29 July: International Tiger Day

It's International Tiger Day! Here are ten facts you may not know about these beautiful creatures:

1. The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest cat species. Tigers have reached a body length of up to 3.38m (11.1 ft) and have weighed up to 388.7 kg (857 lb) in the wild.
2. They are Cats, but they like swimming and they cannot purr. Their pupils are round, unlike other cats, because they hunt in the morning and evening rather than at night.
3. The stripes on each tiger are unique, like human fingerprints. If a tiger's fur is shaved off, the stripes are still visible on their skin.
4. A group of tigers is called an ambush or a streak.
5. Tiger pee smells like buttered Popcorn, and their saliva is antiseptic.
6. Tigers can leap distances of over 6m, and jump up to 5m vertically. One swipe from a tiger’s front paw is strong enough to smash a Bear’s skull.
7. Unlike Lions, tigers will share a kill, even with other tigers not related to them. Males will wait for females and cubs to eat first.
8. White tigers are a colour variant of Bengal tigers, caused by a recessive gene. They tend to have blue eyes, and may also be cross-eyed as all these genes are linked. One in 10,000 natural births is a white tiger. There is another variant called "golden" or "strawberry" which has light gold fur and pale orange stripes. There have been reports but no confirmed cases, of blue tigers as well.
9. Tigers hunt by ambush - so if you look a tiger in the eye, it is less likely to kill you. This is why men in India often wear masks on the back of their heads, so a tiger won't pounce on them from behind.
10. The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and South Korea.