Fun Fact 12/2

So it's a rainy evening here in Davis, and I'm currently enjoying a Diet Coke and some rest in my dorm before heading off to Calculus, followed by a couple hours of work at the fish lab. So, I decided to blog a little bit before I go, seeing as I've underutilized these interludes for most of the quarter. Needless to say, a fun fact for today is in order. So, for inspiration, I turned to my room mate Trevor, who sits about 10 feet from me at his desk. I asked him what his favorite animal was, and after some pondering, he concluded that he likes tigers. So, rather than doing one long fact about these big cats, I figured I'd give you a small list of things to digest about tigers.

• Tigers belong to the genus Panthera, which includes all other big cats. It's latin name is Panthera tigris, but there are also several subspecies of tigers, nine in all. Three of these, sadly, are extinct, but the other six still exist, despite critical endangerment in some areas. The largest of the living subspecies is the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
• Tigers are the largest of all big cats, weighing in excess of 500 pounds in some imstances
• Tigers are notorious in some parts of the world for having developed a taste for human flesh. In one part of India and Bangladesh, a large swamp known as the Sundarbans boasts huge numbers of tiger attacks. In one case, a tiger actually leaped up into a boat from the water to attack a man.
• Tigers can take down very large prey. In India, they often hunt Sambar deer, sneaking up on them and then pouncing on their backs, attacking the neck with their powerful jaws. Bites to the neck can sever the spinal column, deprive the brain of oxygen, and cut through the jugular vein, all of which are fatal.
• stripes on these animals serve to break up its pattern in dense brush and forest. Few realize how effective this is until seeing it in action. Try to find the tiger in the following photo:
• Tigers can sprint between 30 and 40 miles per hour
• To avoid tiger attacks, many people in India and elsewhere would wear masks resembling human faces on the back of their heads, believing that these would convince hunting tigers that the element of surprise had been lost.
• The only place where tigers can be found alongside lions is in India, where small pockets of the endangered Asiatic lion (Panthera leo perscica) can be found along with Bengal tigers
• Tigers are highly solitary and territorial animals, with home ranges extending (in males) up to 100 square kilometers

So yeah, that's some of my tiger facts. If you want more, email me or something. I'm going to get ready to go to Calculus discussion, but you have a nice evening.