Lion In Culture

Lions are recurring symbols in the coat of arms of royalty and chivalry, particularly in the UK, where the lion is also a national symbol of the British people. Lions appear in the art of China, even though lions have never lived in China. No animal has been given more attention in art and literature. C.A.W. Guggisberg, in his book Simba, says the lion is referred to 130 times in the Bible, for example in 1 Peter 5:8 where the Devil is compared to a roaring lion: `seeking someone to devour`.

The lion can also be found in stone age cave paintings.

• Although lions are not native to China, the Chinese people believe that Lions protect humans from evil spirits, hence the Chinese New Year Lion Dance to scare away demons and ghosts.

• The lion is adopted by the British people as their mascot together with the bulldog. It is used like the FIFA World Cup mascot held in England in the year 1966 and the European Football Championships in 1996. The lion again became mascot with Goleo VI with your "pal" a talking football called "Pillie" for FIFA World Cup in 2006. A British group The Lighting Seeds inspired by the England football team emblem have written the song Three Lions which is the team`s nickname.

• The island of Singapore is named for the Malay word singa (lion), which itself is derived from the Sanskrit word सिंह siMha of the same meaning, and the Malay word pura, also derived from the Sanskrit word पुर pura (city), hence Singapura (Lion City). According to the legend in the Malay historical literary work, the Malay Annals, Singapore was named by Sang Nila Utama, a Sumatran prince of the Srivijaya empire, who encoutered a lion while hunting on the island in the 11th Century. The lion has since been used as a symbol of Singapore, appearing on the National Coat of Arms. The image of the Merlion is also derived from a chimera of a mermaid and lion.

• The lion appears on the National Flag and the Coat of Arms of Sri Lanka. It is meant to symbolise the Sinhala people (Sinhalese Singha = Lion"). Local folklore tells of Prince Vijaya, the first of the Sinhalese kings, as being the son of Sinhabahu, who was fathered by a lion.
  

Terrifying Live Video Of Lion

Man Eaten Alive by Lions [Real]

Lion Mating With Tiger

Picture of a liger

Lion Cross-breeding with Tigers

Lions have also been known to breed with their close counterparts, tigers (most often Amur), while in captivity to create interesting mixes. These two new breeds are called ligers and tigons.

The liger originates from mating a male lion and a tigress. Because the lion passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female lion is not present, ligers are larger than either parent. It is said that ligers do not stop growing and will grow constantly through their lifespan, until their bodies cannot sustain their huge size any longer, reaching up to half a tonne. Ligers share some qualities of both their parents (spots and stripes) however they enjoy swimming, a purely tiger activity, and they are always a sandy color like the lion. Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile.

The tigon is a cross between the lioness and the male tiger. Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 150kg (350 lb), which is about 20% smaller than lions. They can best be described as "housecat-like" in appearance, although with round ears. Like male ligers, male tigons are sterile, and they all have both spots and stripes, with yellow eyes. Tigons are not as common as ligers because they are more difficult to produce since male tigers are less attracted to lionesses because of their smaller size and are thought to have difficulty with recognizing lioness breeding cues.

Female ligers and female tigons are fertile and can produce offspring if mated to either a pure-bred lion or a pure-bred tiger.

Tiger pictured mating lioness

A Chinese zoologist has captured a picture of a tiger mating with a lioness.

Zhao Yunhua took the rare photograph in Shenzhen Safari Park.

It's not unusual for tigers and lions to breed in safari parks - but it is seldom caught on film.

Two tigons - the product of a male tiger and a lioness - and three ligers - the cub of a male lion and female tiger - have been born in the park.

The five offspring are all growing up healthily, reports Shenzhen Evening Post.

Pictures of Lions Mating

Mating behavior is very similar in all cats. Lions court for several days, during which the female and male stay close to each other. When she is ready, the female adopts the mating position, her belly pressed to the ground and tail to one side. The male mounts her, gripping the skin on the back of her neck with his teeth.

After they mate, the female often hits and hisses at the male, perhaps ensuring that his neck bite remains only a love bite. The couple may mate hundreds of times over several days, but afterward, when they return to the pride, they show no special interest in each other.

