Facts about Bengal Tiger – If one is asked what the most frightening animal is, some would think of tiger. Indeed, they are big in size and even the roar is powerful enough to make you intimidated.

Out of all the tigers, there is the biggest one: Royal Bengal Tiger. In this article, we will cover some deadly facts about Bengal tiger.

What’s not deadly about tiger? Stronger night vision compared to human, the sharpest sense of hearing that they own, and on top of that, the majestic size that Bengal tigers possess. In the world, there are 36 species of cat, and guess who is the biggest one? Bengal tiger.

The white spots on the back of the ears are used for signal of aggression. Once they hunt, they would find enough preys to feast for several meals. The roar can be heard from 3 kilometer.

Read: Interesting Facts about White Tiger

A lot of people are already familiar with this tiger. Bengal tiger was featured in the Life of Pie, named Richard Parker. The size of Bengal tiger varies. Tigers that live in far north gets larger in size. The smallest tigers are Sumatrans, while the biggest ones are Siberian. Scroll down below to find out more facts about Bengal tiger.

Facts about Bengal Tiger

1. Bengal tigers reside in India, but some are found in other areas

The Royal Bengal tiger is known to originate from India. In fact, the national animal of India is the Royal Bengal Tiger. However, some Bengal tigers are also found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal as well as China. Bengal tiger is also the national animal of Bangladesh.

Despite the believe that Bengal tiger came from India or Bangladesh, the chance is they are not. The oldest fossil was found in Sri Lanka, dating back to 16,500 years ago. It is believed that back then, Bengal tigers’ population were scattered all over the country, in the wild.

2. The only tiger that lives in mangrove

Tigers don’t usually live in the mangrove forest, but not Royal Bengal Tiger. In the world, they are the ones that could live in mangrove forest. On top of that, the only mangrove forest where you can find Royal Bengal tiger is only in Bangladesh and India.

The mangroves forest is called Sundarbans. This forest is now being threatened as the climate change is slowly raising the level of the sea. Bengal tigers prefer to live in dry and wet forests, especially mangroves, temperate and grassland forests.

3. Out of all the subspecies of tigers, Bengal tiger has the highest population

While Bengal tiger is also considered endangered, they are about to be close to extinct. The risk is still quite high for them in the wild. This is because out of all the subspecies of tigers, they hold the highest population.

There are around 2,500 Bengal tigers known in the wild as of now. Bengal tiger originally has 8 subspecies, but three of them are extinct. This facts about Bengal tiger is because they, along with other big animals, are hunted by human. Human hunts these animals for trophies.

On top of that, their body parts are used as Chinese medicine. Now, the remaining tigers are being protected from loss of habitat as well as poaching. This includes all the subspecies of Bengal tiger as well.

4. Unique colors of fur and stripes

Bengal tigers are known for the golden fur with black stripes. There are also white Bengal tigers with black stripes, or even completely white. It would be really hard to find one of these Bengal tigers though, because of their rareness.

The color happens because of gene mutation, not because they are albino. In 1846, there was once reported that someone found a completely black Bengal Tiger. This report was made in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

These stripes are beneficial for them to camouflage in the wild. These facts about Bengal tiger are like human’s fingerprint where no two tigers possess the same exact stripes.

5. Being the largest cat, tigers are truly huge

 

It is fairly obvious that big cats are all big, hence the name. But, can you imagine the biggest of the big cats? Tiger it is.

The incredible power and strength that tigers possess are not the only reason why they are scary. The male Bengal tiger can weigh up to 300 kilograms, while the females are around 180 kilograms. However, the average weight is still around 300 kilograms.

6. Lifespan up to 20 years

While Bengal tiger may be able to live in the wild for 15 years, they can live up to 20 years in captive. After mating, the male tigers will leave the female tigers. The female tigers give birth to around 3 to 5 cubs and take care of the children alone.

Once born, the cubs are small and blind, therefore the mother will take care of them. After 2 or 3 years, they are able to be independent and move away. However, female cubs usually don’t leave the group where their mother are in.

7. Great sense of vision and hearing

All of the big cats are equipped with excellent sense of vision and hearing, including Bengal tigers. Bengal tigers can see better in the dark six times than human. Also, their sense of hearing is better for up to 5 times that of humans. Not only excellent hearing, they also possess excellent voices that their roars can be heard from 3 meters apart.

8. Prefer to be alone and stay away from human

Bengal tigers are one of those big cats who are not social able. They even mark their territories using their scent so that the other tigers will be away from it. They would also avoid human contact, but probably will attack once humans inhibit their habitats.

This facts about Bengal tiger is because the loss of habitat makes them unable to hunt. On top of that, the preys will sometimes move to the area where humans live in. Therefore, there are no other choice for the tigers to approach the source of food wherever they are.

9. Hunt medium to large animals at night

Bengal tigers prefer medium to large animals. This includes dear, water buffaloes, badgers, wild boar, baby elephants and rhino calves. Tigers are extremely powerful an can even carry a dead bison that weighs 1 ton.

They would hunt at night, but with the strength, they are free to hunt during the day as well. The small preys will get deadly bite while the larger preys will get suffocated by these tigers. They wait patiently until the preys actually approach them.

10. Own the longest canines out of all mammals that eat meat

The canines of Bengal tigers can grow up to 10 centimeters. That facts about Bengal tiger is the longest canine when compared to other mammals that consume meat. This is even longer than the ones that lions have.

Tigers are also considered voracious eaters. In one single eating, tigers can finish around 30 to 40 kilograms worth of meat. However, once they have consumed those massive amount of foods, they are able to stay full for 3 weeks.

Conclusion

Tigers has been preserved since the year 1970’s. It worked to stabilize the population, but on 1990’s, poaching started getting higher again. They are currently in the status of endangered.

Their skin is well demanded by the international market. The body parts are used for traditional Asian medicines. Those are some facts about Bengal tiger that you need to know!