Thinning Numbers
A Bengal tiger cools off in a small pond of water at Van Vihar sanctuary in Bhopal, in this June 2, 2004. India's population of wild tigers, which wildlife experts have long warned is on the decline, is dramatically lower than previously believed, according to initial results from an exhaustive study of tiger habitats.

~http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/24/tigers_ani.html?category=animals&guid=20070524111500&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

The study also finds that conservation efforts have resulted in some populations remaining stable and even increasing, but concludes that long-term success is only achieved where there is broad landscape-level conservation and buy-in from stakeholders.

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The Bengal Tiger or Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is a subspecies of tiger primarily found in Bangladesh and India and also in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and in southern Tibet.^[1] It is the most common tiger subspecies, and lives in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, subtropical and tropical rainforests, scrub forests, wet and dry deciduous forests and mangroves. Its fur is generally orange-brown with black stripes, although there is a mutation that sometimes produces white tigers, as well as a rare variation (less than 100 known to exist, all in captivity) called the Golden Tabby that has a white coat with golden patches and stripes that are much paler than normal. It is the national animal of both Bangladesh and India.

"No-one Owns a Big Cat,

They Only Cage Them"

Above:   Tigers Love Water, they cool off in it on hot summer days, and even bring their meals their to feast in the cool water. Below:   Tiger can admerse themselves completely in water and swim underwater for their pray.

Tigers Love to Play

"No-one Owns a Big Cat, they only Cage them."

My friend "Abu I have known since he was a cub.  

Below:    Bathtime

Above:  I ate to much...

Free Ride, take it Easy...   Thanks kid...

It is not uncommon before parks open or after they close for handlers to walk their cubs and tigers around the park.

"Come on in, the water is fine"

 [

  Tigers Tigers show effection like all animals.

What are you looking at?

Hey son, see if you can grab your tail.

Im trying, Im trying

 [

"Think you know Tigers?   Ask National Geographic they know Tigers!!!"

Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.

Tigers have far less room to roam than they did just a decade ago, according to a comprehensive new study.

The critically endangered big cats now live in 40 percent less habitat than they did ten years ago, the study finds.

But some areas of healthy tiger habitat do survive, the experts note. Several tiger populations are stable, and a few are even increasing.

Last summer a comprehensive survey reported that Siberian tiger populations were holding steady in the snowy forests of eastern Russia.

(Read " Siberian Tigers Stable, According to Landmark Survey" [June 16, 2005].)

Tigers are also doing well in the Terai Arc region of India and Nepal, a corridor of land that runs along the border between the two countries. (See map of Nepal.)

"Success in tiger conservation tracks pretty well to how we've invested," WWF's Dinerstein said.

"We know how to conserve tigers. If we stop the poaching of tigers and their prey and protect their habitat, they come roaring back. Tigers and wolves are the two large carnivores that breed faster than their prey, so you don't need generations of patience to see tigers bounce back.

"We've seen it happen almost overnight, and that gives me hope."

Tiger Habitat Hot Spots

The study's authors identified 76 prospective tiger conservation areas—including 20 of highest priority—where the cats have the best chance for long-term survival.

The big cats' four greatest strongholds appear to be the Russian Far East; the Terai Arc of India and Nepal; the northern forests of Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, and India; and the Tenasserim forests connecting Myanmar and Thailand.

(See map of Myanmar [Burma] and surrounding countries.)

Conservationists have called for an international summit on the tiger that would bring together leaders of the 13 nations where the cats live, in hopes of charting a course to safeguard the animals' future.

"We'd like to see high-level commitments from the countries that still have tigers to increase the number of parks and improve park management," said Colby Loucks, a conservation biologist with WWF.

"We'd like them to say that they think tigers are an important part of the ecosystem and [that] they are committed to having them in their countries."

In addition to international and national leadership efforts, local support is critical for the tigers' future, conservationists add.

