Essay on Tiger – I wonder, in India, would there be anyone who has not written an essay on tigers. After all, it is the national Animal of India. In fact, our school studies would not have been completed without writing a 10-line essay on tigers. Right? Well, today again I’m writing an essay on tigers but this article is not mere a 10-line essay rather a deep, detailed, meticulous, and every single piece of information about tigers. ‘Tiger’- this word is enough to petrify anybody but do know, this giant animal actually belongs to the cat family.
Essay on Tiger
Identified by its coat of reddish-orange with dark black stripes, a tiger is the largest feline walking on the surface of the earth. Though tigers are classified as the wildcat but they are known for being powerful, fast and agile. Their raucous roar can shake people from inside. A tiger is one of those animals whose encounter can give the humans a death-like experience. Scientifically known as ‘Panthera Tigris’, tigers are the symbol of power, strength, and ambitions in some cultures.
Origin And Habitat Of Tigers
Where and what time did the tigers evolved, is still a million dollar question. Pinning down the concrete core of its origin is extremely hard because with the course of time and according to their habitation, the features of tigers are changed so much that the ancient tigers seem a different species as compared to that of today’s. Digging deep the history, the modern tiger species is traced back to about two million years ago. It is widely accepted that the tiger’s origin home is East Asia.
However, there are some other claims too but Asia is favored the most. The reason behind this could be that Asian countries are abundant with tigers even today. Though the vicious act of poaching and hunting the tiger left the population of tigers very little, still tigers can be sighted only in Asian countries including Russia and Turkey. Usually, tigers live in forests and woodlands but since it’s an endangered species now, many of them are found in the confines of the zoo and national parks.
Physical Appearance And Capabilities Of Tigers
Tiger is a massive animal blessed with some unique qualities. Let’s have a quick overview of a tiger’s internal and external attractiveness.
Do you know? Tigers are believed to be the calm but aggressive animal at the same time. They harm anybody only when either they’re hungry or they have been teased. Otherwise, they spare their target especially the humans. By nature, a tiger is a solitary animal. You can never found the streak of tigers. Unlike lions, they roam, hunt, and eat alone. The tigress shares her prey with her cubs. Tigers are more active at the night. The night vision of tigers is six times better than that of human beings. During the daytime, they are found relaxing. Tigers have their own way of communicating. They use their tail to communicate with other tigers.
A red- orange colored with black stripes animal so-called tiger is an attractive and solid animal. Its elegance, power, mighty way of walking, and mysterious beauty have intrigued human beings for many generations. Its sheer aesthetic splendor makes it stand apart from the crowd. Tigers can weigh up to 365kg and stretch up to 12 feet long. Their tail can be 3 feet long. Their eyes are sharp and aggressive every time. A tiger’s elegant gait, haughty demeanor, and dynamic movements make it more attractive.
A tiger has over 600 muscles and a strong bone structure that makes it the strongest and the apex predators. A tiger can leap over 30 feet in a single jump to catch its prey. It can eat up to 60 pounds of meat in one sitting but usually, it consumes around 12-pound meats in one meal. The tigers are powerful swimmers too. They can swim the long river like Ken. The lifespan of tigers is maximum 20 years.
Food and feeding
Tigers are totally carnivorous animals. They usually prey on large animals like pigs, deer, water buffalo, elephant calves, and antelopes. They also hunt dogs, cats, sloth bears, monkeys, pythons, and sometimes humans. Generally, tigers clamp down on animal’s neck with their sharp jaws and piercing teeth. According to wildlife records, a tiger is likely to miss its target 90% because it approaches too close to catch the prey.
Importance Of Tigers In Indian History And Mythology
In Indian culture, since the ancient time tigers have always been revered and remained a matter of myths throughout. In India, tigers are the symbol of power, strength, and ambition. In medieval history, Tiger was the royal symbol of Chola Empire. The legendary Tipu Sultan was an ardent admirer of tigers. His everything was symbolize with a tiger.
Once he said, “The tiger is the God”. If we talk about the olden Vedic period, tiger is well known for being the divine vehicle of Aadi Shakti Maa Durga and her numerous manifestations. Maa Durga is the most worshiped and highest regarded Goddess in Hinduism. In most statues and pictures she is depicted sitting on the back of tiger. And not to forget, in modern India too, tiger’s significance is so high that it graces the Indian currency. Reserve Bank of India has given the place of pride to the tigers by choosing them as its emblem. Their portrait can be seen in some Indian currency.
Types of Tigers
All tigers belong to Panthera genus within the Felidae family. There are total 9 subspecies of tigers of which only three are seen nowadays. The rest of six are in the endangered stage. Some had even gone extinct. Take a look at all the tiger species-
- Bengal Tiger – present
- Siberian Tiger – present
- Sumatran Tiger – endangered
- Malayan Tiger –endangered
- Indochinese Tiger – endangered
- Caspian Tiger- extinct
- Bali Tiger – extinct
- Javan Tiger – extinct
- South China Tiger – endangered
Tiger In Danger Or Tiger Conservation In India
The poaching and the hunting of tigers have always been considered the royal activities though they actually are inhuman. The ancient kings used to hunt tigers just out of their hobby. With the tie, this royal hobby had brought the world to the stage where tigers were going extinct rapidly. The drastically decline of tiger’s population triggered the Indian Government to awaken and take some steps to preserve this vanishing species.
The first step was taken in 1970 when the slaughter and poaching of tigers were banned completely and it was declared an endangered species with the population of around 1800. In 1973, late PM Indira Gandhi Ji took a big step initiating a campaign called ‘Project Tigers’ to preserve the tigers. She established 25 tiger reserves throughout the country and kept allocating the funds regularly so that campaign could meet the expectations. As a result, the numbers of tigers hiked around 58% in last 4-5 decades. That is truly is a great feat in order to conserve the tigers. Presently, India houses almost 70% of world’s wild tigers.
Tiger As A National Animal Of India
The majestic and powerful tiger boasts the honor of being the national animal of India. Now, you can assume the amount of regard and significance that Indian people hold for tigers. Other than utmost power and strength, tiger symbolizes wildlife wealth of India. Tiger is a lethal combination of grace, royalty, elegance, enormous power, agility, and aspiration that represents the wholesome spirit and soul of India. When in 1972, the tiger population was going through a critical phase it was declared the national animal of India replacing the lion with the purpose to preserve the particular species. Today, lions are found only in one state in the country while tigers are found in 16 states.
Facts About tigers
- Tigers can kill the animals over twice of its size and they are the largest animal from cat family.
- The roar of a tiger can be heard miles away.
- Tigers have more than 100 strips and they are like fingerprints. Means, no two tigers have exactly the same stripes.
- Tigers are completely blind in the first week of their birth and about half of them die as a cub.
- Tigers are very good at jumping. They can leap over the distances of 6 km and jump up to 5 km.
- The entire tiger species is on the verge of extinction. It is estimated that all the existing tigers can go extinct in maximum 15 years.
- Tigers are considered very calm animal. They hardly indulge in fights and consider human as a prey only in very odd conditions.
- Tigers are a good runner. They can sprint at 60km/h.
- Tigers have color vision and brain like humans.
What to say more about the tigers. The terror and magnificence of tigers stand side by side. They might be ruthless and perilous to other animals but when it comes to human, they are kind enough. Instead, humans are being cruel to them. They refrain from human beings and humans poach them just out of their hobby. I could never understand what pleasure people get by taking someone’s life. As researchers said, tigers are going to vanish in next 15 years. I wonder would there really be no tigers in coming decades? So, please stop poaching and contribute some to preserve them. Small things make big difference. After all, they are our national animal.