When it's time to make little lions, the dominant male and a female in heat leave the pride for a few days and devote themselves to mating and sleeping. They will mate every 15-30 minutes for several days in a row. The rest of the time they will sleep, passing up all but the most easily obtained food.

There is a certain ritual to the whole procedure. Typically, the female instigates the mating by arousing the King from his sleep. A bit grudging at first, the male soon rises to his reproductive duties and mating begins without any further foreplay. The inattentive observer is likely to miss the whole affair, for it is over within a few seconds. Both are then quick to fall asleep again until the next time.

Lions in the major African parks have long been acclimated to vehicles and give them little regard. While some animals might need privacy, lions don't care who is looking on and will go about their business even when surrounded by dozens of vehicles and curious onlookers.

Lions Mating

Most mammals have promiscuous mating systems; however, in the case of the lion, promiscuity is prevented by the complex pride unit. Within a pride, lions are promiscuous, but since the pride limits the number of females and males available for mating, lions are termed as being polygynandrous. This means that each male mates with multiple females and each female mates with multiple males. Nearly all reproduction in lions is done by the resident prides. So, if you’re not in a pride…you’re not mating. Mating within a pride is first come first served. Since there is no dominance hierarchy amongst males or females, no mate selection is found to occur.


Mating Ritual

The mating ritual in lions involves a lot of physical rubbing and presenting leading up to the copulation event. Female lionesses engage in a lot of headrubbing towards male lions and then begin their sexual displays. Lionesses will lift their hindleg with their front paw or roll onto their back and bite at their hindlegs. Similarly, females will “present” by lowering their forebody and arching their back and hindlegs. The females do the presentation, and the males choose the estrous female they want. However, the choice pretty much means whichever presenting estrous female they run into first.

Lion mating is notoriously quick, repetitive, and unsuccessful. The male usually initiates copulation with a mating snarl which is intended to excite the female. If the female does not respond, the male lion may lick her neck, back, or shoulders until she complies. The enticed female will then crouch down, and the male lion will quickly mount her. The male lion during copulation will usually bite the neck of the female and let out a loud roar during and immediately after ejaculation. The male will then move away from the female as the female rolls on her back and stretches her legs. The mating activity generally lasts for about four days. Copulation lasts about 30-70 seconds and is repeated once every 25 minutes during the four day period.

Lions, however, are very unsuccessful at conception. Bertram observed that intromission and ejaculation occurred 90% of the time, but the mating was still unsuccessful. This mating inefficiency may be a result of the ability of lions to induce ovulation and therefore not specifically be ovulating during the mating or that the inefficiency might be a female adaptation to reduce competition amongst males within a pride. Mating inefficiency is especially high in new male coalition mating. Although females experienced heightened sexual activity, it took 6-9 estrous cycles for females to adapt to the new sperm and conceive.

Estrous, Gestation and Birth

Lions, like most cats, are induced ovulators, which means that they can make themselves ovulate at any time. Lions have no real birthing season since it is impossible for them to predict when food and resources will be scarce or abundant. Food and resources are very inconsistent for a lion so it is not easy to decide when to mate based on scarcity or abundance. The egalitarian society which they live in, however, makes it advantageous to be in estrous and to conceive around the same time as other females in the pride. In fact, female lionesses synchronize their estrous cycles so that breeding, conception, and the correlating birthing of the cubs occur at the same time. By doing so, the advantages of the communal pride are taken into full effect.

The gestation period for a lioness is 3.5 to 3.75 months and the average litter size is 2.5 cubs. However, lionesses are very private about birthing and seek dense vegetation cover from birth to the first 4-6 weeks of a cubs life. Therefore, the average litter size could be higher and predation in the first several weeks could skew the average. Lionesses will give birth every 2-3 years unless the pride is overtaken by an incoming coalition. Packer speculates that smaller litters may in fact be advantageous to the parents by favoring the parents’ current and future reproductive effort as well as favoring the quantity and/or quality of the offspring they produce. Therefore, it might be advantageous to birth a smaller clutch size in order to produce the greatest success.

