ENDANGERED SPECIES OF TIGERS

Endangered Species of Tigers

Endangered Species of Tigers

Introduction

Armed with razor like teeth and retractile claws in addition to their keen senses, tigers are silent assassins on top of the food chain. The magnificent striped panthera Tigris, originally from Eastern Asia, once ranged an enormous span of the earth's surface. Over the past century, it is estimated that the tigers habitat and numbers have been depleted by up to 95%. Having been greatly limited as a result of many factors, mainly human impacts, the tiger has been driven out from over 30 countries that it originally occupied. Within the past 60 years already three of the original eight subspecies of tigers have sadly become extinct. In his best selling book from 1944 "Man Eaters of the Kumanon", Jim Corbett wrote, "The tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage." (Nowak, 1999)

Endangered Species of Tigers

Unlike many of the other big cats, tigers prefer to live in densely covered areas where they are difficult to be spotted. The dark stripes that are unique to each individual tiger help disrupt their outline making it difficult for them to be spotted, the stripes also act as camouflage in this thick brush, allowing them to ambush their prey. As a result of their adaptability, they are able to occupy a variety of habitats and climates. In the Far Eastern portion of Russia, tigers can tolerate temperatures as low as -31 and up to 118 in the northern parts of India. (Nowak, 1999)

Although tigers are solitary, mainly for hunting purposes which will be explained later, this does not mean they are unsociable. Occasionally tigers do meet and greet one another and perhaps share a kill, but most of their communication is achieved by leaving scent marks. These marks are mainly a result of releasing chemicals found in their glands which have a distinct smell and can linger for several days after. While walking them continuously release these chemicals onto the ground from glands under their feet. Often they will spray or rub their body against tree trunks to convey messages as well. Although these smells tell us that a tiger has simply passed by, they reveal significant information about the tiger such as its sex, time since passage, (Nowak, 1999) reproductive status, and occupation of a particular area. Along with a handful of other "big cats" possessing a hyoid, a bone structure in the larynx, the tiger is able to produce an enormously loud roar, which is said to be chilling and possibly be heard up to two miles away. The purpose of this shocking roar is either for claiming its territory or attempting to attract a mate.

Tigers are the largest of the big cats, and although difficult to determine because of their eating patterns, they range in size typically from 220 lbs to 570 lbs and from nine to ten feet in length including the tail, which of course varies among the different subspecies. As suggested by ecologist John Seidensticker, the tigers ...