"People that live with tigers are on the front lines of tiger conservation—those are the people that we need to recruit in order to save tigers," the Wildlife Conservation Society's Sanderson said.

"If those people want to have tigers around, then we'll have tigers around."

On a grassy plain in South Africa, thousands of miles from home, four zoo-bred South China tiger cubs are learning to hunt in the wild.

The hope is that they will one day pass on their skills to their offspring, allowing the next generation to return to wildlife reserves in China, where they will be able to fend for themselves and propagate their species.

Four decades ago, approximately 4,000 South China tigers lived in the wild. Today there are only about 30. An additional 64 live in 19 zoos in China.

The tigers are in more danger of extinction than China's most famous animal, the giant panda, according to Cai Qinhui, chief veterinarian of Guangzhou Zoo in southern China's Guangdong Province.

The 64 captive tigers in China are all descendants of six wild animals seized in 1956. Inbreeding is a major problem. Compared to their wild ancestors, the tigers in captivity are smaller, weaker, and more prone to disease.

In addition, the male tigers in captivity have low sperm counts and show little interest in the females—a sure path to extinction. Newborns have a high rate of birth defects and a lower survival rate. Lifelong captivity has added to the South China tiger's problems. Pollution and a diet containing food additives have contributed to about half the old tigers dying of cancers.

Stepping into the void, Li Quan, a native of Beijing who formerly headed Gucci's worldwide licensing business, founded Save China's Tigers. In November 2002 the foundation negotiated an agreement between China and South Africa for a joint project designed to reintroduce the offspring of zoo animals back into the wild.

She chose South Africa as a partner because of the country's track record in conservation issues.

"Wherever I went in southern Africa, I found South Africans involved in such projects," Li said. "I thought they must be the best. I eventually persuaded the Chinese government to work with them. I pointed out they had saved endangered species like rhinos and were not desktop scientists."

Building Skills in the Wild

Two pairs of cubs—one-year-old Hope and Cathay and six-month-old Tiger Woods and Madonna—are currently living in separate enclosures on an 81,500-acre (33,000-hectare) estate in the semidesert Karoo region of South Africa. The estate was purchased by Li's husband, international banker Stuart Bray.

The cubs' new playground, called Laohu Valley Reserve—in rough translation, Laohu means "old tiger" in Chinese—spans the Orange River. Two-thirds of the reserve falls in the grassy Free State Province, the rest is shrubland in the Northern Cape Province.

Hope and Cathay are two of four South China tiger cubs learning how to hunt and fend for themselves in a South African wilderness. The conservation program is aimed at eventually reintroducing "wild" tigers into sanctuaries being prepared for them in China.

Chinese Tigers Learn Hunting, Survival Skills in Africa

The cubs were born in captivity in China and removed from their mothers when they were three months old. Their first home in South Africa was a one-acre (0.4-hectare) quarantine camp where they stayed for a month. Their next home was a ten-acre (four-hectare) enclosure, where they lived for three months to help them adapt gradually to life outside a cage.

Old instincts kicked in when a small antelope strayed into the older pair's enclosure and they pounced. Now just a few months on, and living in a 150-acre (60 hectare) camp, they have become remarkably skilled hunters, said Ronel Openshaw, South Africa's liaison officer for the project. She said they now catch their own blesbok, a medium-size African antelope.

To Petri Viljoen, the South African conservationist in charge of the project, this was exciting progress.

"It took weeks to get them to eat chicken, accustomed as they were to being fed beef at the zoo in China where they were born," Viljoen said. "It took months of practice to hunt a live animal and then make the link between the kill and food. When the two cubs first arrived in South Africa, they didn't even want to leave their cages and prowl the rocky, thorny African veld," he said.

"They were used to the concrete floors of their cages and were reluctant at first to step onto our soil," Ronel Openshaw said.