Lion

Picture of an African Lion

The Lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae. It is the second largest natural living feline with the exception of the tiger. The male lion, easily recognized by his mane, weighs between 150 and 190 kg (330 lb and 423 lb). Unlike tigers, very few lions exceed 225kg in the wild. The greatest wild lion on record is very large male with a weight of 311kg. Females are much smaller, weighing between 117 and 158 kg (240 lb and 330 lb). In the wild lions live for around 10–14 years, while in captivity they can live over 20 years.


Scientific Name Panthera leo

Scientific Classification
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Felidae
Genus Panthera
Species P. leo

Lions are unique in that they are the only cats to live in groups (prides). The male lion is also the only cat to have a mane, giving it a regal appearance that has earned it the title of 'king of the beasts'.

Lions vary in colour from nearly white to deep ochre brown but tawny yellow is the commonest shade. Male lions develop thick woolly manes on the neck and shoulders, signifying maturity. The mane protects the lion during fights with other males. It also differentiates between genders from a distance across savannah plains and is an indicator of fitness. Lions are the only cats to have a mane, suggesting it is linked to their unusual social system. Lions are also the only cats to have a tuft at the end of their tail.

Cubs are born with spots, which disappear as they get older, although the spots sometimes persist on their legs and belly.

One of the few animals that will attack lions are hyenas, which will kill an injured lion, or if food is scarce, will occasionally attack a healthy one. Lions and hyenas also have been known to kill each other in fights over prey.

Distribution
Lions once ranged from north Africa through south west Asia, west into Europe (where they became extinct 2000 years ago) and east into India. Now their distribution is patchy and they are only found in reserves and national parks south of the Sahara and in the Gir Forest, India.

Habitat
Lions are quite adaptable and can be found living on desert fringe, in woodland or open savannah, but are absent from equatorial forests.

Diet
Lions hunt by ambush. Their main prey includes medium to large-sized mammals such as antelope, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, warthog and deer, but they will also scavenge for food. Asiatic lions in particular also prey on domestic cattle. Lions can survive for long periods without water, obtaining moisture from prey and plants.

Behaviour
Lions live in groups called prides. The pride may consist of up to twelve related adult females and their young, and up to six adult males who are probably related to each other but not to the females. Prides can range from 3-30 individuals, but average 4-6. Theories as to why lions live in social groups include increased hunting success, defence of young, maintenance of long-term territories, insurance against individual injury and minimisation of chances of getting no food at all.

Of all the big cats, the lion is the only one which relies extensively on group co-operation. Lionesses tend to stay in the pride they are born in. This makes the group a collection of sisters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers who have grown up together. Males are expelled from the pride that they are born in once they reach maturity. They usually form coalitions with other males (often relations) with whom they hunt and scavenge for food.

Females tend to do most of the hunting for the whole pride. They hunt cooperatively, each individual taking on a different role. The larger lionesses tend to ambush prey which the females on the wings chase in her direction. Lions usually hunt at night.

Male lions defend the pride against intruders. They mark key points of the territory with urine and patrol the boundaries regularly, roaring to warn other lions of their presence. Competition between males to head a pride is fierce, and males tend to hold ownership for only 2-3 years. Fights for possession of a pride are vicious and may result in serious injury or death.

Picture of The Asiatic lion (P.l.persica)

Reproduction
Females will tend to come into oestrus simultaneously and thus most of the cubs are born at the same time. Lionesses give birth to 2-5 cubs, after a gestation period of 100-116 days. The cubs are cared for by all the females in the pride, and will suckle from other females as well as from their mother.

Fourteen to seventy three per cent of all lion cubs die before they reach the age of two (varies according to location). A new male in a pride will kill all the cubs which has the effect of bringing the females into oestrus. This means that only he will be the father of the cubs in the pride.

Conservation status
African lions are listed as Vulnerable by the 2000 IUCN red list. The Asiatic lion (P.l.persica) is classed as Critically Endangered. Threats include hunting, loss of habitat and human encroachment.

