 | Sumatran Tiger
Panthera tigris sumatrae  Fascinating Facts - Webbing between their toes, when spread, enables Sumatran tigers to be very fast swimmers. They will often run hoofed prey, who are much slower swimmers, into the water.
Physical Characteristics The smallest of the remaining subspecies of Panthera tigris, the Sumatran tiger is particularly well-suited for life in the deep jungle. The fur on the upper parts of its body ranges from orange to reddish-brown, making it darker in color than other tigers. This helps it to hide within its heavily wooded forest habitat. Also unique to this subspecies are distinctly long whiskers, which serve as sensors in the dark, dense underbrush. Males weigh between 200-350 lbs., and females between 180-300 lbs, with a head to body length of 7.2 to 8.9 feet, and a tail length of 2-3 feet. Habitat/Diet Sumatran tigers range on the island of Sumatra, off the Malaysian Peninsula. These terrestrial and nocturnal cats inhabit evergreen forests, swamp forests, grasslands and tropical rain forests.
In the wild, the carnivorous Sumatran tigers eat mainly wild pigs and sambar deer, while at the Zoo, the tigers receive fortified horsemeat, chicken and rabbit. Social Behavior Sumatran tigers are usually solitary, except for courting pairs and females with young, preferring to live alone. A male’s range may overlap the ranges of several females but not other males’ ranges. Females are not territorial and adult females sometimes share a home range. Tigers are not sociable but may have an amicable relationship with known or related tigers. Avoidance rather than fighting seems to be the rule. Tigers require adequate cover or shade (for cooling and sleep), water (to bathe and drink), and prey.
To hunt, the tiger depends on sight and hearing more than on smell. Tigers stalk slowly through cover, approaching prey from side or rear, then leaps, grabbing prey by the throat for a quick kill. Tigers fail at least 90% of their attempts to capture animals.
Females are sexually mature between 4-5 years and give birth every 2-2.5 years. After a 102-112 day gestation, a litter of 3 or 4 (range from 1-6) is born and begin to travel with female when they are 5 or 6 months. The cubs are taught how to hunt and are capable killers at 11 months. Status In The Wild The Sumatran tiger is classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN and is on Appendix I of CITES. The greatest threat to survival is destruction of habitat, followed by poaching. A 1978 census estimated the wild population at about 1,000. Since then, much of the optimum tiger habitat has been disrupted or destroyed by human encroachment and activity. Consequently, the wild Sumatran tiger population is now estimated at somewhere around 550.
Until recently, there were nine subspecies of Panthera tigris. The past few decades have witnessed the extinction of three subspecies, the Caspian, Bali and Javan tigers. Estimates to the six remaining subspecies in the wild are as follows (2009): Bengal 2,500, Indochinese 2,500, Sumatran 550, Amur (Siberian) 350, Malayan 700, and the South China tiger is thought to be already extinct in the wild. Many captive tigers are hybrids. This was particularly true for Sumatran tigers, which had been crossed in Indonesia wtih Bengal and Amur (Siberian) tigers, often to breed for "white tigers." Other You can see our Sumatran tigers in the big cat grottos near the Lion House. |
