Let’s talk tigers

Today, after spending almost 5-6 hours on researching about this member of cat family, I am quite fascinated and amazed about my findings. So here let me put down some amazing common and uncommon facts about tigers.

Do you know:

1. The scientific name of tiger is Panthera Tigris
2. Tiger is the biggest cat species, with 330-660 pounds of weight and 6-10 feet of body length.
3. A tiger can run with a maximum speed of 65kmph and its roar can be heard till about 3 km of distance, although they roar quite rarely.
4. Tiger species is believed to be present on earth for 2 million years, considering they are situated at the top level of the food chain.
5. Tigers are purely carnivore. they hunt and eat a variety of animals, but normally tigers don’t view humans as their prey.
6. Tigers have a lifespan of about 25 years and at the age of 3 or 5 they are considered adult. However, they do not breed until they have marked their own territory.
7. Tigers are considered a nocturnal hunter as they mostly hunt at night, to avoid human conflict. They hunt in groups and a group of tigers is called streak or ambush.
8. Tiger cubs are born blind and are totally dependent on their mothers in initial years of their growth.
9. Tigers have orange and black fur with long, white whiskers. No two tigers have same stripes. Their stripes are to them what fingerprints are to humans.
10. Tigers are good swimmers unlike cats.
11. They have antiseptic saliva

Species and habitat

Tigers are found in different geographical locations the different natural habitat they are found in are tropical rain forests, tall grassy jungles, woodlands, swamps, mangrove forests, savannas. More specifically they are seen in and around, central and southern Asia, eastern Russian to eastern turkey, islands of java and Bali (southeast and eastern Asia). Presently, tigers are found mainly in 13 countries, i.e., India, Russia, china, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand etc.

Tigers are found under five sub species –

• Bengal tiger
• South china tiger
• Indochinese tiger
• Sumatran tiger
• Siberian tiger

However, these big cats are at severe threat of extinction, and have already been put under the endangered category in the IUCN list. in 1990, the tiger population around the word was around 100,000 which has drastically reduced to 2967 at present. There are numerous threats that this marvelous animal faces:

1. Forest Land acquisition cause the tigers to lose their natural habitat. Thus, putting under the risk of human-animal conflict.
2. As the population of their natural preys are decreasing, tigers resort to eating livestock, which in turn is bad for the livestock rearers, so they tend to either shoot or poison the tigers to protect their livestock.
3. Poaching and killing of tigers for their body parts, which are traded for money or other benefits. Tigers are usually poached for their skin, whiskers, eyes, bones teeth etc.
4. The laws are although made to ban illegal trading of tigers and tiger products but they are usually ignored.
5. Climate change is another threat as the most diverse habitat of tigers are the sunderban delta (mangrove forests), but due to increase in the global temperature the sea level is rising which will ultimately cause the mangroves to down, thereby putting the tiger population to risk.
6. Commercialization of tigers by putting them zoos. Although it might seem that putting tigers in zoo is like assuring regular food and protection to them, but such practices cause adverse impact on their mental health.

Currently, there are 6 countries which are housing the maximum number of tigers. They are:

• India – houses 2226 tigers, which is 2/3^rd of the total population of the species. India has 50 tiger reserves, and the government works on several schemes to protect the species. Such as the project tiger, increased anti-poaching efforts. These efforts have borne fruit by an increase in the number of tigers by 520 in past five years.
• Russia – holds 433 tigers, and is working towards doubling their number by 2020, and are quite close to their target, as it was around 360 in 2010
• Indonesia – has 371 tigers
• Malaysia – 250 tigers
• Nepal – houses 198 tigers, after a 60% increase over last five years
• Thailand – 189 tigers, with the only wildlife reserve in the whole south east Asia is in Thailand only.

Approach towards tiger conservation:

• World wildlifefund is working towards the aim of doubling the numbers of wild tigers by 2022, through its (Tx2) global goal. It also aims to end poaching altogether across Asia.

• India’s national tiger conservation authority is running a project tiger.

• Integrated tiger habitat conservation programmes by IUCN

Some famous wildlife protection habitats to conserve tigers are:

1. Jigme singye Wangchuk national park, Bhutan
2. Chitwan and bardia national park in Nepal
3. Siberian tiger safari (taiga forests in east Siberia and amur)
4. Sundarbans reserve forest, Bangladesh
5. Kanha national park, India
6. Jim Corbett national park, Uttarakhand, India
7. Pench tiger reserve, Maharashtra – M.P. border
8. Bandhavgarh national park, Madhya Pradesh
9. Ranthambore, Rajasthan
10. Bandipore tiger reserve, Karnataka
11. Kaziranga, Assam
12. Huai kha khaeng wildlife sanctuary, Thailand

Why do we need to save tigers?

Tigers as I mentioned above are the top predators, so if the number of tigers reduce at such an alarming rate, it will eventually increase the population of lower consumers in the food chain, i.e. the herbivore. Now if the herbivore is increased, the number of pants will reduce, hence causing worse impact on the ecological balance. Also, tigers are one of the most spectacular animals of the wild, them getting extinct will a great loss to the nature. Apart from this, tigers are one of the main sources of revenue for some countries and states by being tourist attractions, hence we need to save them by keeping that aspect in mind as well. Do you know, there are certain sub species of tigers which have gone completely extinct now? Such as Javan tiger, that used to inhabit java islands of Indonesia have gone extinct by mid 70s or 80s. similarly, the Caspian tiger, resided just south of the Caspian Sea and in central Asia. It was one of the biggest cats on the planet with its legs being much longer than other members of the big cat family. This species was declared extinct in 1970s. so, now the question here is do you want our future generations to read about more such tiger species which have gone extinct? We raise our voices so loud for several issues of public interest, doesn’t this part of our nature also deserve a shoutout, a call to be protected from the humans who have turned animals?

Tiger Tiger burning bright, will not let you fade out of sight, that is my promise and for you we will fight.

https://www.slogansmotto.com/slogans_for_saving_animals/save_tigers_slogans/

Mighty tigers hear them roar, for they may be no more.

https://www.slogansmotto.com/slogans_for_saving_animals/save_tigers_slogans/

Now, let me just tell you all why all this information about tigers and their conservation. There was this whole talk going on about 29 July being international tiger day, so I thought to read and research about this amazing pride of the wild. International tiger day or the global tiger day is celebrated annually on 29 July around the global, to spread awareness about tiger conservation. It was started in 2010 at the St. Petersburg tiger summit.

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