This graceful animal belongs to the Feline family. Of all the subspecies of the tiger, the Malayan is the smallest. It has a very flexible body and a long strong tail.
In jumping, the tiger is helped by dexterous legs with low, but wide forelimbs. On the paws there are five fingers with tenacious retractable claws.
The beast has a rather heavy skull with neatly shaped ears. Especially attracts the eye of the Malayan tiger. His huge eyes with round pupils inspire fear in animals and people alike.
It should be noted that "big cats" see the world around them in color. Nature rewarded the tiger with a strong jaw with large fangs. This helps the predator tightly grab the prey and strangle it. The tongue of the animal consists of sharp tubercles. Due to this, the tiger easily rips off the skin and meat from prey.
Other body features
The Malayan tiger weighs between 100 and 120 kilograms. The length of his body, together with the tail, reaches up to 2.4 m. In the wild, "big cats" live from 15 to 25 years. They live in fields with medium vegetation, forestsand abandoned agricultural plantations. As a rule, areas with a small number of people are selected.
How beautiful is the Malayan tiger! The photo shows the bright colors of his body. It is full of orange and orange hues. The belly of the beast is white and fluffy, and the pattern of black stripes on the body makes the predator related to the Indonesian species.
Lifestyle
The Malayan tiger is a beast of twilight and darkness. His vision at this time is even sharper than in the daytime. Scientists say that animal eyes see 6 times better than human eyes. This allows the big cat to easily spot prey.
The predator stalks the prey for a long time, considering further tactics of behavior. The unsuspecting victim is soon ambushed and then attacked from the rear. In most cases, such a hunt is successful.
Tiger purrs contentedly and immediately starts eating. He can consume 18 kg of meat in one sitting. His food is most often wild boars and bulls, bears and livestock.
The Malayan tiger loves to spend a lot of time in the water. This is a great swimmer! Reservoirs are a real salvation for the animal from the heat and annoying flies.
Among the relatives, the beast tries to convey its mood with body movements. If the animal is angry, then his ears take a vertical position, the tail is tense and straightened, and the fangs are exposed.
Tiger of Malaysia on its territory
In most cases, representatives of this type of loner in life. Only the female spends a lot of timeto their offspring. It takes up most of her life.
The Malayan tiger is a big owner. Males and females mark their sites with gland secretions and make scratches on tree trunks. By tags, you can determine the sex of the animal, age and physical he alth. Strangers are not allowed animals on their territory. The exception is females in estrus.
Beast Breeding
The Malayan tiger himself comes to the territory to the female. Before mating games, the tigress rolls on the ground for a long time and does not let the male go. He patiently waits for her to lash out and unleash her aggression.
Animals frolic for several days in a row. But besides one male, a tigress can mate with others during the same period. Because of this, the female may have cubs from different tigers.
It is curious that the male does not have paternal feelings towards the kittens. On the contrary, the tigress protects the offspring from the male, as he is able to kill the cubs in order to again persuade the partner to the mating games.
Malayan tiger. Description of offspring
The female's pregnancy lasts 103 days. For childbirth, a tigress chooses a secluded place - dense thickets or a cave. There are usually 2-3 tiger cubs in one litter.
They are born deaf and blind, weighing from 0.5 to 1.2 kilograms. 2 weeks after birth, the cubs are able to eat solid food. But the real hunt awaits them at 17-18 months.
The cubs have been with their mother for 3 years. Then they leave herterritories for independent existence. Females leave their mother tigress a little later than males.
People and the wild beast
Throughout history, man has hunted the tiger. For example, there is a legend about how Alexander the Great went to little-known lands and conquered a wild beast with the help of darts.
Ancient Korea specially trained people to hunt the tiger. A whole ritual was assigned to this: during the hunt, one had to remain silent. For such a trip, they sewed a jacket from blue canvas fabric and made a turban of the same color, decorated with numerous beads.
Guardian amulets were carved out of wood for hunters. Before the campaign, the men were fed with tiger meat. Such people were valued in Korea. They were even allowed not to pay state taxes.
At the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries, the hunt for the "big cat" was widespread among the English colonialists. They were also interested in the Malayan tiger. Such a hunt was organized “in English” - the participants marched on elephants or gaurs.
Travelers used goats or rams to lure the tiger. Sometimes the hunters beat the drums loudly to drive the animal out of the thick of the forest. Killed tigers were used to make stuffed animals that decorated the houses of aristocrats for a long time.
Also, the skin of the beast served as a material for making souvenirs and decorative items. Tiger bones are believed to have magical properties and are still in demand in the black markets of Asia.
At the moment, hunting for the "big cat" is prohibited, butpoaching still persists in many areas. Malayan tigers are also not very peaceful.
Some of them prey on livestock. Cases of cannibalism are known. In 2001-2003, 41 people died from the fangs of the Malayan tiger in the forests of Bangladesh.
