The tigers found in Rajgir Zoo Safari are called Royal Bengal Tigers. Royal Bengal tigers are a subspecies of Panthera tigris. It is considered the biggest cat in the world. On seeing, he looks bigger than a lion but could not become the jungle king. Because instead of living among their subjects like a lion, they like to live alone.
Royal Bengal tigers are light yellow in colour, with black stripes on the body by which they are identified. From the stripes on their body, it can be estimated how old this tiger species is. Compared to other tigers found in the world, the Royal Bengal Tiger looks less colour-saturated.
The oldest fossil of a Royal Bengal Tiger was discovered in Sri Lanka 20,000 years ago. Due to the low sea level, earlier Sri Lanka was connected to India through a land bridge, the reason for the construction of this bridge can be seen in Ramayana. The Royal Bengal Tiger came to India through this bridge and settled on the banks of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers.
Females spend their lives arranging food and raising children, while males prefer to live alone. Males come close to females only during the breeding season. Royal Bengal Tigers spend their entire lives in one place and when the children grow up, they go out to find another place. They find a suitable place for themselves where they have food, water and caves.
A healthy Royal Bengal Tiger lives for about 20 years. It spends about 15 weeks in the womb. After 6 months of birth, the cubs leave milk and become completely non-vegetarian and after 3 years they start going alone for hunting. After about 5 years it becomes an adult tiger. When male tigers grow up, they leave their home and go far away so that they can create their own family.
The Royal Bengal Tiger is also a pure carnivorous animal like other tigers. Deer, buffalo, boar, nilgai and black bear are their favourite diet. Royal Bengal tigers do not attack animals that are larger or heavier than themselves. But sometimes they have also been seen attacking rhinoceros, elephants and giraffes. In times of food shortage i.e. famine, the Royal Bengal Tiger eats domestic animals and humans as well.