The Sumatran tiger
INTRODUCTION
The island of Sumatra belongs to Indonesia. Indonesia gathers 17 000 islands. The island of Sumatra is the 6th larger island in the world.
The island of Sumatra is the last island of Indonesia where tigers live. The Javan tiger and the Bali tiger disappeared with the XXth century.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The peeling of the tiger of Sumatra is darker and present more stripes that of the other subspecies. Its broad black stripes are very brought closer and sometimes doubled. Contrary to the Siberian tiger, it also presents stripes on the front legs.
The male is equipped with a collar characteristic for the back of the head. It measures on average 2.40 m of the head to the tail and weighs approximately 120 kg. Its relatively small size enables him to move more easily in the jungle.
The tiger of Sumatra is an excellent swimmer, he can traverse up to 29 km with the stroke.
DISTRIBUTION
This felid is only, as its name indicates it, on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
Contrary to the lion or the cheetah* which live in opened zones, the tiger needs places covered to him to allow him the advantage of the surprise when it drives out its preys.
He lives in the wet tropical forest of the island, rich in palm trees, lianas, shrubs and large trees.
SOCIAL LIFE
The tiger of Sumatra as all the other subspecies lives as a recluse. It is extremely rare that one finds males gathered between them.
A male in general has a territory which recovers that of 3 or 4 females. The borders of this one are marked by the urine or visual signs such as stripes on the trees.
=> Gallery of Panthera tigris sumatrae <=
