1. The Indian White Tiger
or White Tiger of Bengal
-Biodiversity Project-
Stefan Mazzadi
Grade 6 Fessenden
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2. Scientific Classification
FACT BOX
WHITE TIGER
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae AR!
Dea
dly T
RO e eth
Genus: Panthera Can’
t Stro
Cam
oufla ng
Species: P. Tigris g e Claw
s
Scientific Name: Ea ters
Me at-
Panthera Tigris Tigris Endan
gered 2
3. Appearance
Weighs from 140-300 kg
6.8-11 ft (2.4-3.3m) in length
White with black or dark brown stripes
Blue eyes rather than green or yellow
The white tiger can run up to 96 kph
Because of the color, they can’t camouflage in the jungle
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iger r
Wh ite T f Tige
cies o ive
S ubspe defect
with a gene that
rece ssive lack o
f
ce its or
produ ge col
oran 3
4. Habitat
Lived in tropical forests, mangrove swamps and moist jungles that
generally support dense vegetation and have a good source of
fresh water.
Once found throughout much of India and Bangladesh (Asia)
White Tigers could once be found in
the wild, now they live mostly in zoos.
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5. Life Cycle
Female tigers reach maturity at 3 years
old and male reach maturity at 4 years
old
The gestation period is approximately
103 days
Male tigers do not stay with female tiger
after mating neither does it help raise
the cubs
The average litter size is 2 or 3 cubs
(the largest is 5)
Female keep their cubs for 2-3 years
until they can fend for themselves
In the wild they live for 10-15 years and
in captivity they usually survive 16-20
years 5
6. What do White Tigers eat?
In the wild, tigers would eat
pig, cattle and deer.
They can eat as much as 40
pounds of meat at one time!
After such a big meal a tiger
will not eat again for several
days.
White Tigers posses 30 large
teeth ranging from 2.5 to 3
inches.
Tigers do not hunt in social
groups like lions. They are
usually solitary animals. 6
7. Predators
The White Tiger has no predators since it is such a big and
powerful animal
But they are severely affected by humans and have been for
hundreds of years
Wild tigers are poached because their bones & whiskers are sold
for big sums of money (they are used in traditional Chinese
medicine)
In population numbers, white tigers might have disappeared from
the wild forever!
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8. Contribution to the Diversity
of Life
Everything humans do to them has an impact on the
plants and every animal around it
If one animal in the food web becomes endangered it
can effect the rest of the ecosystem, with some animals
getting rarer and others going up in number
Tigers need large territories, so reduced habitats
means that fewer tigers can survive in the wild
By saving one tiger, around 25,000 acres of forest can
be preserved and you are also saving hundreds of
other species
plants
sun 8
9. Human Impact on Natural Environment
Humans destroy their habitats
for roads, cities, farms
With the habitat shrinking there
is also a decline in the White
Tiger’s prey so populations are
becoming increasingly hard to
sustain
When humans move more into the forest, groups
of tigers are separated so tigers from one area
cannot mate with the ones nearby
It is estimated that every day in India one tiger is
killed
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10. What can be done for the
specie’s survival
You can stop cutting down the forests (their homes)
Stop the trading of their fur, claws, teeth, and eyes
Help breed them to get the population up
Stop polluting so they don’t get poisoned
The government is making nature reserves and national parks to save
them
Poachers make good game-keepers who protect wild animals, many
poachers have been offered jobs in national parks as to breaking the law
Ex-poachers are skilled at tracking rare animals so they know were
hunters are likely to strike
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11. Interesting Facts
The life span of tigers in the wild is about 10
years. Tigers in zoos live twice as long.
No one knows exactly why tigers are striped, but
scientists think that the stripes act as
camouflage, and help tigers hide from their prey.
Tiger stripes are like human fingerprints; no two
tigers have the same pattern of stripes.
Like domestic cats, tiger claws are retractable.
Tiger scratches on trees serve as territorial
markers.
Tiger cubs are born blind and weigh only about
2 to 3 pounds (1 kg). They live on milk for 6-8
weeks before the female begins taking them to
kill to feed.
