Tigers

How is a tiger's face like your thumb?

ANSWER: The stripes on the tiger's face are like your thumbprint. No two people have exactly the same thumbprint. And no two tigers have exactly the same stripe pattern.

It takes a lot of muscle to move a 400-pound body (180 kilograms). And a tiger's body is packed with muscle. So it can leap 10 yards (9 meters) over level ground, or jump 15 feet (4.5 meters) in the air. Yet it can move so gracefully that it doesn't make a sound.

Tigers are big-game hunters. They hunt water buffalo, wild pigs, deer, and other large animals. Water buffalo weigh more than a ton (900 kilograms). It would take 13 men to move such an enormous weight.

Tigers are also big eaters. In a single year, one tiger must eat about 70 deer or other large animals. That is one reason why tigers hunt alone. If they lived in big groups, they could never find enough prey to feed them all.

…