The two older cubs seem to be overcoming the romance problem. Although only 20 months old, Hope has already started making amorous advances to Cathay. South China tigers, Panthera tigris amoyensis, generally begin to reproduce at about three years old, so they're too young for anything to come of it, says Peter Openshaw, who manages the reserve. "The two are about to move into a securely fenced 14,800-acre (6,000-hectare) camp which is where they take care of themselves," Peter Openshaw said. "But we also fit them with radio collars to monitor their movements and hunting success. We will give them additional food if they have difficulty coping."

Graduating From the Zoo

All four animals will eventually return to zoos in China, but their offspring will be returned to wildlife reserves. The pioneering pairs' cubs will grow up utterly wild, without contact with humans, Peter Openshaw said. The aim is for the first rehabilitated tigers to go to reserves developed in China by 2008, to coincide with the Olympic Games in Beijing.

A joint South African-Chinese team has identified two potential tiger reserves in China, one of about 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) and another of about 30 square miles (180 square kilometers), Li said.

One or both could ultimately be chosen. South African specialists are helping with the rehabilitation of both. Hunting and logging have been stopped, the habitat is being restored, and suitable prey animals will be introduced for the tigers to hunt.

The project has drawn some criticism.

Gus Mills, head of the Carnivore Conservation Group and research fellow of South African National Parks, worries about the tigers' ability to transition from one habitat—the African veld—to a completely different ecosystem and prey base in China.

Petri Viljoen is not concerned, saying most large predator species are very adaptable to a wide range of conditions, and the tiger appears to be no exception.

"Free-ranging large carnivores frequently have to cope with changing prey regimes and consequently have to change their diet accordingly when they hunt certain prey species which were perhaps never, or seldom, taken before," he said.

"Adapting from hunting certain African antelope to Asian deer, for example, should therefore not present a major adaptation problem for these tigers. Of course, there is never a guarantee in animal relocation or reintroduction attempts."

Ideally the entire program should be conducted in China, Viljoen said.

"But time is running out fast, and it could well be too late to wait first for the development of a suitable area in China before establishing an effective rewilding program," he said.

Indonesia, February 28, 2007—Strange bedfellows in nature, a pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a pair of orangutans have become best buddies while sharing a nursery room at the Taman Safari Zoo in Indonesia. The one-month-old tiger twins and five-month-old orangutan sisters were abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth.

Experts agree that natural instincts will take over eventually and the foursome will have to be separated, but for now, researchers report that all they want to do is play.

Both species are severely endangered in the wild, and their numbers continue to dwindle as their habitats are decimated by logging and farming.

Satellite view of peat swamp forest (center) on Sumatra across from Bangka Island
Photograph by USGS

· Swampy in Sumatra
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Swampy in Sumatra

Pull on your boots and make your way through the Sumatra Peat Swamp Forest to see an unusual forest habitat. You'll have to slog through wet soils. And you may not encounter a huge diversity of species. But you may very well find yourself in the company of some of Sumatra's biggest, rarest beasts, including Sumatran tigers, Sumatran rhinos, and Asian elephants!

Special Features

Peat swamp forests form where rivers drain into the ocean. As the rivers pass through coastal mangroves on their way to the sea, the sediments they carry become trapped in the tangle of mangrove roots. Over time, these sediment deposits build up and form domed areas behind the mangroves that are rarely flooded. Tree seeds take root in the domed sediments, and soon a peat swamp forest emerges. These forests are acidic and low in nutrients.

Sumatran rhinos, like all other species of rhinos, help plants spread their seeds. Seeds pass through a rhino's digestive system intact over a period of three or more days. In that time, the rhino has inevitably wandered well away from the original plant, so the seeds end up landing in soil far from where they started.

Wild Side

The Sumatran tiger, Indonesia's largest terrestrial predator, frequents peat swamp forests throughout all of Sumatra. Critically endangered, the Sumatran tiger numbers only about 500 nationwide. Sumatran rhinos and Asian elephants, also endangered, browse on vegetation within these swampy lands. Although bird diversity tends to be low in peat swamp forests compared to surrounding lowland rain forests, you will find a number of interesting residents. One species--the hooked-bill bulbul--is found only here and a few other places.

