Endangered Animal ─ Tigers

Index

• • • • • • • • • • Introduction The Tiger Family The Wild Tigers The Tiger Cubs The habitat of tigers Tigers’ diet Tiger Attacks Why are tigers endangered? Tigers In Crises The Future For Tigers

Introduction

Almost everyone has seen a tiger in a zoo. But few people have seen a wild tiger. For hundred of years, tigers and humans lived around each other peacefully. Humans have built homes in what was once the tigers’ habitat in past 30 years.

As hunting and forest destruction continued, tigers became rarer and rarer. Only twenty years ago, these beautiful striped cats were in serious danger of becoming extinct …… Now we are going to tell you the story of the tiger.

The Tiger Family

There are eight kinds of tiger which are all listed in the data box behind. We call each different kind of tiger a subspecies. Three subspecies of tigers have recently become extinct. They are the Bali tiger, the Javan tiger and the Caspian tiger.

White tigers are not a separate subspecies, but a rare kind of Indian tiger with a pale coat and blue eyes.

Subspecies name Where found Population Subspecies name Where found Population

Chinese tiger

Panthera tigris amoyensis

China About 40 Java Javan tiger

Panthera tigris sondaica

Siberian tiger

Panthera tigris altaica

Bali tiger

Panthera tigris balica

Indo-chinese tiger

Panthera tigris corbetti

There are only totally 7500 -8000 tigers left in the world!

Thailand,

Panthera tigris sumatrae

Indian or Bengal tiger

Panthera tigris tigris

India, Burma, Nepal, China, Bangladesh Caspian tiger Afghanistan, Vietnam,

Panthera tigris virgata

Iran, Turkey, Malaysia USSR Extinct since 1979 About 650 About 5500 Extinct since 1965 Based on estimates in Tigers of the World eds R.L. Tilson & U.S. Seal (Noyes, 1987)

The Wild Tigers

In the wild, adult tigers spend much of their time alone. Each tiger spends most of its time in a certain area of land called a territory. It stays in its territory to catch prey, to drink and to rest during the day. Tigers love to stay in water even hours long.

Tigers scent-mark their territories by spraying urine on to trees or glass. The urine marks smell very strong and may last for several weeks. Each tiger has a slightly different smell. When another tiger smells, it knows that it is in another tiger’s territory.

Subspecies name Length (mm) (head to Tail) (males) Length (mm) (head to Tail) (Females) We ight (kg) (males) We ight (kg) (Females)

Chinese tiger Siberian tiger Bali tiger 2300-2650 2700-3300 2200-2300 2200-2400 2400-2750 1900-2100 130-175 180-306 90-100 100-115 100-167 65-80 Indo chinese tiger 2700-3100 2400-2650 180-258 100-160

Subspecies name Weight (kg) Weight (kg) Length (mm) (head to Tail) (males) Length (mm) (head to Tail) (Females) (males)

Javan tiger Sumatran tiger Indian or Bengal tiger 2480

Tigers are the largest

2200-2550 2550-2850 ????

2150-2300

family!

100-141 100-140 150-195

(Females)

75-115 75-110 100-130 Caspian tiger 2700-2950 2400-2600 170-240 85-135

The Tiger Cubs

Tigers are ready to mate when they are three to four years old. In the wild, a tiger usually gives birth to a litter of three or four cubs. Tiger cubs are tiny, blind and helpless, weighing about 2 kg each. The cubs spend their first four to eight weeks of life hidden away in a den.

Tiger cubs may start to eat meat when they are six weeks old. Before that, they need their mother’s milk. Soon after this they leave the den and follow their mother. However, they do not hunt with their mother until they are about six months old.

Over the next year or so, they will learn how to hunt for themselves. When the cubs are about two years of age, they leave their mother for good. Now each young tiger must set up a territory and learn to survive on its own. Then they will mate with others and birth other cubs.

The habitat of tigers

Today most tigers live in the forests of South-east Asia. Only Siberian tigers live in the very cold cedar forests of northern Asia. Some live in areas of grassland or in marshy swamps. All tigers need thick bushes to hide in. However, the habitats of tigers are lost rapidly recently.

Tigers’ diet

Tigers are predators. They usually hunt deer and wild pig, but they will also eat monkeys, birds and even insects or crabs. Tigers mostly hunt at night. They catch their prey by stalking them. Then it kills the animal quickly, using its sharp canine teeth to bite the animal’s neck or throat.

Tiger Attacks

Tigers generally attack someone for one of three reason: to get food, to defend or find new land, or to protect their young. The increase in tiger attacks on humans has been blamed on the loss of the tiger’s habitat and on illegal hunting. Also, some tigers that are too old to catch wild animals may learn to attack and eat people.

Why are tigers endangered?

Thousands of years ago in Asia, humans and tigers hunted the same animals for food. People began to hunt tigers because of this. At first tigers were killed with spears or bows and arrows. But the tigers knew their territories so well that they could escape easily. But ……

When guns were invented, killing tigers became much easier. Tiger hunting became a sport for rich people who liked the tigers’ beautiful skins. Up to a hundred tigers could be shot on one hunting trip. As more and more tigers were shot, they became rare.

Tigers have also become rare because their forest homes have been destroyed. As the forests disappeared, the tigers and other animals that lived in them had less room to live. Often they moved to small areas of untouched forest. But even there, the tigers were not safe.

Tigers In Crises

By 1990, some people had realized that tigers were becoming rare in India. But before anything could be done to protect tigers, India became involved in the Second World War. During all the confusion, people carried on hunting tigers and clearing forests freely until 1969 ……

In 1969, many tiger experts went to New Delhi in India to talk about tiger conservation. At the meeting in India, the tiger experts declared the tiger an endangered species. After this meeting, many of the countries where tigers still lived passed laws to ban tiger-hunting and try the best to save them.

Today there are eighteen tiger reserves in India, and many other tiger reserves in almost all the countries where tigers still live. Within many of these reserves tigers have become much less shy because people no longer shoot them. Tigers are safe in reserves.

If tigers were to be saved, then something had to be done quickly. We must not hunt or shoot tigers even buy any tiger’s skin. We can use less paper and save wooden furniture in order to protect natural forests. We can and we must protect tigers in our daily life or we cannot see them anymore.

The Future For Tigers

More and more people are living in the countries where tigers are found so the natural forests are still being cleared. Soon the only areas left for them may be the reserves. However many of the reserves are too small for a large number of tigers. So that they are in danger of becoming inbred.

There are also problems if the tiger population of a reserve grows too much. Then the reserve becomes overcrowded and tigers may spill out on to nearby farmland. Here they will eat the farmer’s cattle. Tigers also sometimes attack people. It makes the people nearby worry.

Tigers are safer today now that many of them live in reserves. But many beautiful wild tigers are still killed by poachers. There are still too many problems on tigers. They need your help. At last, I wish that these beautiful striped cats will survive forever.