Sumatran Tiger

Range:
Island of Sumatra, off the Malaysian Peninsula

Habitat:
Evergreen forests, swamp forests, grasslands and tropical rain forests

Size:
Head and Body length: 7.2-8.9 ft; Tail Length: 2-3 ft; Weight: males 200-350 lbs & females180-300 lbs

Young (# and name: foal, calf, cub, etc.):
2-4 cubs

Gestation:
103 days

Diet (wild):
Carnivore

Status (common, threatened, endangered, etc.):
Endangered by IUCN (1978) and USDI (1980) and is on Appendix I of CITES

Threats (to the wild population):
Destruction of habitat, followed to a lesser extent by poaching

Anatomy/Physiology (anything unique or interesting):
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. They have webbing between their toes, which when spread, enables the Sumatran tiger to be very fast swimmer

Social/Family units:
They are solitary, except for courting pairs and females with young. A male's range may overlap the ranges of several females but not other males' ranges. Females are not territorial and adult females sometime 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.

Habits (unique to species/collection animals):
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.

Communication (vocalization, etc.):
Roars, chuffs

Prey items:
They will kill whatever they can catch, including fish, crocodiles and fowl, with the most common larger prey being wild pigs and deer.

Predators:
People

Locomotion (type, top speeds, etc.):
Quadrapedal, swim

Activity (diurnal, nocturnal):
Nocturnal

Any interesting story/fact (species or collection animal):
Until recently, there were eight (8) subspecies of Panthera tigris. The past couple of decades have witnessed the extinction of three subspecies, the Caspian, Bali and Javan tigers. Estimates to the five remaining subspecies in the wild and captivity respectively (1999) are as follows: Bengal 4000/1000, Indochinese 1050/20, Sumatran 400/194, Siberian 400/632, and Chinese 30/40.
The tiger is one of only two cats that enjoys being in water (the other is South America's jaguar). The Sumatran tiger may often be found in a pool or stream, or standing in water to keep cool.