Uses Of Tiger

In Traditional Chinese Medicine
Tiger parts are used in traditional Asian medicines. Many people in Asia believe that tiger parts have medicinal properties. There is no scientific corroboration to these beliefs, which include:

• The tail of the tiger is sometimes ground and mixed with soap to create an ointment for use in treating skin cancer. The bones found from the tip of the tiger’s tail are said to ward off evil spirits.
• Crushed tiger bones added to wine serves as a Taiwanese general tonic.
• Tiger’s skin is said to cure a fever caused by ghosts. In order to use it effectively, the user must sit on the tiger’s skin, but beware. If too much time is spent on the tiger’s skin, the legend says the user will become a tiger.
• Adding honey to the gallstones and applying the combination to the hands and feet is said to effectively treat abscesses.
• Burnt tiger hair can allegedly drive away centipedes.
• Mixing the brain of a tiger with oil and rubbing the mixture on your body is an alleged cure for both laziness and acne.
• Rolling the eyeballs into pills is an alleged remedy for convulsions.
• If whiskers are kept as a charm, legend says one will be protected against bullets and have increased courage.
• One will allegedly possess courage and shall be protected from sudden fright if you wear a tiger’s claw as a piece of jewellery or carry one in your pocket.
• Alleged strength, cunning, and courage can be obtained by consuming a tiger’s heart.
• Floating ribs of a tiger are considered a good luck talisman.
• The tiger’s penis is said to be an aphrodisiac.
• Small bones in a tiger’s feet tied to a child’s wrists are said to be a sure cure for convulsions.

In Literature and Popular Culture

The word tiger is borrowed from Greek tigris, itself borrowed from Persian. American English Tigress first recorded 1611. Tiger's-eyes "yellowish-brown quartz" is recorded from 1891.

The tiger has certainly managed to appeal to man's imagination. Both Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Books and William Blake in his Songs of Experience depict him as a ferocious, fearful animal. In The Jungle Books, the tiger Shere Khan is the biggest and most dangerous enemy of Mowgli, the uncrowned king of the jungle. Even in the Bill Watterson comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes the tiger sometimes escapes his role of cuddly animal. At the other end of the scale there is Tigger, the tiger from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories, who is always happy and never induces fear. In the award winning A Tiger for Malgudi, a Yogi befriends a tiger. Rajah, a pet of the characters Aladdin and Jasmine of Disney's animated feature film Aladdin, is uncharacteristically dog-like in its behavior, but even more oddly Tony The Tiger is renowned for his Frosted Flakes and may be the only cat, real or fictional, who thrives on a vegetarian diet.

A stylized tiger cub was a mascot of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games of Seoul with the name "Hodori", and the tiger is one the most chosen animals to be a mascot for sports teams, e.g. Major League Baseball team Detroit Tigers.

Humble Oil, a division of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (Jersey Standard), used a stylized tiger to promote gasoline and the slogan "Put a Tiger in your Tank". Jersey Standard adopted the use of a real tiger in its advertising when it took the Exxon name company-wide in 1972, and the brand kept the tiger mascot as a part of ExxonMobil when they merged in 1999.

Most recently, Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize in 2002 with his novel Life Of Pi about an Indian boy castaway on the Pacific Ocean with a Royal Bengal Tiger.

In the Chinese novel Water Margin, tigers appeared numerous times as attacking travellers. In the Wu Song story he became famous when slaying a tiger with his barehands who had been terrorizing the local towns nearly a decade. In reality, wild tigers, being dwellers of the jungle, have rarely been found in larger human cities in China, where the idea of a tiger on the street can act as a symbol of paranoia or unfounded fear, giving rise to such idioms as three men make a tiger. The Tiger belongs to one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac

Beautiful Paintings Of Tigers

Tigers are carnivores and have awesome eating equipment, including the biggest canine teeth of any predator - they're up to 10 times bigger than your teeth! Their favourite foods are deer, pigs and fish.


While some people believe tigers will eat humans, they will only do so in times of extreme desparation, such as injury, weakness, or advanced starvation.


