TIGERS
Panthera tigris
Conservation status: ENDANGERED (IUCN Red List)
Population: Global: ~3,726-5,578 individuals, with a best estimate of 4,485 (~2,608-3,905 mature individuals, with a best estimate of 3,140); last assessed by IUCN in 2021. India: ~3,682 tigers are found in India; according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s Status of Tigers: Co-Predators and Prey in India 2022 report.
ABOUT TIGERS
Information courtesy of Born Free:
Tigers are a keystone species, meaning they have a significant impact on the environment that they live in.
As top predators, they help to maintain herbivore populations, reducing disease and preventing overgrazing. As they need so much space, protecting tigers and their habitats means that we can protect many other species.
Tigers are the largest cat on earth. There are six surviving subspecies, the Siberian tiger, the Southern China tiger (although possibly extinct in the wild), the Indochinese tiger, the Malayan tiger, the Sumatran tiger and the Bengal tiger. They are agile, with flexible bodies designed for running, jumping and climbing. Heavily muscled forelimbs, retractable claws, powerful jaws, sharp teeth and acute senses make them incredible hunters.
Tigers have a reddish-orange to yellow-ochre coat with a white belly and black stripes and their distinctive markings blend into the colours and shadows of their habitat, providing excellent camouflage. Although tiger size varies widely between subspecies and where they live, male tigers tend to be much larger than females. Read more here: bornfree.org.uk/animals/tigers
THREATS TO TIGERS
Habitat Loss
Tiger populations are on the brink of extinction in many countries in South East Asia, due, largely, to habitat loss. This is the result of rapid human population expansion and the related increases in mining, logging, farming, palm oil plantations, settlements, roads and railways. As tiger habitats have split and separated, inbreeding has become more common, which also contributes to the decline in numbers.
Human-tiger Conflict
Throughout their range, tigers find themselves in conflict with farmers that persecute them for killing their livestock. People have also been attacked and killed by tigers, which has further fuelled retaliatory killings and low tolerance for the animals. Many large tracts of forest are now empty of wild prey and livestock are, increasingly, competing with tigers and their prey for habitat, further driving tiger numbers down.
Poaching and the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Poaching and the exploitation of tigers in tiger farms for their skins as luxury rugs and home décor, and for their bones which are used to make traditional Asian medicines and health tonics, is a significant threat. Indiscriminate snaring and poison traps, often set for hunting small animals for bushmeat, inevitably end up injuring or killing tigers, contributing to their decline.
Captivity
Tigers are also exploited and abused in captivity – in circuses, zoos, tiger farms and in people’s private collections of wild animals as pets.