Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tiger Facts
1. Tigers are the largest of the big cats.
2. Wild tigers are at the very top of the food chain.
3. There were originally eight subspecies of tiger, the
4. Unbelievably three of the eight subspecies are now
Initiatives to save TIGER
When we protect one tiger, we protect about a 100 sq. km of area and thus save other species living in its habitat. Therefore, it’s not just about saving a beautiful animal. It is about making sure that we live a little longer as the forests are known to provide ecological services like clean air, water, pollination, temperature regulation etc. This way, our planet can still be home to our children.
Spread the word: Go out loud and tell others that tigers are dying and that they need our help. You can form forums (or join existing ones) on the web for discussions and exchange views on tiger conservation. Reach school going children. WWF can help you in this regard.
Be a responsible tourist: The wilderness is to be experienced and not to be disturbed and polluted. Follow the forest department guidelines when visiting any wilderness area, tiger reserve in particular. As the saying goes ‘Don’t leave thing anything behind except foot steps, and don’t take anything except memories.’
Write to the policy makers: If you are really concerned and feel that more needs to be done for tiger conservation, then write polite letters to the decision makers - the Prime Minister, the Minister for Environment and Forests or even your local MP.
Informing the nearest police station: If you know of any information on poaching or trade of illegal wildlife. You can also contact TRAFFIC- an organization fighting the powerful poachers and pass on the information to them.
Reducing pressure on natural resources: By reducing the use of products derived from forests, such as timber and paper.
Be a responsible tourist: The wilderness is to be experienced and not to be disturbed and polluted. Follow the forest department guidelines when visiting any wilderness area, tiger reserve in particular. As the saying goes ‘Don’t leave thing anything behind except foot steps, and don’t take anything except memories.’
Write to the policy makers: If you are really concerned and feel that more needs to be done for tiger conservation, then write polite letters to the decision makers - the Prime Minister, the Minister for Environment and Forests or even your local MP.
Informing the nearest police station: If you know of any information on poaching or trade of illegal wildlife. You can also contact TRAFFIC- an organization fighting the powerful poachers and pass on the information to them.
Reducing pressure on natural resources: By reducing the use of products derived from forests, such as timber and paper.
Why Should we save the TIGER?
The tiger is not just a charismatic species. It’s not just a wild animal living in some forest either. The tiger is a unique animal which plays a pivotal role in the health and diversity of an ecosystem. It is a top predator and is at the apex of the food chain and keeps the population of wild ungulates in check, thereby maintaining the balance between prey herbivores and the vegetation upon which they feed. Therefore the presence of tigers in the forest is an indicator of the well being of the ecosystem. The extinction of this top predator is an indication that its ecosystem is not sufficiently protected, and neither would it exist for long thereafter.
Panthera Tigris is in danger
In early 1900's, world tiger population was estimated at around 100,000. By 1950, this number had dropped to 40,000. The reasons for their demise include poaching (fur, Chinese medicine, exotic recipes - 1 tiger per day is poached in India), deforestation (insecticides have reduced the danger of malarial mosquitoes in India, making land habitable that was previously home to tigers), and human expansion. The lowest point of tiger population was about 4000 in the 1970s. Due to conservation efforts, the total number of tigers in the wild has increased modestly since then to around 5000-7000 today. At least twice that number exists in captivity.
A dead tiger's parts are worth as much as $200,000 on the black market. The trade continues today in China , Taiwan , Korea , and Singapore
Tiger are protected under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) treaty. 158 countries have signed the treaty and agreed to abide by its terms, including those in which most tigers live. However, that has not stopped individual poaching. The tiger is officially classified as an Endangered Species, as are all of the remaining subspecies. They have been on the Endangered Species list since 1970.
Tigers in India
Following the release of the report, the Indian government pledged $153 million to further fund the Project Tiger initiative, set-up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, and fund the relocation of up to 200,000 villagers to minimize human-tiger interaction. Additionally, eight new tiger reserves in
Physical characteristics
Tigers are among the most recognizable of all the cats. They typically have rusty-reddish to brown-rusty coats, a whitish medial and ventral area, a white "fringe" that surrounds the face, and stripes that vary from brown or gray to pure black. The form and density of stripes differs between subspecies (as well as the ground coloration of the fur; for instance, Siberian tigers are usually paler than other tiger subspecies), but most tigers have over 100 stripes. The pattern of stripes is unique to each animal, and thus could potentially be used to identify individuals, much in the same way that fingerprints are used to identify people. This is not, however, a preferred method of identification, due to the difficulty of recording the stripe pattern of a wild tiger. It seems likely that the function of stripes is camouflage, serving to help tigers conceal themselves amongst the dappled shadows and long grass of their environment as they stalk their prey. The stripe pattern is found on a tiger's skin and if shaved, its distinctive camouflage pattern would be preserved. Like other big cats, tigers have a white spot on the backs of their ears. These spots, called ocelli, serve a social function, by communicating the animal's mental state to conspecifics in the gloom of dense forest or in tall grass.