Cause for Concern

More than half of the Sumatra Peat Swamp Forests have been cleared, mostly in the southern portion.

Nowadays, the population of the Sumatran Tiger is about 400 species. Some animals live in zoos in Europe, Australia, and North America. The greatest population is found in parks and reserves of Indonesia. However, if no effective measures are taken to protect the Sumatran Tiger, there is a possibility that the species will go extinct in ten years.

The Sumatran Tiger has white spots on the back of the ears that are believed to visually enlarge the size of the animal and serve as false eyes in the case that the predator is behind. This helps the Sumatran Tiger cubs to be kept safe.

Sumatran Tigers are one of the two cats that can be observed in water. Sometimes, they are seen near waterfalls and other water resources trying to cool themselves in hot weather. Moreover, they are good swimmers and are known to cross several rivers in search of prey. The species is equipped with webbed toes, which is just another Sumatran Tigers' adaptation for life in the wild.

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is the smallest of the remaining five tiger subspecies. It has lived exclusively, for over a million years, in the once extensive moist tropical jungles of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Their population in the wild is now heavily fragmented and is estimated to range between 400 and 500 individuals. Groups of between a few and several dozen tigers can be found principally in and around Sumatra's national parks.

The Sumatran tiger represents a uniquely hopeful opportunity for the survival of an individual subspecies of tiger in the wild. Specifically, the animal is isolated geographically to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. This is important for many reasons. First, the animal has been genetically isolated. This offers felid biologists the opportunity to study the effects of such genetic isolation on a particular subspecies, unlike other surviving subspecies, which until the beginning of the last century, could roam among and between the realms of neighboring subspecies.

Wild Sumatran tigers have survived within the isolated and somewhat continuous political environment of the Island of Sumatra. This has afforded researchers, such as The Sumatran Tiger Project team, an opportunity to study these animals' genetic status in their natural habitat over an extended period of time. As a result, important first-hand field data has been generated which is relevant to all the surviving tiger subspecies.

Sumatran tigers are especially well represented in zoos around the world, most of which participate in sophisticated global conservation breeding programs. More than 270 Sumatran tigers are now documented in formal studbooks and are involved in captive breeding programs aimed at preserving their genetic uniqueness. This captive popu  [report anonymous abuse]

Unfortunately, the political stability that has benefited Sumatran tiger research has been interrupted recently by the violent demise of the Suharto regime. Foreign nationals conducting tiger-related research in Indonesia were forced to flee for the sake of their personal safety. The Indonesian researchers left behind faced tremendous obstacles in perpetuating their delicate work, even to the point where many of the tigers involved in the conservation breeding program at Taman Safari could not be properly fed. In a happy turn of events, the civil unrest associated with the destabilization of the Indonesian political situation has been largely settled. Negotiations are underway to establish a new framework for the conservation efforts and scientific research that has been conducted by The Sumatran Tiger project.

Sumtran Tiger from the Island of Sumatra.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid263790608/bclid269000809/bctid269000680

Bengal Tiger Video

All wild white tigers were a color variation of Bengal tigers. White tigers in the wild were recorded in India during the Mughal Period from 1556 to 1605 AD. At least 17 instances were recorded in India between 1907 and 1933 in Orissa, Bilaspur, Sohagpur and Rewa. Wild white tigers were very rare, and none have been reported in the wild since the 1950s.

White tigers differ from ordinary orange tigers (if a tiger can be referred to as ordinary) in having ice-blue eyes, a pink nose, and creamy white fur with chocolate stripes. White tigers are not albinos; their color is caused by a double recessive allele. A Bengal tiger with two normal alleles or one normal and one white allele is colored orange. Only a double dose of the mutant allele results in white tigers.