Tigers have fully developed canines by 16
months of age, but they do not begin making
their own kills until about 18 months of age.
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12. Interesting Facts
They are found in a variety of habitats
including tropical forests, mangrove swamps
and moist jungles.
None have been seen in the wild for 50 years!
Conflicts often arise between tigers and
elephants even though elephants do not
serve as a gentle prey for white tigers.
Despite the beauty of the White Tiger’s fur, it
does in fact give these individuals a
disadvantage as they are not so easily
camouflaged into the surrounding jungle.
The White Tiger is a large and powerful
animal that can weigh up to 300kg and
reaches more than 3 meters in length.
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13. References
Websites (Sept.20-Oct.14 2012):
Indian Tiger. http://www.indiantiger.org/white-tigers/white-
bengal-tiger.html
A-Z animals. http://a-z-animals.com/animals/white-tiger/
Tiger Homes. http://www.tigerhomes.org/cam/white_tiger.cfm
National Geographic.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/ben
gal-tiger/?source=A-to-Z
World Wild Life. http://worldwildlife.org/species/bengal-tiger
Books:
Endangered Animals. DK Eyewitness Books. 2010.
Encyclopedia of Animals. Dorling Kindersley Book. 2006.
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Hi everybody. The endangered animal that I am going to talk about today is the White Tiger, also known as the Indian White Tiger or the White Tiger of Bengal. I am going to tell you about its diet, its predators and what should be done to help this specie to survive.
The Indian White Tiger is a Mammal and a Carnivore that belongs to the Felidae family, to which all cats, either little or big, belong. The Scientific Name is Panthera Tigris Tigris.
Do you know what color The White Tiger is? Yes, you are right, its white with black with brown or black stripes!!! This is the result of a defective gene that the parents pass on onto them, and produce the lack of orange skin and also the atypical blue eyes of the White Tiger. They are big cats that weigh as much as 300kg and can reach 3 meter in lenght.
Nobody has seen a White Tiger in the wild in the last 50 years!! They used to live in tropical forests, swamps and moist jungles of India and Bangladesh, in Asia, but now they live mostly in zoos.
The Tigers are mammals, so the babies are not born from eggs!! The pregnancy lasts around 100 days and the female tiger normally has two or three cubs. The cubs live with the mom for 2 to 3 years until they can fend for themselves. The male does not help raising the cubs. The White Tiger can live 10 to 15 years in the wild, and even 20 years in captivity.
In the wild tigers eat pigs, cattle and deers, but as they live mostly in zoos they are fed chicken, horsemeat and kangaroo meat. They can eat 40 pounds of meat at one time!! But after such a big feast they wont eat again for several days. One curious thing is that tigers don’t hunt in social groups like lions.
Tigers are at the top of the food chain. Their only predators are....yes, HUMANS!! But humans have been poaching them for hundreds of years because of their beautiful fur, bones and whiskers are in high demand for Chinese medicines. They are sold for big sums of money in the black market although it is illegal to poach Tigers. The Tigers have also lost a significant portion of their historical range due to deforestation, human settlements and agriculture, and with that they also lose their preys.
Every specie contributes to the diversity of life as part of the food chain. If one specie gets exctinct or endanger, other species will increase in population. For example: if the tiger dissapears, the deer population will rise and all the grass will be eaten by the increasing herbibores. Without grass, the herbivores will get rarer and hungrier, and the ecosystem is not balanced anymore. By saving one tiger you are also saving many other species and woodlands.
Humans have destroyed the Indian Tiger’s environment during hundreds of years to build new settlements or cutting forests to grow their crops. When their habitat shrinks there is also a decline in the prey population, so the Tiger cant find the food they need. But also when humans invade their territory the tigers are separated and cant mate with the tigers nearby. Did you know that one tiger is killed every day in India!!
If you really want to help them survive and not get extinct 1 you have to stop cutting down the trees 2 stop trading their fur, claws, teeth and eyes. Something really cool that the government is doing is that they are getting x-poachers and they are very skilled at tracking rare animals so they know were hunters are likely to strike.
Did you know that the stripes of a tiger are like tiger finger prints every single stripe is different.
The white tigers might be extinct from the wild forever and there are only