Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)

 
Range:  Bengal tigers live in tropical jungles, brush, marshland, and tall grasslands in fragmented areas of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Burma.

Description: The Bengal tiger is the largest member of the cat family.  It’s size, coat color, and markings vary with each subspecies.  The Bengal Tiger is the most common of all the subspecies; however, is considered an endangered species.

Why are some Bengal tigers white? Bengal tigers typically are orange in color; however, white tigers are reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. Such a tiger has the black stripes typical of the Bengal tiger, but carries a white or near-white coat.

Diet: Bengal tigers mainly hunt at night.  Tigers are carnivores (meat eaters) concentrating on mostly on deer, wild pigs, birds, reptiles, and fish.  

Lifespan: Healthy Bengal tigers live 8-10 years in the wild.  In captivity, they can live up to 16 years old.   

Greater Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros uniornis)

 

Range:  Indian rhinos are found throughout the Indian subcontinent. Once roaming the large areas of Asia, they are now in very small areas of India. The preferred habitat of an Indian rhinoceros is alluvial flood plains and areas containing tall grasslands along the foothills of the Himalayas. Formerly, extensively distributed in the Gangetic plains, today the species is restricted to small habitats in Indo-Nepal terai and northern West Bengal and Assam.

Description: The largest of the rhino species, Indian rhino weigh up to 8,000 pounds. The single horn is found in both males and females. The Indian rhinoceros has a thick grey-brown skin with pinkish skin folds and one horn on its snout. Its upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps. It has very little body hair, aside from eyelashes, ear fringes and tail brush. Males have huge neck folds.

Diet: Indian rhinos are browsers, having a prehensile top lip helps pull grass from the ground and leaves off branches. Rhinos also enjoy fruits and tree bark. Being great swimmers, they also enjoy eating floating vegetation found in rivers, ponds, and swamps.

Lifespan: Healthy Indian rhino may live to 30 years in the wild.  In captivity, they can live up to their late 40s.  

Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides)

 

Range:  The swan goose is a large goose with a natural breeding range in inland Mongolia, northernmost China, and southeastern Russia. It is migratory and winters mainly in central and eastern China. They can be found near water in floodplains, marshy meadows, riverbeds, steppes, even mountainous areas

Description: The swan goose is the largest goose species, reaching up to three feet in length. It displays a white throat and a dark brown crown extending along the back of the neck to the wings. The swan goose has a black bill and a chestnut-colored chest. Females have slightly pointed bills. The neck of both sexes differs as well, being shorter and slimmer in females and longer and thicker in males. Additionally, males have larger, wider head crowns than females do.

Diet: Swan Geese are often seen grazing on plains and stubble fields on plants, such as sedges (Cyperaceae). Ducks and geese generally feed on larvae and pupae usually found under rocks, aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails and crabs.

Lifespan: Geese can lay an average of 40-60 eggs per season. They lay 2 times a year, once in each spring and autumn. The average incubation period for a goose is approximately 28-34 days. Some geese can live to be 40 years old or more. Geese reach their mature size in just 12 weeks.