Tiger
a large animal of the cat family. It is next to the lion in size. The largest specimens attain a height of from three to four feet, and a total length, tail included, of from ten to fifteen or even eighteen feet. The tiger is without a mane. With respect to its head, ears, eyes, whiskers, teeth, paws, claws, tail, and general shape of the body, the tiger is simply a large tropical cat. It is more slender, more active, and more agile than the lion. Its fur is of a bright, shining yellow, beautifully banded with transverse black stripes. The tiger is confined to Asia, inhabiting the jungles of that grand division as far west as the Caspian Sea, and as far north as the southern limits of Siberia. It reaches its greatest size in India, particularly in the province of Bengal. The royal Bengal tiger is really a magnificent beast. As light of step as a cat, as fearless as a lion, unsurpassed for cunning, it is without comparison the fiercest four-footed living animal. It usually hides in thickets in the daytime and hunts by night. Unlike the panther and the leopard, it does not climb trees, but it gives chase to the largest game animals, lying in wait by their runways, or it lurks in tall grass near some water supply in order to spring upon its prey. It does not hesitate to leap into a flock of cattle, and is so powerful that it can throw a buffalo or small ox across its back and make off with it. Occasionally a tiger becomes accustomed to human food, and acquires a habit of hanging around villages, carrying away children, or even adults. It is then called a man-eater. The assistance of the government is not infrequently invoked to clear a district of some cunning, bloodthirsty, man-eating tiger. The loss of domestic animals and of human life is great. In 1905 2,000 persons and 30,000 cattle were killed. The Indian government pays a large bounty for the destruction of the tiger. Singapore offers a standing reward for the ears of a tiger.
Tiger hunting is a famous British sport. White men, armed with rifles, ride elephants into an infested district, while a band of natives, rendered desperate by the raids of tigers, beat the jungle with spears to drive the tiger out of his lair that he may be shot. The natives kill tigers by means of poison, and deadfalls, baited possibly with a live goat. In 1905 1,285 tigers were killed in India.
The tiger is caught frequently by the natives in pitfalls. A deep bottle-shaped hole is dug in the ground. The mouth is covered with a slight bamboo mat on the middle of which a kid is tied. Its bleating attracts the tiger. The tiger springs from a distance like a cat on a mouse, and plunges through the mat into the pit, from which he is unable to escape, as the loose sides of clay afford no hold for his claws. It is a task to imprison a tiger in a cage. A royal Bengal tiger is worth $1,000 in Hamburg. The Hamburg dealer buys very probably in Singapore.
The tigress brings forth from two to five cubs at a time. Young tigers are easily domesticated. Tame tigers are not infrequently seen in India.
For many details of structure and disposition, see article on CAT.