How frequently do white tigers appear in nature? No one knows. But we do know that in the last 100 years, only about a dozen such white tigers have been seen in India (white forms have never been reported for any of the other subspecies). During this same century, the Bengal tiger population has dropped from 40,000 to a low of 1,800 tigers, and approximately 100,000 have lived and died, suggesting that as few as one in every 10,000 tigers is white.

The white tiger collection in North American zoos traces its ancestry to a single white male known as Mohan, captured in 1951 in central India. It did not take long for the Maharajah who captured him to figure out that the only way to produce additional white tiger cubs was to breed Mohan back to his daughter, who gave birth to the first generation of captive-born white tigers in this century. One of these granddaughters, Mohini, was bred with her uncle and half-brother, an orange male called Sampson. It was through Mohini that the white tiger line came to the United States through the National Zoo in Washington D.C., From there, two of Mohini's offspring, a brother and sister, were bred at the Cincinnati Zoo and their daughter, Kesari, founded the Cincinnati white tiger line.

In Cincinnati, the inbreeding continued. Bhim, a white son of Kesari, was mated to his sisters Kamala and Sumita, and so on. Altogether, the average inbreeding coefficient of the white tiger lineage is much higher that that of either Sumatran of Siberian tigers managed by the tiger SSP which is methodically working towards minimizing the average inbreeding coefficient of its captive population. This translates into a healthier population and decreases the probability of a number of reproductive and disease problems associated with inbreeding.

An SSP is a breeding strategy followed by participating zoos that is designed to maintain small self-sustaining populations of endangered species in captivity. Every breeding recommendation is designed to minimize the average inbreeding coefficient of the population and to equalize the genetic representation of each wild-caught animal ("founders" of the captive population). With some 63 such species blueprints in hand, zoos are increasingly becoming last-ditch refuges for endangered species, as a kind of biological (rather than biblical) Noah's ark. Already on board are several species now extinct in the wild that survive only in zoos, including Pere David's deer and Asian wild horses, and three additional species, the California condor, Arabian oryx, and black-footed ferret, are currently making their way back into the wild thanks to captive breeding.

The white tiger controversy among zoos is a small part ethics and a large part economics. For example, the tiger SSP has condemned breeding white tigers because of their mixed ancestry (most have been hybridized with other subspecies or are of unknown lineage) and because they serve no conservation purpose. Owners of white tigers say white tigers are popular exhibit animals and help increase zoo attendance and, at $60,000 each, revenues as well. The same story can be applied to the selective propagation of melanistic leopards, white lions, king cheetahs, and other phenotypic aberrations.

However, there is an unspoken issue that shames the very integrity of zoos, their conservation programs, and their message to the visiting public. To produce white tigers or any other phenotypic curiosity, directors of zoos and facilities must continuously inbreed, father to daughter, to granddaughter, and so on. At issue is a contradiction of fundamental genetic principles upon which all SSPs for endangered species in captivity are based. White tigers are an aberration artificially bred and proliferated by a few zoos, private breeders, and circus folks, who do this for economic rather than conservation reasons.

White tigers showing no stripes have been recorded. A "wholly white tiger, with the stripe-pattern visible only under reflected light, like the pattern of a white tabby cat, was exhibited in the Execter Change Menagerie in the early part of the nineteenth century and described by Hamilton Smith. Another citing of a "tiger without stripes" was reported by Sagar and Singh (1989) from Similipal Reserve, Orissa.

Lisa M.

Group History Tiger Videos and Tiger Sounds Friday, 1:36 PM

http://members.tripod.com/joyceclark_2/tigervideos.htm

Hi all,  here is another link you might enjoy, a few cool tiger videos and tiger sounds, just someone's personal website on Tigers.  I liked it, and thought you might to.

Lisa

Siberian tiger, Amur tiger;
Tigre de Sibérie(Fr); (Sp)

IUCN: Critically Endangered (CR - C2a(ii))
CITES: Appendix I

• Tiger Factsheet
• Tiger Newsletter
• Panda Junior Tiger files [in french]

This profile has been reviewed by Tshewang Wangchuk, Tiger Coordinator, WWF-International, and Trishna Gurung, Communications Officer, WWF Asian Rhinos and Elephant Action Strategy (AREA and Tiger Programmes, WWF International.

