If you meet a tiger in the wild, how can you tell the difference between a male and a female tiger?

is known as the "king of beasts" tiger, 3 million years ago, the carnivore called Chinese ancient cat on earth, is recognized as the ancestor of modern tiger. If you keep a tiger in a cage, it is easy to distinguish male and female, but if you encounter tigers in the wild, it is not easy to distinguish male and female.

The tiger standing at the top of the food chain is a lone ranger in the mountains. Most of the animals in the mountains are his meals, even animals that are several times larger than him are in his eyes prey.

Unlike lions, lions can distinguish male and female lions at a glance, while tigers have difficulty distinguishing males and females. Although both are top feline carnivores, one is the overlord of the grasslands, the other is the king of the forest, and the tigers have handsome fur in appearance, and are liked by more people.

However, we are always curious and want to know if we encounter a tiger in the wild, how can we tell the difference between a male and a female tiger? Next, let's discuss this issue together.

I: Historical research shows that tigers originated in Mianchi

Tigers evolved from carnivores in ancient times. together. In 1920, the earliest fossil of "ancient Chinese tiger" was discovered in Mianchi, Henan.

has been inferred by experts in many aspects, and the shape and characteristics of each bone are used as detailed measurements and comparisons, and it is concluded that it is similar to the tiger. However, the individuals are smaller than tigers and larger than leopards, so tigers are considered a subspecies.

About 3 million years ago, as the ancestor of the modern tiger, it was a small carnivore called "Chinese ancient cat". Humans appeared on the earth between 3.8 and 3.6 million years ago, and ancient Chinese cats lived with their ancestors, the Lantian people.

Restoration map of ancient Chinese tigers

Tigers belonging to carnivores, tigers belong to Mammalia, Carnivora, Feline, Panthera subfamily , Panthera , Tiger subgenus,Like giant pandas, lions, jackals and other beasts, they are classified under the family Mammalia and Carnivora.

Tigers are sturdy, similar to golden cats. They have round heads and long tails. They are generally 1.5 to 2.9 meters in length, 600 to 100 centimeters in length and 90 to 350 kilograms in weight. Generally, females are smaller than males, while males appear majestic. strong.

Tigers are different from monochromatic animals. They are more gorgeous in body color. They have black stripes in their yellow fur, round cheeks, yellow eyes like light bulbs, and the symbol "king" on the top of their heads. The born king is domineering.

A tiger with "thick skin and rough flesh", under the yellow, white and black appearance, the skin can be up to 6 mm thick. Its claws are as sharp as knives, not only good at climbing trees, but also better at attacking, but also prefer to use its claws to play with the opposite sex.

Like lions and giant pandas, tigers generally have a lifespan of 10 to 20 years, and can exceed 26 years if they are carefully fed. There is no fixed time for the estrus period of tigers, and it may occur all year round. Male tigers leave a "courtship" signal by urinating around. The smell of urine drifts farther, which means the possibility of being smelled by female tigers. Just bigger.

In addition to foraging for food, tigers usually sleep. It can be said that tigers sleep for about 18 to 19 hours a day, just to "recharge energy". Since the success rate of tiger hunting is only 5%, it means that its feeding is unstable, about once a day or two, or even once every three days, depending on the situation.

II: If you encounter a tiger in the wild, how can you tell the difference between male and female?

Friends who like to watch animal columns and have been to zoos will often see pictures of tigers lying down or walking lazily. Even when tigers are eating, they look like a king. If you come across a tiger in the wild and feel like it might allow you to tell the difference between a male and a female based on its languid appearance alone, you'd be wrong.

In addition to the bite force of 560 kilograms of sharp teeth, the tiger also has a pair of "Kung Fu claws", which can reach 1000 kilograms in a single blow. Not to mention the jumping power of up to 4 to 5 meters high,With just a swipe of its claws, the prey it targets has almost no chance of escaping.

As the only male and female lion in the cat family, we can easily distinguish male lions from female lions only from the appearance, only because the adult male lion grows a long mane, and The lioness does not.

And if you want to know whether a tiger is female or male, it is not so easy, because the difference between male and female tigers is not so obvious in appearance, so you need to look carefully to distinguish, so how to distinguish What about male and female tigers?

III: There are four main ways to distinguish the male and female tigers:

①. Identify the male and female tigers by looking at their faces

Tigers are very iconic "beautiful", round On the cheeks, a series of horizontal, vertical and curved black lines adorned the yellow and white hair, depicting its majesty. The fierce male tigers have manes like Obai on their faces, and female tigers generally do not.

The famous tiger king Chagill is the most notable example. After its adulthood, a white mane slowly grows on its face. Although it is not as long as a male lion, it gives it its mighty power. A lot of color. However, some male tigers have no obvious mane, and some male tigers do not even grow a mane, depending on the species of tiger.

②、Distinguish male and female tigers by body shape

Generally, when you encounter a tiger in the wild, you should first look at the face and then look at the body shape. For the six subspecies tigers on the earth, the body size span is large Because males are larger than females. Males can be up to 3.7 meters in length, while females can be up to 2.4 meters in length. The difference in weight is generally 60 to 200 kilograms. The male tiger weighs 318 kilograms and the female tiger weighs 168 kilograms.

Of course, the head ratio of male and female tigers is also very different. Compared with female tigers, male tigers are larger in terms of body length, weight and head-to-body ratio.

Naturally only by body size,When encountering a tiger who likes to be alone, unless the male and the female are compared together, it is difficult to tell whether the tiger is male or female at a glance. An obvious feature of male and female tigers, male tigers look bigger and rounder, while males and females appear smaller.

③、Using tiger tail and front paws to distinguish male from female about. Male tigers have a larger ratio of their tails to their body lengths. The tails of female tigers are not as long as that of males and females. You cannot tell the difference just by looking at your right eye. Only in animal columns or photos, you can see the difference between males and females. The difference between tiger tails.