White Tiger
Panthera tigris

CLASS

Mammalia

ORDER

Carnivora

FAMILY

Felidae

Range

Nepal, Burma, parts of India and Bangladesh

Habitat

Dense forests and lush grasslands

Diet

Large mammals such as pigs, deer, antelope, buffalo and gaur. Smaller mammals and birds are rarely taken.

Facts

• White tigers have white fur with brownish/black stripes and blue eyes; they are not albinos. The white coloration occurs when the recessive gene is present in the mating male and female.
• Over the past 100 years only about a dozen white tigers have been reported in India in the wild.
• Each tiger has its own stripe pattern. Each is unique like a human fingerprint.
• Unlike most cats, tigers love water and can swim very well.
• To hunt the tiger depends more on sight and hearing than smell. It carefully stalks its prey, attacks from the side or rear, leaps on prey and throws it down grabbing the throat. Killing is by strangulation or a bite to the back of the neck.
• Young are capable of hunting on their own by 11 months of age.

Conservation

All tiger subspecies are endangered. Less than 3,500 tigers remain in the world.