Historically, the habitat of tigers is located in the Far East, Afghanistan and China, India and Iran. Also mention should be made of the Indonesian islands and the countries of Southeast Asia. From this it follows that the tiger is more of an Asian species. At the moment, the habitat of this beast has been disbanded into separate populations, often they are at a very considerable distance from each other.
The area of distribution of this wild animal was formed in China about two million years ago. Much later, just ten thousand years ago, having passed the Himalayas, tigers flooded India and such islands as Bali, Java, Sumatra and others. To date, not all of the tigers’ habitats have been preserved, their populations have been exterminated by humans. Only India and Indochina were able to protect the largest populations of this species. Speaking of Russia, the tigers can be found in the Far East, in the Khabarovsk and Primorye Territories. The decade that lasted from 1995 to 2005, reduced the range of tigers in Asia by as much as 40%, which led to a deplorable figure of 7% – this is the size of the current share of the range of tigers from its original level.
Tigers prefer to live mangrove swamps and forests in the tropics, bamboo tropical thickets and dry savannahs and semi-deserts, taiga and bare hills also attract populations of tigers.
The danger for a tiger is a meeting with an Indian elephant – they try to avoid these majestic animals, while attacking at elephants. Also, tigers prefer not to meet with rhinoceroses, although in history one case of a successful tiger attack on an Indian rhino is recorded. Periodically tigers can eat pets, and in the summer they even eat nuts and fruits.
The tiger occupies the highest position in the food pyramid of its habitat. The only threat to him could be a flock of Indian red wolves. Scientists know one fact of the defeat of an adult eight-year-old tiger in a fight with a combed crocodile. Large brown bears also pose a threat to tigers during the winter.
The tiger is a polygamous animal. If the habitat of tigers is sparsely populated, the female often becomes the object of persecution of only one male. In the case when there are several males, there may be fights between them for the right of mating with the selected female. Tigers usually pair in December and January. A special grimace on the face of a male tiger suggests that he displays a flemish – this is the behavior of the male beast during the reproductive period of the female. He feels her readiness to reproduce by the smell of urine marks. Such moments happen only a few times a year – these days the tigers mate several times, accompanying the process with loud sounds. Some females, who were not successfully fertilized, experience repeated heat.
The female tiger brings the first litter at the age of about 4 years, repeated litters in it happen once in 2 -3 years. The period of pregnancy of a tigress usually lasts about 103 days. Lair for his future offspring tigress chooses very carefully and can not change it for several years – usually such a place serve as crevices of rocks, windbreaks or caves.