Night-time vision is six times better than that of a human. Hunting is usually at night. Stripes provide camouflage against the shadows of leaves; prey is often unaware of the stalking tiger.


Most tigers live in forests and grasslands, for which their camouflage is ideally suited, and where it is easy to hunt prey that is faster or more agile. Among the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. Tigers hunt alone and eat primarily medium-sized herbivores such as deer, wild pigs and buffalo. However, they will also take larger or smaller prey on occasion.



Humans are the tiger's only serious predator and often kill tigers illegally for their fur. Their bones and nearly all body parts are used in Chinese medicine for a range of purported uses including pain killers and aphrodisiacs. Poaching for fur and destruction of habitat have greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild, and it has been placed on the endangered species list.

90% of the world tiger population has been lost this century with the:
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Development of better firearms.
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Colonisation, which brought the 'sport' of tiger hunting
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Habitat destruction, for farmland and timber.
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Skin and fur used in fashion.
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Continued use of body parts for folk medicine..

Pictures Of Tigers

Tigers have the longest and biggest canine teeth of all the wild cats. A tiger's canines are larger and longer than those of a similar-sized lion. The reason for this is likely due to the habit of preying on large herbivores in its habitat whose bones are thick and large; the tiger's canines have to be strong enough to break the bones of their prey. Moreover, as tigers hunt alone to bring down their prey, they have to work harder than lions, which hunt in groups.


One common misunderstanding between lion and tiger needs to be corrected: Some people believe that tigers are built for hunting, while lions are for combating (e.g. defending their prides from intruders, fighting to gain posession of females), and tigers do not fight to the end. In reality, male tigers do have to fight to defend their ranges from intruders, as intruding males will try and kill their offspring, and gain access to females. Male tigers are very aggressive and do not tolerate any kind of territory overlapping. Sometimes the fights get so fierce the losers are dead or heavily injured, making them unable to catch their normal prey and starve. This contributes to the fact that wild tigers do not live as long as they do in zoos.


Powerful swimmers, tigers are known to kill prey while swimming. Some tigers have even ambushed boats for the fishermen on board or their catch of fish.


A tiger roar can travel up to 2km. Tail twitching also tells a tale, especially of the excitement of an impending hunt.


Unlike most cats, tigers are keen swimmers. Water may be used as a way of cooling off.

Facts About Tigers

Tigers are the largest cat in the world. Their tails help them balance in tight turns, and are also used for communication with other tigers. They have round pupils and yellow irises (blue for white tigers), with their night vision being 6 times better than humans. Like house cats, their claws are retractable. And like all cat species, they like to keep themselves very clean, dedicating much time to thorough grooming. Tiger stripes are for camouflage, with the smaller Sumatran having the most stripes, Siberian the least. Every tiger has unique facial markings, stripe patterns and pug marks.

• Being ambush hunters, tigers stalk their prey until they are close enough to charge from behind. The killing bite is applied to the neck or throat, depending on the prey. For smaller animals, a neck bite snaps their spine, with the throat bite reserved to suffocate larger prey. Usual prey are ungulates (hoof animals), ranging from 65 - 2000 pounds, consisting mainly of wild pigs, wild cattle and deer. After gorging themselves at the kill site (they are capable of eating up to 40 pounds at one sitting) tigers drag their kill to a safe place where they can consume it at their leisure. Hunting may resume several days later, when the tiger is propelled by hunger.
• In similarity to humans, females mature faster than males, around the age of 3, with males maturing at 4. Female tigers come into heat seasonally in temperate climates, or at any point in the year in tropical climates. Scent marking and roars are indicators of the female's readiness to mate. Copulation occurs frequently over a span of 5 days, with gestation lasting approximately 103 days. The average litter is 2 or 3 cubs, who are born blind, and weigh 2 to 3 pounds. Cubs are fed by their mother's milk for 6-8 weeks before she introduces them to meat. Cubs begin to hunt and learn stalking and attacking skills at 6 months, and can hunt for themselves at 18 months.
• After leaving their mothers at the average age of 2, tigers are very solitary animals, each with their own realms. They mark their territories (ranging in size from 26-78 sq. km, but can exceed that) by spraying, scratching trees, or leaving droppings in plain sight. Territory size depends on the availability of prey, and a male's range often overlaps with those of several females. Females also tend to stay closer to their mother's home region, while males stray further away, as to enhance his chances of finding a suitable mate.
  
