Julie Ann Jones, age 8, of New Bedford, Mass., for her question:
WHICH IS LARGER, A TIGER OR A LION?
Adult tigers usually live alone. Many adult males claim a territory as their own and keep other males out. The territory may cover from 25 to 250 square miles or more. The lion, on the other hand, is the most companionable of all cats. A group, called a pride, runs from 10 to 35 with up to three male cats included. A lion prey's territory extends from 15 to 100 square miles.
Both the tiger and the lion are big, powerful cats. But it is the tiger that has the honor of being the largest member of the cat family.
Wild tigers are found only in Asia. Lions can be found in east and central Africa with some also roaming parts of Asia.
An adult male tiger usually weighs about 420 pounds and is nine feet long, including his three foot tail. Tigresses weigh about 300 pounds and average about eight feet in length.
Lions are almost as big, but not quite. A male lion usually weighs between 350 and 400 pounds. He's also about nine feet long. A lioness will weigh only between 250 and 300 pounds and measure about a foot shorter than the male.
Tigers can live in any kind of climate, as long as they can find shade, water and food. They live in the hot rain forests of Malaya, the dry thorn woods of India and the cold, snowy spruce forests of Manchuria. You'll also find them living in oak woods, tall grasslands, swamps and marshes.
Tigers seem to need the shadows. You seldom find them in open country. Lions, on the other hand, often move across open grassy plains.
Both the tiger and the lion usually hunt at night since this provides them with an element of surprise over their prey. Both male and female tigers are hunters, but in the lion family it is usually the lioness who does the work.
The tiger's stripes and more colorful coat make it look different from the lion. But each is equally powerful. Each has enough strength to drag the body of a 500 pound catch for some distance.
In captivity, tigers and lions have mated. The offsprings, which are found in a number of zoos, are called tiglons, tigons or ligers.
Tigers are very swift for short distances and can leap nearly 30 feet. But if a tiger doesn't catch its prey quickly, it usually gives up because it tires quickly.
Catching a large animal isn't easy for the lion. Most of the animals it likes to eat can run faster than the lion's top speed of about 35 miles per hour. So, like the tiger, the lion must often depend on surprise.