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With their signature orange fur and black stripes tigers have become icons of beauty, power, and the importance of conservation.  Tigers have evolved into six subspecies.  The tiger’s tail of evolution can be traced back to about 2 million years ago when the earliest known tiger ancestor left Africa and ventured into Asia. Over time the big cat split into nine subspecies with six still alive today. The most numerous subspecies is the Bengal Tiger accounting to 15 percent of the tiger population worldwide. Tigers are the world’s largest cats on average the big cats weigh about 450 pounds but the largest the Siberian cat’s subspecies measuring 660 pounds. This extra weight is primarily because of large powerful muscles unlike lions the second largest of the big cats.  Tigers have more muscle mass and are therefore heavier.

Vocabulary:

Signature -  A distinctive mark, characteristic or feature

Icon – a symbol

Conservation - a careful preservation and protection of something;

Evolve - develop gradually, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

Trace - find or discover by investigation.

Ancestor - an early type of animal or plant from which others have evolved.

Venture - a risky or daring journey or undertaking.

Over time - if something happens over time, it happens gradually during a long period

Split -  to divide into two or more parts

Subspecies -  is a particular group within a species that has branched off usually due to geographic isolation.

Numerous - great in number; many

Accounting to - to explain the reason for something or the cause of something:

Primarily - for the most part; mainly