  

• Tigers paw pads are more sensitive and vulnerable to damage than other animals... hindered by this, the big cat can only watch as its prey escapes over rocks heated by the sun.

• Male tigers have longer and heavier whiskers than females.

• The white tiger is not a separate race or subspecies of tiger. In fact, they are born in litters of normal cubs. The white variation occurs because of a gene which is normally recessive in Bengal tigers. The white tiger is not a true albino, since its eyes are blue (not pink) and its stripes are black or rusty-brown.

• There are a few black tigers on record that all came from northeast of the Bay of Bengal.

• It is believed that all subspecies of the tiger were derived from the Siberian (also known as the Manchurian).

• The tiger is the largest of the world's 36 cat species. On average, tigers weigh 15 to 20 percent more than African lions, the second largest feline species. The very largest of tigers exceed the largest lions in size by even greater percentages.

• Tiger cubs are exceedingly playful. This activity helps strengthen their growing muscles and also helps them learn stalking and hunting skills.

• Tigers are magnificent athletes. They are tremendously agile and supple for an animal that routinely weighs more than 300 pounds and can exceed 600 pounds. They can leap 13 feet (4m) and scale walls 6 feet (2m) high.

• Tiger mothers are protective and conscientious guardians of their young. Cubs rely on their mothers for food and protection for more than a year.

• The tiger's colouration and markings enable it to blend into the dappled shadows of the forest where it has lived very successfully until the encroachment of man.

• Tigers are often found near water, in which they lie and drink to cool themselves. Since they are large animals, generate substantial body heat and live in warm climates (with the exception of Siberia), tigers are the second most water-loving big cat after the jaguar. Tigers are great swimmers; they can swim for 3 miles without having to rest, and have been known to swim from one island to another.

• The Sumatran tiger is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the smallest of the five remaining tiger subspecies. A large male Sumatran often weighs only 200 to 220 pounds, less than half as much as a large, male Siberian tiger.

• Of the five remaining tiger subspecies, three - Sumatran, Siberian, and South Chinese - are considered critically endangered. Two species - Bengal and Indochinese - are endangered.

• All the white tigers in captivity spring from a single cat captured in central India in 1952. There are no known white tigers now in the wild. All white tigers are Bengal tigers.

• Many people believe that the tiger, because of his size, color and charisma, is the most exciting large mammal on earth. In spite, or because of that appeal, the worldwide count of tigers in the wild decreased from more than 100,000 to approximately 5,000 - 7,000 during the past century. The population trend continues downward despite dedicated conservation efforts.
  

Sumatran Tiger

Scientific Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Carnivora

Family Felidae

Genus Panthera

Species P. tigris

Subspecies P.t. sumatrae

Sumatran Tigers are extremely endangered with only 400 individual animals are estimated to exist in the wild and less than 200 in worldwide zoos.

The Sumatran Tiger subspecies are native only to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The Sumatran Tiger is the smallest tiger subspecies alive today. Males weighing roughly 260 pounds compared to the average 650 pounds reached by the Siberian Tiger. Females are very small comparatively as well obtaining weights between 150 to 200 pounds.

Sumatra provides a varying landscape in which this subspecies lives. From peat-moss forest, submountain and mountain forest as well as lowland forest. As a result, the Sumatran Tiger's coat has evolved slightly different from the other tiger subspecies. This evolution adaptation to their environment give the them the darkest coat of all tigers. The Sumatran Tiger has wide black stripes that are closely spaced, sometimes doubled up on each other. These stripes also run down the animal's forelegs, a distinction setting them apart from the Siberian Tiger.