Colours:
White tigers
There is a well-known mutation that produces the white tiger, technically known as chinchilla albinistic, an animal which is rare in the wild, but widely bred in zoos due to its popularity. Breeding of white tigers will often lead to inbreeding (as the trait is recessive). Many initiatives have taken place in white and orange tiger mating in an attempt to remedy the issue, often mixing subspecies in the process. Such inbreeding has led to white tigers having a greater likelihood of being born with physical defects, such as cleft palates and scoliosis (curvature of the spine). Furthermore, white tigers are prone to having crossed eyes (a condition known as strabismus). Even apparently healthy white tigers generally do not live as long as their orange counterparts. Recordings of white tigers were first made in the early 19th century. They can only occur when both parents carry the rare gene found in white tigers; this gene has been calculated to occur in only one in every 10,000 births. The white tiger is not a separate sub-species, but only a colour variation; since the only white tigers that have been observed in the wild have been Bengal tigers (and all white tigers in captivity are at least part Bengal), it is commonly thought that the recessive gene that causes the white coloring is probably carried only by Bengal tigers, although the reasons for this are not known. Nor are they in any way more endangered than tigers are generally, this being a common misconception. Another misconception is that white tigers are albinos, despite the fact that pigment is evident in the white tiger's stripes. They are distinct not only because of their white hue; they also have blue eyes and pink noses.Golden tabby tigers
In addition, another recessive gene may create a very unusual "golden tabby" colour variation, sometimes known as "strawberry." Golden tabby tigers have light gold fur, pale legs and faint orange stripes. Their fur tends to be much thicker than normal. There are extremely few golden tabby tigers in captivity, around 30 in all. Like white tigers, strawberries tigers are invariably at least part Other colour variations
There are also unconfirmed reports of a "blue" or slate-colored tiger, the Maltese Tiger, and largely or totally black tigers, and these are assumed, if real, to be intermittent mutations rather than distinct species. Behavior of Tiger
Territorial behavior
Tigers are essentially solitary and territorial animals. The size of a tiger's home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of male tigers, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 square kilometers while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60–100 km2. The ranges of males tend to overlap those of several females. The relationships between individuals can be quite complex, and it appears that there is no set "rule" that tigers follow with regards to territorial rights and infringing territories. For instance, although for the most part tigers avoid each other, both male and female tigers have been documented sharing kills. When young female tigers first establish a territory, they tend to do so fairly close to their mother's area. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory tends to wane with increasing time. Males, however, wander further than their female counterparts, and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male will acquire territory either by seeking out a range devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory, until he is old and strong enough to challenge the resident male. The highest mortality rate (30-35% per year) amongst adult tigers occurs for young male tigers that have just left their natal area, seeking out territories of their own. Hunting and diet
In the wild, tigers mostly feed on larger and medium sized animals. Sambar, gaur, chital, barasingha, wild boar, nilgai and both water buffalo and domestic buffalo are the tiger's favored prey in Tigers usually hunt at night. They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock large prey off balance. Even with their great masses, tigers can reach speeds of about 49-65 kilometers per hour (35-40 miles per hour), although they can only do so in short bursts, since they have relatively little stamina; consequently, tigers must be relatively close to their prey before they break their cover. Tigers have great leaping ability; horizontal leaps of up to 10 meters have been reported, although leaps of around half this amount are more typical. However, only one in twenty hunts ends in a successful kill. When hunting large prey, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their forelimbs to hold onto the prey, bringing it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its prey dies of strangulation. By this method, gaurs and water buffalos weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much. With small prey, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery. Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle, and break the backs of sloth bears.
Reproduction
Although there is no set mating season for tigers, breeding often occurs in the spring. The male may stay with the female for 20-80 days during this period, and then returns to its territory, never taking part in the rearing of the cubs. Gestation period is typically about 15 weeks. The female tiger, or Name
Here we go to know from where the Tiger got his name –
The word "tiger" is taken from the Greek word "tigris", which is possibly derived from a Persian source meaning "arrow", a reference to the animal's speed and also the origin for the name of the Tigris River Tigris
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Welcome Visitors,
A very warm heartily welcome to my blog. This blog is totally inspired by the campaign by Aircel initiatives to saves our tigers. This is my little bit to save our tigers. Tiger is a part of this charismatic planet and it is a God gifted earthily creature.
We're living in the 21st century and we're inventing or discovering various aspects. But on the same side we're demolishing our earth as well as its living beings. Nowadays we're all well known about some drastic topics such as "GLOBAL WARMING", "DE-FORESTATION", "MISUSE OF FUEL", and many more like this.
Do you & me ever think to question ourselves that who is responsible for all this mishaps or how to step forward to resolve those mishaps? Here I go.......It's my little attempt to all those mishaps. It's my pleasure to write this blog and make you attentive to save the tigers.
So who ever is visiting this site, this is my humble request to you all to do your little bit to save our tigers. To save our tigers, we've to know something in details to know our tiger. That's is all about this blog.For that we have to take initiative from today or rather I’ll say from now.
“Lets get together to save our national animal”
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