Captive tigers, such as those in zoos and sanctuaries, also play a role in conservation by raising awareness and contributing to breeding programs. However, the ultimate goal is to ensure that wild tiger populations can thrive in their natural habitats without human intervention. The Indo-Chinese (P. tigris corbetti), and Sumatran (P. tigris sumatrae) tigers are bright reddish tan, beautifully marked with dark, almost black, vertical stripes. The underparts, the inner sides of the limbs, the cheeks, and a large spot over each eye are whitish.
Conservation
A number of reasons account for this tiger behavior—disability caused by age or injury, paucity of prey, acquisition of the habit from the mother, or defense of cubs or a kill. With fewer than 4,000 wild tigers remaining worldwide today, the primary threats to wild tiger populations are habitat loss, poaching for tiger parts and human-wildlife conflict. You can find tiger parts, including tiger skins and bones, on the black market, driving illegal hunting despite international protections.
Locations and habitats
Cattle are occasionally taken from human habitations, and some tigers can thrive on domestic livestock. After making a kill and consuming what it can, the tiger makes a deliberate attempt to hide the carcass from vultures and other scavengers so that another meal can be obtained. Tigers are not averse to commandeering a kill from other tigers or from leopards, and they sometimes eat carrion. Skill in killing and obtaining prey is only partly instinctive, maternal training being essential for proficiency. For this reason, tigers raised in captivity would not fare well if released into the wild.
They range across Asia from Russia all the way to Sumatra and mainland Southeast Asia. Scientists still have much to learn about these beautiful, endangered cats. Tigers are highly territorial, and adult males will fiercely defend their territories from other males.
Despite this, communication — particularly in the form of grunts and roars — is important to tigers. Tigers live in several geographically distinct areas separated by large mountain ranges like the Himalayas, deserts, seas and grasslands. So, they do not often, if ever, travel from one distinct region to another. Over time, this has meant that there are slight genetic differences between these populations. This is a little bit of a contentious topic which is currently under review by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group.
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. As they grow, tiger cubs begin to explore their surroundings and learn essential survival skills from their mother.
Panthera tigris ssp. sumatrae
- Scientists still have much to learn about these beautiful, endangered cats.
- But they have exceptional eyesight and hearing, and can hunt in day or at night.
- Cub mortality is high, with only about half of wild tiger cubs surviving due to predation, disease and lack of food.
- Tigers’ most distinctive feature is their striped fur, which serves as camouflage in their natural habitats.
- China, the only country with three subspecies of tigers, is also giving special attention to conservation.
Tigers require large habitats, which means they come under pressure from human activity, such as farming and logging. Their home ranges vary from 20 sq km (7.7 sq miles), to about 400 sq km (154 sq miles).12 Per 100 sq km, there could be as many as 15 to 19 tigers.13 Females ranges are smaller than males. Tigers hunt using their stealthy skills and stripey coats, which camouflage them in the forest.
White tigers, not all of them true albinos, supplies in accounting have occurred from time to time, almost all of them in India (see also albinism). Black tigers have been reported less frequently, from the dense forests of Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, and eastern India. The tiger has no mane, but in old males the hair on the cheeks is rather long and spreading. Although most classifications separate the species into six subspecies, some merge subspecies or suggest that two tiger species exist, P. tigris on the mainland of Asia and P. sondaica of Java, Bali, and Sumatra. 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.
How to spot a tiger before it finds you
Male cubs grow more quickly than females and tend to leave their mother earlier. Though cub infanticide (mainly by males) is known, it is not very unusual to find a male with a tigress and cubs, even sharing a kill. Tigers are ambush predators that rely on stealth and strength to take down prey.
Tiger
They mark their territories with scent, like their smaller domestic cousins. But they have exceptional eyesight and hearing, and can hunt in day or at night. Efforts to conserve tigers have grown in recent decades, with governments, NGOs, and communities working together to preserve this magnificent animal. Tigers are carnivores, with a diet primarily consisting of large prey. Their hunting success depends on their ability to remain undetected until the moment of attack.
- Nevertheless, tiger skins are still highly valued for display and for worship, as are claws, teeth, and clavicles for talismans.
- In human care, or on rare occasions in the wild, a tiger can live up to 20 years.
- The life span of tigers in the wild is usually between 10 and 15 years.
- Each tiger maintains a large territory, which it marks with scent markings and scratch marks on trees.
The tiger is an apex predator and preys mainly on ungulates, which it takes by ambush. It lives a mostly solitary life and occupies home ranges, defending these from individuals of the same sex. The range of a male tiger overlaps with that of multiple females with whom he mates. Females give birth to usually two or three cubs that stay with their mother for about two years. When becoming independent, they leave their mother’s home range and establish their own.
These tigers have adapted by developing thicker fur and larger body sizes, which help them retain heat and conserve energy during the harsh winters. Female tigers are responsible for raising their cubs alone, and the bond between a mother and her cubs is strong during the early years. Cub mortality is high, with only about half of wild tiger cubs surviving due to predation, disease and lack of food. In the last century, tigers have become extinct in Singapore, Bali, Java, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Since 1999, the wild tiger population has decreased somewhere between 22% and 63%, and their range has contracted by about 50% in that time.19 Tigers now occupy less than 7% of their historical range.
The first is a rise in agriculture and overgrazing by farmers, which drives away typical prey for tigers and forces them to hunt livestock. 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.
Tiger populations occupy about 5 percent of their historical range, making conservation necessary. Tigers haunt the ruins of buildings such as courts and temples and are at home in habitats ranging from dry grassland to rainforest. Grasslands, mixed grassland-forests, and deciduous rather than densely canopied forests support maximum population densities, as these habitats maintain the highest number of prey species.
Will tigers become even more endangered?
These conflicts are not unique to Asia and are common as humans encroach upon the territory of large predators around the world. In the U.S., cougars in the western parts of the country have faced similar threats. These powerful cats hunt primarily at night, using sight and sound to identify prey.
Skulls, bones, whiskers, sinews, meat, and blood have long been used by Asians, especially the Chinese, in medicines, potions, and even wine. Poaching and the underground trade in tiger parts continue despite seizures and destruction of the confiscated parts. However, cubs may fall prey to leopards, jackals, or other large predators if left unprotected by the tigress. As a member of the GTI, SCBI scientists work with policy makers and practitioners across Asia and around the world to save tigers. Pregnancy lasts for 100 days or more, and on average females have two cubs per litter.10 However, almost half of cubs die before they are 12 months old. Humans are the main cause of death for tiger cubs.11 Female tigers wait on average two years between each litter.
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. Born blind and helpless, tigers rely entirely on their mother for warmth, protection and nourishment. The first few months are critical as cub mortality is high, and many do not survive to adulthood due to predation, disease and competition for food.
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 also victims of human–wildlife conflict as they attack and prey on livestock in areas where natural prey is scarce. National conservation measures consist of action plans, anti-poaching patrols and schemes for monitoring tiger populations. In several range countries, wildlife corridors have been established and tiger reintroduction is planned. The tiger usually hunts by night and preys on a variety of animals, but it prefers fairly large prey, such as deer (sambar, chital, and swamp deer) and wild pigs. A special liking for porcupines, despite the danger of injury from their quills, is an exception. Healthy large mammals are generally avoided, although there have been recorded instances of the tiger’s having attacked elephants and adult water buffalo.