Picture Sumatran Tiger and Cub Taronga ZooSydney, Australia

Native prey includes muntjak deer (a very small deer species), wild boars, wild pigs, and rusa (a large deer). Prey densities on Sumatra are sufficient to sustain the inhabiting tigers. Thus a lack of food items is not considered a factor in their dwindling numbers. The primary threat to this rare tiger species is encroachment by man and habitat destruction. Sumatra's neighboring Indonesian island, Java has a tremendous population of about 110 million people. Every year about six hundred thousand people immigrate from neighboring Java into Sumatra. This influx is compounded by the fact that Java's population increases by two million each year. This yearly population burst on Java puts even greater pressures on Sumatra to absorb even more immigrants. So far it is estimated that Sumatra has lost a staggering 65 to 80 percent of its pristine forests.

As stated, habitat protection is the key again to the survival of the Sumatran Tiger. If nothing is done to stop human encroachment on Sumatra, this subspecies will become extinct like the Javan Tiger (last seen in 1975).

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris sumatrae
Range: Indonesian Island of Sumatra
Average Weight:
Female: 81kg - 100kg (180 - 220 pounds)
Male: 100kg - 173kg (220- 380 pounds)

Size (Length):
Female: 1.8m - 2.2m (6'-8" - 7'-4")
Male: 2.2m - 2.7m (7'-2" - 8'-9")

Diet: All tigers are carnivorous. Sumatran Tiger prey consists mostly of the smaller muntjak deer, antelope, wild boar and wild pigs and a variety of other smaller mammals.

Gestation Period: 100-119 Days (Averaging 103 Days)

Cub Maturity: 18 months - 2 Years
Cubs Per Litter: (Usually 2-3 cubs) Cubs are born blind and weigh 2-3 pounds. 18-26 month intervals.

Lifespan: 14-16 Years
Predators: Man. Particularly in the remaining Tiger subspecies, by poaching the tiger particularly in the Asian marketplace in spite of its protected status as an Endangered Species. Tigers are illegally poached for their beautiful fur and body parts. Tigers are revered to have mystical, magical powers by ancient culture and every single part of the tiger is used in the illicit markets that threaten their survival.

Social Structure: Solitary, except during mating season. Male territory may sometimes overlap.
Territory Size: 257km (160 miles)
Population (Wild): 400 - 500
Captive (SSP): 250 in Zoos worldwide

Siberian Tiger

Scientific Classification

Kingdom Animala

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Carnivora

Family Felidae

Genus Panthera

Species P. tigris

Subspecies P.t. altaica

An animal of imagination and mystery, the tiger is an extremely popular species world-wide. Their are five remaining subspecies of Tigers left in the wild. They are the Sumatran, Bengal, Siberian, South China and Indochinese. Three subspecies of tiger, the Bali, Caspian and Javan, have gone extinct in the 20th century. This solitary and magnificent mammal suffers extreme population decline due to loss of habitat, reduction in numbers of its prey, deliberate poisoning by farmers as they are considered a threat to livestock, poaching and hunting. The skins and bones, blood and other body parts of the tiger are thought to have medicinal properties throughout Asia.

The Five Remaining Tiger Subspecies

1. The Sumatran Tiger - Panthera tigris sumatrae with it's dark coat is the smallest of the remaining five tiger species. It lives in the forests of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Their population in the wild is estimated to range between 400 and 500 individuals located primarily in the Sumatra's five national parks.The average weight of a male Sumatran Tiger is 120 Kg. There are approx 190 in captivity.

Picture of Sumatran Tiger

2. The Indochinese Tiger - Smaller and darker than Bengal tigers, Panthera tigris corbetti is primarily located in Thailand but can also be found in Laos, Myanmar, Ma

laysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and southern China. It is believed that as many as

1000 to 1500 members Indo-Chinese tigers survive in the wild.

Indochinese tigers look a lot like Bengal tigers, but are a bit smaller and darker, with shorter, narrower stripes.

3. Bengal Tiger - Panthera tigris tigris the most commonly known of all tigers and can be found in a variety of habitats in including lush forests, swamps and high altitudes of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Their wild population is approximately 3,000 to 4,750 tigers.

