By

Jonathan, Kevin, Jose and Luis

The Siberian tiger is the largest and most powerful of all cats, and one of the largest meat-eating animals in the world. Tigers are yellowish-orange with black stripes and white bellies. The male Siberians can weigh up to 700 pounds and measure up to 13 feet long! The females are smaller than the males. Tigers have big heads with long whiskers and small rounded ears.

Tigers live only on the continent of Asia and some Asian islands.

The tiger’s home, or habitat can be a rain forest, evergreen forest or even dry grassland. The Siberian tiger lives in a small part of northern Russia and China. The temperature sometimes reaches 70 degrees below zero in its habitat. The Siberian tiger’s long, thick fur keeps it warm in the cold forests of China, Siberia, and Korea where it lives. In winter, its fur becomes a lighter color, so pigs, deer, and other prey cannot see it easily.

What They Eat• Tigers eat almost anything: pig, deer, antelope,

buffalo, elk, moose, bear, and guar, a wild cow. A tiger hunts by stalking its prey. When it is stalking, a tiger quietly sneaks toward its prey. It hides in tall grass. Then the tiger chases after the prey and tries to bite its throat. A tiger drags the dead prey to a hiding place.

Did you know that Siberian tigers are able to drag prey that would take more than twelvemen to move?

• Most tigers are nocturnal. Nocturnal animals are more active at night than during the day. Tigers spend much of their day resting. Unlike lions, tigers live alone most of the time. They travel carefully and quietly. They have excellent eyesight and hearing. These senses help them to find their prey, the animals that they hunt, and to warn them of danger.

The Siberian tiger needs to eat more than 20 pounds of meat a day to live in its cold climate. It may eat 55 pounds of meat in one meal! The tiger may return to its hidden prey and feed many more times.

The Tiger’s Cubs Every two years, the female tiger, or tigress can

have two or three cubs. Tiger cubs are blind and weigh just two and one half pounds at birth. By the time they are six months old, the cubs begin to follow the tigress on hunting trips. The cubs learn how to kill by watching their mother. They begin killing some of their own prey by the time they are one year old. By the time they are two years old, they are living on their own.

All tigers are in danger of becoming extinct. There are only about 200 Siberian tigers left in the wild. Right now, there are more Siberian tigers living in zoos than in Siberia! The tiger is a protected species.

The tiger has a reputation for being a man-eater. Wild tigers have killed more people than any other mammal!

What We Think We think that Siberian tigers and the rest of the

tigers should be free forever. We know that killing Siberian tigers should be against the law. We think that none of the tigers should be captured to live in zoos and the circuses.

 

We would like to thank our 5th grade partner:Michael