Tiger cubs are vulnerable in their first few months, with mortality as high as 50 percent, sometimes more. They may fall victim to attacks by dogs, leopards, snakes, or other tigers, so all their mother's attention goes into keeping them alive and healthy.

In addition to the obvious nose, tigers, like other carnivores, have a Jacobson organ in the roof of their mouth. A pouch-like structure located directly behind the front incisors, it has two small openings that direct scent particles from the air to nerves located within the structure. The nerves then transmit the message to the olfactory region in the brain that identifies the scent.

Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent species.

No two tigers have the same stripes. Like human fingerprints, their stripe patterns are unique to each individual. Stripes range in color from light brown to black and are not symmetrical on both sides of the tiger.

The Sumatran tiger has the darkest coat of all tigers. Its broad, black stripes are closely spaced and often doubled. Unlike the Siberian tiger, it has striped forelegs.