Picture of Bengal Tiger

4. Siberian Tiger - At up to 350 kilos, Panthera tigris altaica is the largest of all the tigers and in is actually the biggest cat on Earth. The Amur tiger as is also known can be found primarily in the forests of eastern Russia, It is estimated that 360–400 live in the wild although their are about 490 captive Siberian tigers

Picture of Siberian Tiger - The Siberian tiger (also known as the Amur, Korean, Manchurian, or North China tiger) is the largest and most powerful subspecies of naturally occurring feline. The Siberian tiger is where they are now being actively protected. About 10% of Siberian tiger populations reside in China. almost totally confined to a very restricted part of eastern Russia, the Amur-Ussuri region of Primorye and Khabarovsk, a location it shares with the Siberian leopard,

5. The South China Tiger - Panthera tigris amoyensis is the most critically endangered of all tigers. As it's name suggests it is found in Central and eastern China.

The South China tiger is the smallest of the tigers at 150 kilos. It's estimated that fewer than 30 can be found in the wild and 47 individuals currently live in zoo's throughout China.

Facts about Koala Bear

FAST FACTS

DESCRIPTION: Mid-sized marsupial with thick, dense fur ranging in color from slate-gray to reddish-brown. They have an opposable modified index finger that acts as a second thumb.

SIZE: MALE 75-82 cm (29.5-32.3 in) FEMALE 68-73 cm (26.8-28.7 in)

WEIGHT: MALE 9.5-12.5 kg (20.9-29.8 lb) FEMALE 7-9.8 kg (15.4-21.6 lb)

DIET: Consists almost exclusively of eucalyptus leaves

GESTATION: 35 days

SEXUAL MATURITY: MALE 3-4 years FEMALE 2 years

LIFE SPAN: 12-14 years in wild

RANGE: Eastern Australia

HABITAT: Eucalyptus woodlands

FUN FACTS

1.	Although koalas may look like bears, they are actually marsupials, animals with a pouch that protects developing young.
2.	Koalas almost never need to drink; they get most of their water from the succulent eucalyptus leaves they eat. The word "koala" is an aboriginal word meaning "no drink animal."
3.	Koalas eat so much eucalyptus, some say they smell like a giant eucalyptus cough drop!
4.	A koala spends over 14 hours a day sleeping.
5.	Koalas are perfectly designed for their tree-dwelling life. Their hands have a large gap between the first and second fingers and their big toe is set at a wide angle to the foot. This gives the koala a vicelike grip on branches. They comfortably sit in a tree all day because of their thickly-padded tails.

Community Life:
Koalas are not very friendly to each other. They do not interact with each other except in territorial disputes and to mate. A male koala "owns" about 15 trees in his territory. He scent marks by urinating or rubbing a gland on his chest against a tree trunk declaring ownership ofthat tree. The bellow of the male is low pitched and can be heard for up to 800 meters. It may announce his presence to other males or to females. Females wail, snarl, and scream to communicate.

Marsupials are very small and underdeveloped when they are born. A newborn koala weighs 1/50 of an ounce and is 3/4 of an inch long-about the size of a peanut! Using powerful front legs and paws, it crawls into its mother's pouch and attaches to a nipple in order to drink milk, grow, and develop. By seven months of age, the joey pokes its head out and gradually starts to explore, squeaking to call for its mother. By 12 months the youngster is weaned, but will return to the pouch for safety until it is 18 months old. Soon after, the young koala leaves for good to find a home of its own.

ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

Before European colonization in Australia, koalas were an important food source for Aboriginal people and dingo (wild dogs). By the 1920's their populations were nearly destroyed from uncontrolled hunting for their fur. Presently, koalas suffer from habitat depletion that is the result of human development. As their habitats shrink, problems with inbreeding and an increased spread of disease occurs.

Conservationists often teach people about the value of all creatures by using koalas as impressive examples of what we can do to bring animals back from the brink. They are now symbols for international conservation and a reminder that we must continually work to preserve unique environments .