Life habits of tigers: eating, sleeping and playing.

Tigers are carnivores. They prey on many kinds of animals. They usually prey from dawn to sunset, mainly feeding on large mammals such as pigs, deer, antelopes, buffaloes and Indian bison. Tigers can prey on prey bigger than themselves. A tiger weighing about 100 to 250kg can kill an Indian bison weighing 900kg. Wild tigers can eat 40 kilograms of meat at a time. Without being disturbed, they usually return to the hunting ground to enjoy the remaining food within three to six days after catching their prey until there is little food left. Tigers are different from other cats because they are good at swimming. In the past, a tiger was recorded to swim 29 kilometers.

Tigers are experts in hunting, but they often miss their prey with a 90% chance. This shows that under natural conditions, tigers will not lead to the extinction of prey, nor will they have any important impact on the number of prey communities. However, with the continuous destruction of tiger habitat, cutting down and burning plants, killing animals that tigers depend on for their livelihood, the survival of tigers is threatened.

At the beginning of this century, people thought that there were100000 tigers in Asia, but since then, the number has shrunk by as much as 90%, leaving less than 7000 wild tigers. Killing tigers for commercial purposes, the reduction of their food quantity and the loss of habitat are the main threats faced by tigers. The future of tigers depends on whether the existing habitats can be preserved and whether humans can completely curb the crisis of illegal hunting.

Hunters hunt tigers to collect tiger skins, make specimens and decorations, and some people also develop Chinese herbal medicines from tiger body parts. /kloc-at the end of 0/9 and the beginning of this century, shooting tigers became a sport. 19 1 1 year, in just eleven days, 39 tigers in Nepal were shot by the same people. In China, tigers are regarded as "pests" and can even be rewarded with "exterminating pests". From 1940s to 1970s, 3,000 South China tigers were killed. In the past, obtaining tiger skin was the main reason for killing tigers, but in recent years, killing tigers is to obtain tiger bones, and the problem of killing tigers and taking bones has attracted much attention.

In the past, the Chinese medicine community thought that all parts of the tiger's body could also be used as medicine for medical purposes, but now most of the medicinal uses are out of fashion. In recent years, Chinese medicine mainly uses tiger bone as a medicine to treat rheumatism, and at the same time, it can be pounded into powder to make pills, plasters or soaked in tiger bone medicinal liquor. Since 1993, tiger bones have been deleted from China Pharmacopoeia. However, drugs containing tiger bones are still widely sold in many Asian, European and North American countries.

Tigers are basically a single nocturnal animal, but in some protected areas far away from humans, these guys also come out for a walk during the day. Tigers living in the cold north sometimes have to go out to hunt during the day. They usually prey on large mammals, including all kinds of wild deer, wild sheep, bison, wild boar, and sometimes catch all kinds of small animals, such as birds, monkeys, fish and so on. It is said that they even eat insects and berries, and occasionally eat grass to help digestion. Sometimes hungry tigers will prey on human livestock and even kill people (human-eating tigers are often poor guys who are old, weak, sick and unable to deal with healthy animals, and this tragedy usually only happens after humans enter the tiger's territory), so they are hated by some humans. If the food can't be eaten, they will also hide the rest, usually in a place not far from the water source, and come back to eat in a few days.

Although tigers live alone and have their own territory, male tigers may often stay with their spouses and children. Adult tigers, especially brothers and sisters, are likely to cooperate with each other for a period of time (whether long-term or not) and enjoy the harvest. Tigers divide their territories by scratching and spraying dung on tree trunks. A male tiger may have more than one female tiger's territory, but the territories between the female tigers may not overlap. The male tiger strictly defends his territory. The territory is too large, and it is inevitable that some people will want to take advantage. In the face of shameless invaders, Xionghu usually pursues the policy of killing without forgiveness, which can also reduce his future competitors. Tigress is generally not so boring. Even if her neighbor dies, she may not explore this field.

Tigers don't like hot weather because they lack sweat glands. When summer comes, they always look for shade to hide. Because of their superb swimming skills, they love swimming very much, and tigers in hot areas especially like to bathe and play in ponds. However, their tree climbing skills are far less than swimming skills, which is estimated to be caused by their large size and weight.