Siberian Tigers, Snow Tigers Amur Tiger are all the same sub species of Tiger.

Thanks Simone for the great photo.   

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Dr. Hornocker and the Hornocker Wildlife Center was one of the first Scientist to explore the Siberian Tigers.

What is he thinking?   Perhaps he is wondering what he has done to man for the hatred and love of his fur for his life on earth.

And what have they done to deserve the continued killing by humans, for their fur. 

Thank you Sid,for sharing!  And for all the work you've done and still do here,I'll re start posting soon.
Astrid D.

Thankyou all members for the great photos and continued participation.  

If mankind doesnt stop killing the animals, the planet, and destroying what we have, then perhaps we deserve our own fate as well.     

Dear Sid,

You are just amazing....Thank you for all the information and dedication.

Much love,

Lestat

Beth P.

Radwen G.  [ 

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http://www.metacafe.com/watch/604312/elephant_not_fortress_awesome_vids/

Wow, Dont mess with this BIG CAT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSJnppzwIIM

13feet long 900lb Siberian Tiger video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfjMHAbsFGY

Siberian Tigers close up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QX5SXqK_xY

Turn down your volume if you dont enjoy rock -n- roll.

Thanks Rachel for great photo...  

This video reminds me of my cat...

Who You Lookin' At Tiger?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCSVSWfsZr8

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Funny Video rachel, thanks for sharing...  

Just received this e-mail from the US Ambassador in India.

Dear Tammy,

I received your message of Oct 31 today on tigers. As it happens the US Mission here in India is sponsoring a workshop at Ranthambore Tiger Park which will focus on prevention and forensic work connected w ith preventing poaching of tigers. The purpose is to help preserve India’s tiger population.

Thank you for your interest.

David C. Mulford

U.S. Ambassador to India

Pictures I took at Busch Gardens- Tampa.

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Bali tiger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

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anthera_tigris_balica.jpg" rel="nofollow" >

The last Balinese tiger.

The Bali tiger, or Balinese tiger (Panthera tigris balica) is one of the three extinct sub-species of the tiger. They became extinct in 1937. They lived on Bali. This was the first sub-species of tiger to become extinct. It was also the smallest tiger sub-species. There is no record of a Balinese tiger ever being held in a zoo collection. The Balinese tiger's close sub-species were the Javan tiger and the Caspian tiger, which are now also extinct. The Balinese and Javan tigers were once the same, but during the Ice Age, Bali became isolated from Java by the Bali Strait. This split the tigers into two groups which then went onto develop alone. The killing of the very last wild Balinese tiger is usually thought to have been at Sumbar Kima, West Bali on 27 September, 1937. It was an adult tigress.

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Overview

Common Name: Tiger; Tigre(Fr); Tigre(Sp)

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris spp

Population: Only around 4,000 tigers remain in the wild

Background

© WWF-Canon / Vladimir FILONOV

The tiger, largest of all cats, is one of the most charismatic and evocative species on Earth; it is also one of the most threatened. Less than 4,000 remain in the wild, most in isolated pockets spread across increasingly fragmented forests stretching from India to south-eastern China and from the Russian Far East to Sumatra, Indonesia.

Poisoned, trapped, snared, shot, captured...
Across its range, this magnificent animal is being persecuted. Today, tigers are poisoned, shot, trapped and snared, and the majority of these animals are sought to meet the demands of a continuing illegal wildlife trade - which includes traditional Chinese medicine.

Hunters, traders, and poor local residents whose main means of subsistence comes from the forest, are wiping out the tiger and the natural prey upon which it depends. While poaching for trade continues to menace the tiger's survival, perhaps the greatest long-term threats are the loss of habitat and the depletion of the tiger's natural prey. Large commercial plantations have replaced a lot of tiger habitat in several tropical range countries.

