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55 Fun Tiger Facts for Kids
Build your non-fiction animal lessons with these fun tiger facts for kids.
Tigers are very special animals. They are extremely fierce are are considered one of the most deadly animals in the world. However, they are not outwardly aggressive! If they are left alone, they prefer to leave others alone.
Tigers are major introverts and do not want to interact with humans if they do not have to! In fact, they do not like to interact with other tigers all that often either! They are considered solitary animals and once they are grown, they usually live on their own.
Tigers are also considered critically endangered animals. This means that they could completely disappear someday! This is why learning about about these animals is so beneficial.
Learning about tigers can help all of us realize how important and amazing they are. As you’ll find out below, a few different types of tigers are already extinct.
Below you will find a list of simple facts, information about their habitats, babies, and a brief overview about each different type of tiger.
Interesting Tiger Facts for Kids
This list of interesting facts is a great way to dive into the world of tigers for the first time!
- A female tiger is called a tigress.
- Male tigers are usually bigger than female tigers. They have longer tails too!
- Tigers hunt wild boar. They are a good match because these wild pigs can harm tigers too!
- Tigers are an endangered species. This means the world tiger population is very low.
- The black stripes on a tiger help them stay camouflaged!
- Tigers are wild cats. Cats that live with humans are domestic cats.
- Tigers are solitary animals. This means that they like to have alone time!
- A tiger can eat over 80 pounds of meat at one time!
- Tigers are large animals! They are the largest cat species.
- All baby tigers are born with blue eyes.
- One out of every ten thousand tigers is born with white fur.
- A group of tigers is called a streak.
- The body length of a tiger can be up to 13 feet!
- A tiger’s night vision is six times better than a human’s night vision!
- Tigers are excellent swimmers! They love spending time in water.
- Tigers can weigh over 600 pounds!
- The scientific name of the tiger is Panthera tigris.
If you’re looking for printables for your non-fiction units, check out these Building Sentences Facts for Kids printables.
Facts about Tiger Habitats
The majority of tigers alive today live in captivity. However, there are plenty out there still in the wild! Most tigers live in the United States and Europe. Most tigers in the wild live in certain parts of Asia and Russia.
- The natural habitat of tigers is very diverse. They can live in a variety of habitats: rain forests, grasslands, the dry savannah and mangrove swamps!
- The majority of wild tigers live in Asia. They are spread across 13 different countries.
- India has the most wild tigers of any country. They have over 70% of the world’s wild tigers.
- The 13 countries that tigers live in are India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Russia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
- Nepal has around 200 wild Bengal tigers.
- In Bangladesh, tigers live in mangrove forests. This country has around 150 tigers.
- Tigers that live in Russia have adapted well to their very cold weather. There are around 500 tigers living in Russia.
- Siberian tigers are the world’s largest cats. They are from eastern Russia.
- Indochinese tigers are from southeast Asia. Their habitat is being destroyed and they are often hunted and put on tiger farms.
- Illegal hunting and habitat loss are the reason that tigers are in so much danger.
- Because the hunting of tigers has not stopped, they rely on conservation. This means that the majority of the tigers in the world live in captivity.
- There are around 13,000 tigers left in the world. Only about 3,900 tigers still live in their natural habitat out in the wild. There are around 6,000 tigers living in captivity in the United States and about 2,000 in Europe. The rest are in captivity around the rest of the world.
Facts about Tiger Babies
What is cuter than a tiger cub? Not very much! Baby tigers grow incredibly fast! They are only in their mother’s stomach for about 3 1/2 months! Most human mothers probably wish that human pregnancy was that brief!
- Tigers are a big cat, but tiger cubs only weigh about two pounds when they are born.
- A baby tiger is born after only 3 1/2 months of living in its mother’s belly!
- A baby tiger is blind when it is born. It needs its mother for food and protection.
- The mother tiger eats the umbilical cord, placenta, and embryonic sac!
