Tiger Facts for Kids

24 Tiger Facts For Kids

1. The tiger is a big cat species in the Pantherinae family and the Panthera genus.
2. You can identify a tiger by their large cat-like bodies and orange fur with black vertical stripes.
3. Panthera tigris is the scientific binomial name for the tiger.
4. Tigers are believed to have started to appear around 2 million years ago.
5. Tigers are native to only Asia, with larger populations in India, Indonesia, and Thailand.
6. Tigers enjoy and thrive in several different habitat types, including grasslands, rainforests, and savannas.
7. There are only about 4,500 tigers living in the wild in Asia, with another 5,000 to 8,000 living in captivity.
8. Tigers are apex predators and strictly carnivorous, which means they have no natural predators and only eat meat.
9. The diet of a tiger usually consists of medium to large-sized mammals with a weight between 130 and 550 pounds.
10. Tigers are ambush predators who hunt their prey during in the nighttime.
11. The vertical stripes on a tiger are useful camouflage that held in blend in with its environment when stalking prey.
12. Tigers typically have orange fur with black vertical stripes, but there are color variations in subspecies.
13. Tigers are gender dimorphic with males being much larger than females.
14. The average male adult tiger has a length range between 98 and 154 inches.
15. The average male adult tiger has a bodyweight range between 200 and 660 pounds.
16. The average female adult tiger has a length range between 79 and 108 inches.
17. The average female adult tiger has a bodyweight range between 143 and 368 pounds.
18. The average lifespan of a tiger is between 10 and 12 years, but they can live much longer in captivity.
19. The average adult tiger has a running speed between 30 and 40 miles per hour.
20. The average adult tiger can leap 15 feet and in some rare cases up to 30 feet.
21. Tigers are a popular exhibit at zoos, there are thousands of tigers in zoos around the world.
22. Estimates claim between 1800 and 2009 around 373,000 people were killed in a tiger attack.
23. The Champawat Tiger of Nepal is the most infamous when it comes to tiger attacks with an estimated 200 human fatalities.
24. Tigers are listed as an endangered species by the IUCN with habitat loss and poaching being the leading causes.

Tiger Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on tigers. Below are three pictures of various tigers. These pictures should help you better understand what tigers look like.

A picture of the tiger (panthera tigris).

A picture of a group of tigers at a waterhole.

A picture of two tiger cubs on a rock.