Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat: a powerful, muscular animal with a big head, broad front paws and a tail about half the length of its body. The orange coat varies from yellowish to reddish, with white on the belly, inner legs and parts of the face, and a white spot ringed in black on the back of each ear. The black or dark brown stripes are mostly vertical and form a pattern unique to each individual, which is how camera-trap surveys tell tigers apart. The tail has thick bands and a black tip. It is traditionally classified into nine subspecies, though some authors recognise only two: the mainland Asian tiger and the Sunda Islands tiger (Wikipedia, general species account).

Across its range the tiger lives alone in a home range that it defends against others of the same sex, and a male's range overlaps those of several females. It hunts by ambush, creeping up under cover and usually attacking from within about 30 m, then killing with a bite to the throat or neck. Kills are dragged into cover and fed on over several days. The tiger swims well and often lies in water on hot days. Cubs stay with their mother for about two years before leaving to find a range of their own (Wikipedia, general species account).