- The mother does not help the babies find their milk. They are blind, so it can take them up to four hours to find it!
- A tiger litter usually has 2 to 7 cubs. It can be hard for a mother in the wild to find enough food for everyone.
- The tiger cubs nurse their mother until they are about 24 weeks old. Then they start eating the animal meat that their mother brings them!
- Cubs will begin hunting on their own when they are about 1 1/2 years old.
- Cubs live with their mothers for about three years. When they find their own territory, many will stay somewhat close to where their mother is!
Types of Tigers
Some tiger types have multiple names. One thing you will learn through the facts listed below is that most tiger species look very similar! The shades of orange may be lighter or darker. The stripes may be thinner or thicker. If you are not an expert, it is likely very difficult to tell the difference between different types!
- Amur Tiger/Siberian Tigers/Northeast China Tigers
- Sumatran Tiger
- Indochinese Tiger
- South China Tiger
- Malayan Tiger
- Caspian Tiger
- Javan Tiger
- Bengal Tiger/Indian Tiger
Facts about Tiger Types
The tiger species at the top of this list are those you will see around the world today. The three species at the bottom are those that have unfortunately become extinct.
Siberian Tiger (Amur Tiger)
Siberian Tigers are the largest tigers. Male Siberian tigers usually grow to be over 10 feet long from head to tail. Some may weight almost 700 pounds. Female Siberian tigers are slightly smaller. They are usually around 8 feet long from head to tail and are around 350 pounds.
This species of tiger has a fur color that is a slightly lighter orange than other tiger species. Siberian Tiger stripes are usually more brown than they are black.
Bengal Tiger
There are more Bengal tigers than there are any other tiger species. Even though there are more Bengal tigers than any other tiger, they are still considered to be extremely endangered.
Bengal Tigers are typically found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. India has the largest population of tigers in the world, and they are all Bengal tigers.
Most Bengal tigers are the classic orange color we think of when we think of tigers. Occasionally, there may be a very rare cream colored Bengal tiger born in a litter of orange Bengal tigers.
South China Tiger
The South China Tiger is nearly extinct. There are 47 known South China tigers left in the world. They all live in zoos in China. There could potentially be some of these tigers left in the wild, but that number is unknown.
Malayan Tiger
The Malayan Tiger is very similar to the Indochinese tiger. It is slightly smaller than the Indochinese tiger. These tigers love a tropical climate. Malayan tigers are found in the southern parts of Thailand and Malaysia.
Indochinese Tiger
The Indochinese tiger lives in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. These are larger than Malayan tigers and smaller than Bengal tigers. Their stripes are shorter and more narrow than other types of tiger stripes.
Male Indochinese tigers grow to be an average of 9 feet in length and weight over 400 pounds. Female Indochinese tigers average about 8 feet in length and usually weigh around 250 pounds.
Indochinese tigers prefer to live in forests surrounded by hills and mountains. This makes it hard for them to be studied well by scientists. Because of this, not as much is known about this type compared to others.
Sumatran Tiger
The Sumatran tigers are only found on Sumatra. Sumatra is an Indonesian island. It is the sixth largest island in the world! Sumatra has very tough laws protecting these tigers.
Sumatran tigers are the darkest orange color of all other tiger types and their stripes are closer together. They are the smallest tiger species. Males are around 7 feet in length and weigh around 250 pounds. Females are around 6 feet in length and weigh about 200 pounds.
Bali Tiger
The Bali Tiger is extinct. It went extinct in the 1940’s. The last live Bali tiger was seen in the mid 1930’s.
Javan Tiger
Sadly, the Javan Tiger is extinct. It lived on an island in Indonesia called Java. The last time these tigers were seen was around 1976. They officially went extinct in the 1980’s.
Caspian Tiger
The Caspian tiger is also extinct. These tigers were often found in Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia. They went extinct in the 1970’s.
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