tigers are not true albinos because they lack pink eyes; theirs are blue. Tigers and lions have actually mated in captivity. The offspring of a male tiger and a female lion is called a Tigon, and offspring of a male lion and a female tiger is called a Liger. Tigers are getting more and more scarce. In the world today, there are about 12 Javan tigers still alive, and less than 110 Siberian tigers. Their only needs in life are water, food, and shade, so this is definitely not the cause of their near extinction.

The number of tigers in the world is decreasing because of hunters that like the fur. Tigers are rarely shot for attacking humans, for they usually would only attack a human if they were injured and could not catch their normal prey, or food was very scarce. Tigers are very spectacular animals. They mature quickly, and are independent nearly their whole life.

They eat many different things, and are able to catch them with their speed and agility. There are many facts that most people don't know about tigers that are quite interesting, as well. I think it's bad that despite the efforts of thousands of people trying to save them, they are still hunted. As of now, it looks as if in the next decade, tigers could be extinct because they have decreased from more than 100,000 to around 5,000 in the last century. In my opinion, tigers are a magnificent creature that people should stop killing and start protecting.

Bibliography

Tiger". Encyclopedia America. 1993 ed".
Tiger Facts". The Vanishing Tiger. November 12, 2000.
web (November 25, 2001)".
Tiger". World Book Millennium 2000.