Category: Mammals
While it is the most common subspecies of tiger, the Bengal Tiger is still endangered, ranging only in India, Nepal, Bangledesh, and Bhutan. These enormous striped cats can reach over 700lb and close to 11 feet in length from head to body, and are skilled hunters, unafraid of hunting animals that are even larger than themselves -- like the Gaur that can grow to be over 3,000lbs! Socially, Bengal Tigers are generally solitary, except for mothers living with offspring. Habitat loss and poaching pose a serious threat to the Bengal Tiger's survival as a species.
The Opossum Ain’t Playing
Many people associate playing dead with the opossum - that’s where the term “playing opossum” comes from, after all. But something you might not know is that when an opossum feigns death, it really goes all out! Not content with merely closing its eyes and laying down, the opossum begins drooling profusely as if ill or even rabid, releases a putrid, greenish fluid from its anal glands that makes it smell like a decaying corpse, and after losing consciousness may even mimic rigor mortis! This is quite the elaborate routine, but it isn’t conscious: when an opossum plays dead, it has actually gone into shock due to stress.
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Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
