It is said that Where tigers thrive, it is a sign that the ecosystem is healthy. International Tiger Day is celebrated on 29 July annually to promote the protection of natural habitat of tigers and to increase awareness about the conservation of tiger. International Tiger Day is also known as Global Tiger Day. International Tiger Day was established in 2010 at Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia to raise awareness about the decline of wild tiger numbers, leaving them in the brink of extinction and to encourage the work of Tiger conservation. In the Summit, a declaration was made that Governments of tiger populated countries had vowed to double tiger population by 2020. The largest species of cat in the world, tigers are powerful hunters with sharp teeth, strong jaws and agile bodies. They range across Asia from Russia all the way to the Sumatra and Indochina. Researchers still have much to learn about these beautiful, critically endangered, solitary cats.
There is currently one recognized species of tiger, Panthera tigris. Scientists have further classified the tiger into nine subspecies: the extinct Bali, Caspian and Javan subspecies, and the living Malayan, Sumatran, South China, Indochinese, Bengal and Amur (or Siberian) subspecies. Of these six subspecies, AZA-accredited zoos currently manage three: Amur, Malayan and Sumatran. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is home to Sumatran and Amur tigers.
Physical Description
Tigers have reddish-orange coats with prominent black stripes, white bellies and white spots on their ears. Like a human fingerprint, no two tigers have the exact same markings. Because of this, researchers can use stripe patterns to identify different individuals when studying tigers in the wild. Tigers are powerful hunters with sharp teeth, strong jaws and agile bodies. They are the largest terrestrial mammal whose diet consists entirely of meat. The tiger’s closest relative is the lion. In fact, without fur, it is difficult to distinguish a tiger from a lion.
Size
Tigers are the largest cat species in the world, and the Amur tiger is the largest subspecies with males weighing up to 660 pounds (300 kilograms) and measuring 10 feet (3 meters). Sumatran tigers are the smallest subspecies, maxing out at 310 pounds (140 kilograms) and 8 feet (2.4 meters). Female tigers of all subspecies tend to be smaller than their male counterparts.
Native Habitat
Historically, tigers existed throughout much of Eastern and Southern Asia, as well as in parts of Central and Western Asia and the Middle East, surrounding the Caspian Sea. Their range has diminished significantly as human populations have expanded. It is believed they currently occupy just 7 percent of their historic range.
Presently, tigers are found in a variety of habitats across South and Southeast Asia, China and Eastern Russia. They thrive in temperate, tropical or evergreen forests, mangrove swamps and grasslands. Amur tigers are primarily found in Far-East Russia, although there are small populations across the border into China and potentially North Korea. Sumatran tigers are found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A tiger’s range within these regions is determined by the availability of prey.
Communication
Despite their solitary nature, communication is a very important part of tigers’ behavioral ecology. They communicate through vocalizations, such as roaring, grunting and chuffing, and through signals, such as scent marking and scratches on trees. Tigers are fiercely territorial animals, so these signals are particularly important to communicating where one tiger’s home range ends and another’s begins.Food/Eating Habits
Tigers are solitary ambush predators that rely on stealth and strength to take down prey. These apex predators primarily hunt large ungulates, such as wild boar and deer, but are also known to consume monkeys, buffalo, sloth bears, leopards and even crocodiles. When tigers are found in close proximity to humans, they may also feed on domestic animals, such as cattle or goats. Tigers are adept swimmers and have even been recorded hunting in the wild.
These powerful cats hunt primarily at night, using sight and sound to identify prey. Their striped coats help them blend into their surroundings, where they lie in wait for prey to pass by. At the opportune moment, tigers pounce on their prey, take it to the ground and finish the kill by breaking or biting the neck. Tigers hunt about once a week and consume as much as 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food in one night.
At the Zoo, tigers eat ground beef, and their diet is supplemented with enrichment items each week. They receive knucklebones or cow femurs twice a week and rabbits once a week to exercise their jaws and keep their teeth healthy.
Social Structure
Tigers are solitary creatures, except when mating or raising young. Cubs stay with their mothers until they learn to hunt successfully, usually at about 18 to 24 months old. They reach full independence after two to three years, at which point they disperse to find their own territory. Female tigers often remain near their mother’s’ territory, while males disperse farther from home.
Reproduction and Development
Female tigers reach sexual maturity between age 3 and 4. Males are sexually mature at about 4 or 5 years old. Mating can occur at any time of year but most often takes place during cooler months between November and April. Tigers are induced ovulators, which means females will not release eggs until mating occurs. Gestation lasts approximately 100 days, and females give birth to between one and seven offspring at a time, averaging between two and four cubs. Once cubs become independent, at about age 2, females are ready to give birth again. However, if a female’s offspring do not survive, due to causes such as infanticide or starvation, she is able to conceive another litter right away.
Lifespan
The life span of tigers in the wild is usually between 10 and 15 years. In human care, or on rare occasions in the wild, a tiger can live up to 20 years. However, approximately half of all wild tiger cubs do not survive past the first two years of life. Only 40 percent of those that reach independence actually live to establish a territory and produce young. The risk of mortality remains high for adult tigers due to their territorial nature, which often results in direct competition with conspecifics, or members of the same species.
Tigers are a part of our planets’ natural heritage‘ they also have a great cultural and historical significance. No doubt they are also crucial for the ecosystems in which they live. We can’t ignore that tigers not only protect the forest by maintaining ecological integrity but also they bring highest levels of protection and investment to an area. Therefore, we call them as “umbrella species” that is their conservation also conserve many other species in the same area.
So, protect and conserve tigers!
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