Three tiger subspecies are already extinct, and a fourth is on its way

Tiger Study

---

WWF in 2005 collaborated with other organizations on the most comprehensive scientific study of tiger habitats ever done. The study finds that tigers reside in 40 percent less habitat than they were thought to a decade ago and now occupy only seven percent of their historic range.

The study also finds that conservation efforts have resulted in some populations remaining stable and even increasing, but concludes that long-term success is only achieved where there is broad landscape-level conservation and buy-in from stakeholders.

Learn more.

In the past century, the world has lost three of the nine tiger subspecies. The Bali, Caspian, and Javan tigers have all become extinct ... and many scientists believe the South China tiger is “functionally extinct”.

Priority areas offer the best hope for tiger conservation
WWF's tiger conservation strategy and action plan - Conserving Tigers in the Wild: A WWF Framework Strategy for Action 2002-2010 - identifies seven focal tiger landscapes where the chances of long-term tiger conservation are best, and four additional areas where conservation opportunities are good.

In each of the focal landscapes, WWF aims to establish and manage effective tiger conservation areas, reduce the poaching of tigers and their prey, eliminate the trade in tiger parts and products, create incentives that will encourage local communities and others to support tiger conservation, and build capacity for tiger conservation.

Physical Description

© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

The tiger is the largest of the Asian big cats and can be found in a wide range of habitats, from the evergreen and monsoon forests of the Indo-Malayan realm to the mixed coniferous-deciduous woodlands of the Russian Far East and the mangrove swamps of the Sundarbans, shared by India and Bangladesh.

The characteristic stripe patterns differ from one individual to another and from one side of the cat's body to the other. In fact, there are no tigers with identical markings. Males exhibit a characteristic ruff (lengthened hairs around the neck), which is especially marked in the Sumatran tiger.

Tigers are typically solitary hunters and prey mainly on deer and wild pig. Where this prey is in abundance, such as in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, territories range from 10 to 20km² for females and 30 to 70km² for males. In Russia, where the density of prey is much lower, territories vary in size from 200 to 400km² for females and 800 to 1,000km² for males.

Tigers have dens in caves, tree hollows and dense vegetation. They are mostly nocturnal but in the northern part of its range, the Siberian subspecies may also be active during the day at winter-time. Using their sight and hearing rather than smell, the tiger stalks its prey and once it has reached close proximity, attacks from the side or rear and kills by a bite to the neck or the back of the head.

Unless they die, tigers are never replaced on their range. Although individuals do not patrol their territories, the range is visited over a period of days or weeks and it is marked with urine and feces.

Size
Body length is 140-280 cm and tail length is 60 to 95 cm.

Colour
The upper part of the animal ranges from reddish orang

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Habitat

Biogeographic realm
Indo-Malayan, Palearctic

Range States
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Lao PDR, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, North Korea (few left), Russia (Far East), Thailand, Vietnam

The tiger is a powerful symbol of reverence among the variety of cultures that live across its range. They command respect, awe or fear from their human neighbours. Even in places where tigers have become extinct or never existed in the wild, they live in myth and legend.

As top predators, they keep populations of wild ungulates in check, thereby maintaining the balance between prey herbivores and the vegetation upon which they feed. A whole myriad of other life-forms are essential to support a healthy tiger population.

• A tiger has been reported to cover up to 10 meters in a horizontal leap.
• It is reported that at 11 months, juveniles are already capable of killing prey.

• Location: Far eastern Asia
• Population: 431-529 individuals

Indo-Chinese Tiger

Indo-Chinese Tiger

full profile

• Habitat: Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
• Location: Southeast Asia
• Population: 736-1225 individuals

Malayan Tiger

Malayan Tiger

full profile

• Habitat:
• Location: Southeast Asia
• Population: 491-510 individuals

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