Indochinese Tiger is a wild cat of Indochina. It is a rare and beautiful big cat.
Panthera Tigris Corbetti, the Indochinese Tiger is slightly darker
in color than the average Bengal Tiger, having an ocher coloration with
narrow stripes that often break up into a row of spots, and are less
prominent on front legs. Underparts and inside of legs, chin and cheeks
are white. Whiskers, treasured by Chinese pharmacies, are more
prominent in males.
A resident of dense forests and hilly
terrains, the Indochinese Tiger is a solitary and nocturnal feline. Not
much is known about this big cat owing to the remoteness of its habitat
and the unstable political climate across most of its range that has
prevented researchers to gain access to its terrain to study it until
recently. It is believed to be quite strong and capable of taking even
baby elephants as prey animals. Usually they hunt antelope, wild boar
and buffalo though they have been known to supplement their diet with
birds, fish, monkeys and reptiles. At times the Corbett's tiger has
been documented to kill bears, leopards and even other tigers.
Indochinese
Tiger is seen in the mountainous border regions of Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The shaded red area show their current
range that has shrunk drastically over the past century and the tiger
is now recorded in scattered parts across these countries, segregated
by human population and thus suffering from inbreeding with its adverse
genetic short and long term consequences.
The tigers communicate
by vocalizations and calling in the mating season. They stay together
during the courtship after which the male moves on. Female gives birth
to a litter of two to three cubs after a pregnancy lasting one hundred
and three days on average. The cubs gain maturity by two years of age.
Lifespan on average is fifteen years.
