Tigers
And Other Animals
At the beginning of this centry it is estimated that there were 100,000 wild tigers, today the number is less than 8,000. Tigers are disappering in the wild. The main threats to tiges are poaching, habitat loss and population fragmentation.
There are 5 different types of tigers, the Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger, South China tiger, Sumatran tiger and the Indochinese tiger.
The Bengal tiger
The Bengal tiger occurs primarily throughout India, with smaller populations in southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and western Myanmar.The IUCN Cat Specialist Group reported a total of 3,250 to 4,700 Bengal tigers throughout the range in 1994. For several decades, the status of wild tigers in India has been estimated from the individual identification of pug marks (or footprints), a methodology that has been challenged on grounds of human error and manipulation. The first all-India census in 1971 produced a baseline figure of 1,800 tigers. Project Tiger and Wildlife Institute of India officials reported in subsequent censuses that tiger numbers increased to 4,334 in 1989. These estimates were disputed by Indian biologists, who suggested the number is much lower.
The Cat Specialist Group reported 2,750 to 3,750 Bengal tigers in India in 1994. These tigers are distributed among 66 protected areas, of which more than 20 fall under the umbrella of Project Tiger, a program based on total protection of tigers and conservation of selected habitats as reserves managed primarily for tigers. Another 150-250 tigers live in three protected areas in Nepal, 50-240 tigers are in four protected areas in Bhutan, about 300-460 tigers live in three protected areas in Bangladesh, and an unknown number of tigers remain in Myanmar. Although the wild Bengal tiger populations are considered more secure in India than other tiger subspecies found elsewhere in Asia, there exists the potential for rapid demise of wild populations through recently increased levels of poaching and poisoning.
The Siberian Tiger
In this century, the Siberian tiger (sometimes called the
Amur, Manchurian, or Northeast China tiger), has survived four
wars, two revolutions, and now an onslaught on its forests. Its
IUCN status is considered Critical, its numbers in the wild
fluctuating from a low of 24 tigers in the 1940s to IUCN
estimates of about 150 to 200 in 1994. There are three protected
areas for tigers in Russia-the Sikhote-Alin (3,470 km2), Lazovsky
(1,165 km2), and Kedrovaya Pad (178 km2) Reserves-inland from the
Sea of Japan in the Russian Far East.
Sightings of Siberian tigers in Changbaishan, near the Chinese border with North Korea,were reported in Chinese newspapers in 1990, and some are still
found along the Russian border. The Cat Specialist Group suggests
that there are probably fewer than 50 Siberian tigers in China.
Regardless of their authenticity, it is the tigers in Russia that
will define the future of the subspecies. The other sites are too
small to harbor tiger populations large enough for long-term
viability.
The survival of wild Siberian tigers will be linked to
securing and enlarging their current habitat and protecting them
from poachers. The Law of the Russian Federation on Environmental
Protection and Management of 1992 gave the Siberian tiger legal
protection. Despite this, poaching has received considerable
attention in the press, but the reports are rife with rumors.
Authorities admit that the killing of tigers is a new enterprise,
in part arising from on an unstable and worsening economic
situation for most people, open borders to China and Korea, and a
demand for tiger body parts for traditional Chinese medicine.
Many agencies and organizations are promoting efforts to assist
Russia in stopping the poaching on tigers and their prey, the
marketing of their skins and bones, and the loss of available
habitat.
Info on these tiger and the other tigers will come soon...
Some other cute animal.....
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