Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚙馃嚛 Bangladesh

The Bengal tiger - and the only tigers that swim

Bangladesh's national animal, hiding in the mangrove forest

A Bengal tiger walking through long grass, looking towards the camera

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh. It is the biggest cat in the world. The tigers that live in the Sundarbans mangroves are very unusual - they are the only tigers on Earth that swim every single day, paddling between the small islands of the forest to find food.

Tell me more

Most cats hate getting wet. Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans are different: their forest is half land and half water, so they have to swim to get anywhere. They can paddle for several kilometres without stopping. Sometimes wildlife photographers see them just bobbing along, only the top of their head and tail showing.

A grown-up Bengal tiger can weigh as much as three large adults put together. Its orange-and-black stripes look bright in a photo, but in the green-and-shadow of the mangrove forest they actually blend in - the stripes break up the tiger's shape so it disappears against the leaves.

Every tiger's stripe pattern is unique, like your fingerprint. Scientists who study tigers in the Sundarbans put hidden cameras in the trees. When a tiger walks past, the camera takes a photo. They can tell which tiger it is by the pattern of its stripes.

Bangladesh and India work together to look after the Sundarbans tigers. The forest is protected, fishermen are taught how to stay safe, and rangers count the tigers each year. There are only a few hundred tigers left in the whole Sundarbans, so every single one matters.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Most cats hate water. Why might one kind of tiger learn to love it?
  2. 02How do bright orange stripes help a tiger HIDE in a green forest?
  3. 03If only a few hundred Sundarbans tigers are left, what could a country do to help them?
Try this

Classroom activity

Hold a 'stripe identity parade'. Each child draws a tiger and gives it a unique stripe pattern, then names it. Put the pictures on the wall. Can the class match each photo to the right name from just the stripes?