Category
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00 With their signature orange fur and black stripes, tigers have become icons of beauty,
00:08 power and the importance of conservation.
00:13 Tigers have evolved into six subspecies.
00:17 The tiger's tale of evolution can be traced back to about two million years ago, when
00:21 the earliest known tiger ancestor left Africa and ventured into Asia.
00:27 Over time, the big cats split into nine subspecies, with six still alive today.
00:36 The most numerous subspecies is the Bengal tiger, accounting for approximately 50 percent
00:41 of the tiger population worldwide.
00:46 Tigers are the world's largest cats.
00:49 On average, the big cats weigh about 450 pounds, but the largest is the Siberian tiger subspecies,
00:57 measuring up to 13 feet long and weighing up to 660 pounds.
01:03 This extra weight is primarily because of large, powerful muscles.
01:07 Unlike lions, the second largest of the big cats, tigers have more muscle mass and are
01:13 therefore heavier.
01:16 Tigers have webbed toes.
01:19 Often living near bodies of water, tigers have adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
01:24 They appear to enjoy being in the water, unlike most cats, and are excellent swimmers, using
01:30 their powerful muscles to propel their bodies in the water.
01:33 They've also evolved to have webbing between their toes.
01:37 The webbing allows the big cats to push around a greater volume of water with each stroke
01:42 of their paws.
01:45 White tigers are a type of Bengal tiger.
01:49 The classic black and orange coloration of most tigers is caused by the pigments eumelanin,
01:55 which turns fur black, and pheomelanin, which turns fur orange.
02:00 The production of pheomelanin is triggered by the gene SLC45A2.
02:06 White tigers carry a mutated version of this gene, which prevents them from producing orange
02:11 pigmentation.
02:15 Fewer than 4,000 tigers remain in the wild.
02:20 At the turn of the 20th century, approximately 100,000 tigers roamed the wild, living as
02:25 far west as Turkey and as far north as Russia.
02:29 But due to deforestation, human development, and poaching, their range severely decreased,
02:36 and within 100 years, the world's tiger population declined by about 96%.
02:44 For the past few decades, programs have been put in place to protect tigers and their habitats.
02:50 With the help of the global community, tiger populations may slowly rebound.
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