Friday, September 11, 2015

How Well Do You Know Your Tigers?

Historically, there were 9 sub-species of tigers. The Caspian, Bali and Javan are now extinct; The South China and Indochinese are genetically extinct; and the remaining sub-species in the wild today are Amur (Siberian), Bengal, Malayan, and Sumatran which are declining rapidly in the wild. Here at the Sanctuary we have primarily Bengal tigers, but also one Siberian!

Siberian tigers are the biggest of all the sub-species. They are the largest and heaviest member of the entire cat family to be exact! Body length can be upwards of 10-12 feet and can weigh around 600 pounds. Siberian coats are notably thick and a pale golden color, with black stripes and white underbellies.

Our resident Siberian tiger is Caesar! He is currently 18 years old and has been at IEAS for a little over 17 years. You can read his full story here: http://www.bigcat.org/animal/caesar

Caesar

Bengal tigers are smaller than Siberians, with a body length of 5-6 feet and weighing around 400 pounds. Their coats are usually a thinner pale yellow color, with black stripes on their bodies.

Here is one of our orange Bengal tiger residents, Khera! Khera is currently 21 years old. Her full story is here: http://www.bigcat.org/animal/khera

Khera
Come on down to IEAS for a tour so you can meet these two wonderful cats and test your identification skills! You'll get to see them as well as many of our other Bengal tigers! They are certainly looking forward to meeting you!


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