A tiger has a reddish-orange coat with dark stripes, and no two tigers have the same stripes. Dark stripes on a pale background break up a tiger's outline as it waits for prey to come near. Deer cannot see red, so a tiger's orange coat looks green to them, and the stripes help a tiger blend into its surroundings. Amur tigers have paler orange coats and fewer stripes than other tigers.

Tigers are ambush hunters that rely on stealth. A tiger moves slowly and quietly when it stalks. Tigers hunt when their prey are most active, and tigers hunt mostly at night. Tigers hunt about once a week and can eat as much as 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food in one night. Tigers prefer wild pigs, deer and wild cattle, including gaur, which can weigh up to 3,300 pounds.

A tiger's claws can be pulled in while it walks, and the claws are 3 to 4 inches long. Tigers have partially webbed toes.

Tigers are good swimmers, and they can easily cross rivers up to 8 kilometers wide.

A tiger's eyes reflect light back, which helps it make a better picture in dim light. Tigers find their prey by using sight and sound.

A tiger's sense of smell is not as sharp as some of its other senses and is generally not used for hunting. The tiger mainly uses it to share information with other tigers, such as about territories and reproductive status. When a tiger picks up a scent on its upper lip and curls the lip up toward its nose, a behavior called flehmen, it can look as though it is snarling, but it makes no sound.

Tigers are known to live in tropical lowland evergreen forest, monsoonal forest, dry thorn forest, scrub oak and birch woodlands, tall grass jungles and mangrove swamps. Amur tigers live in snowy forests in eastern Russia and northeastern China.

Words to know

• ambush: hide and wait
• territories: animal areas
• gaur: wild cattle
• flehmen: a lip curl