;;;HaNassi Blvd 129, Haifa, Israel +1 919453014811:::::You have created 6 out of 298045440 options. To create more options click here

You have created 6 out of 298045440



To create more options click here















:) :)




Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world’s charismatic megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancientmythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature. They appear on many flags, coats of arms, and asmascots for sporting teams. The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea.

Taxonomy and etymology




The word Panthera is probably of Oriental origin and retraceable to the Ancient Greek word panther, the Latin word panthera, the Old French word pantere, most likely meaning “the yellowish animal”, or from pandarah meaning whitish-yellow. The derivation from Greekpan- (“all”) and ther (“beast”) may be folk etymology.[6]

The specific epithet, tigris, as well as the common name, tiger, come from the Middle English tigre and the Old English tigras (a plural word), both used for the animal.[7] These derive from the Old French tigre, itself a derivative of the Latin word tigris and the Greek wordtigris. The original source may have been the Persian tigra meaning pointed or sharp and the Avestan tigrhi meaning an arrow, perhaps referring to the speed with which a tiger launches itself at its prey.[8]


Tiger phylogenetic relationships


The tiger’s closest living relatives were previously thought to be the lion, leopard and jaguar, all of which are classified under the genus Panthera. Genetic analysis indicates that the tiger and thesnow leopard diverged from the other Panthera species about 2.88 million years ago, and that both species may be more closely related to each other than to the lion, leopard and jaguar.[9][10]










Surviving subspecies of tiger
Subspecies Description Image
Bengal tiger(P. t. tigris), also called the Indian tiger Lives in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, and is the most common subspecies. In 2011, the total adult population was estimated at 1,520–1,909 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 155 in Nepal and 75 in Bhutan.[15] In 2014, the population in India was estimated at 2,226,[16] and 103 in Bhutan as of 2015.[17] It lives in alluvial grasslands, subtropical and tropical rainforests, scrub forests, wet and dry deciduous forests, and mangroves. It is the second-largest of the surviving subspecies. Males attain a total nose-to-tail length of 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in) and weigh between 180 to 258 kg (397 to 569 lb), while females range from 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in) and 100 to 160 kg (220 to 350 lb).[18][19] In northern India and Nepal, the average is larger; males can weigh up to 235 kilograms (518 lb), while females average 140 kilograms (310 lb).[20] Coat colour varies from light yellow to reddish yellow with black stripes.[21] Tigerramki.jpg
Indochinese tiger (P. t. corbetti), also calledCorbett’stiger Is found in Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2010 the total population was estimated at about 350 individuals.[22]Their preferred habitat is forests in mountainous or hilly regions.[18] Males average 108 inches (270 cm) in total length and weigh between 150–195 kg (331–430 lb), while females average 96 inches (240 cm) and 100–130 kg (220–290 lb).[23] Panthera tigris corbetti (Tierpark Berlin) 832-714-(118).jpg
Malayan tiger (P. t. jacksoni) Exclusively found in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula. Was not considered a subspecies in its own right until a 2004 genetic analysis showed that they are distinct in mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences from the Indochinese subspecies.[24] As of 2014 the total population is estimated at fewer than 500 individuals,[25] though a new report from September that year estimated it at between 250 and 340 individuals.[26] Males range in total length from 190–280 cm (75–110 in) and weigh between 47.2 to 129.1 kg (104 to 285 lb), while females range from 180–260 cm (71–102 in) and 24 to 88 kg (53 to 194 lb).[27] Tiger in the water.jpg
Siberian tiger (P. t. altaica), also known as theAmur tiger Inhabits the AmurUssuri region of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai in far eastern Siberia, with the exception of a small population in Hunchun National Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve in northeastern China, near the border of North Korea.[28][29] In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Siberian tigers in the region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. As of 2015, there an estimated population of 480-540 individuals in the Russian Far East.[30][31][32] It is the largest subspecies and ranks among the largest felids ever to have existed. Males have a head and body length of between 190–230 cm (75–91 in) and weigh between 180 to 306 kg (397 to 675 lb), while females average 160–180 cm (63–71 in) and 100 to 167 kg (220 to 368 lb). Tail length is about 60–110 cm (24–43 in).[18] Compared to other subspecies, Siberian tigers have thicker coats, paler hues, and fewer stripes in dark brown instead of black.[21][33][34] Siberian Tiger sf.jpg
South China tiger (P. t. amoyensis), also known as the Amoyor Xiamen tiger Is the most critically endangered subspecies of tiger, and one of the 10 most endangered animals in the world.[34] Despite unconfirmed reports and some evidence of footprints, there has been no confirmed wild sighting in over 25 years, leading experts to consider it “functionally extinct”, with the entire known population of roughly 65+ individuals held in captivity.[35][36] It is the second-smallest subspecies. Males range in total length from 230–260 cm (91–102 in) and weigh between 130 to 180 kg (290 to 400 lb), while females range from 220–240 cm (87–94 in) and 100 to 110 kg (220 to 240 lb). The South China tiger is considered to be the most ancient of the tiger subspecies and is distinguished by a particularly narrow skull, long muzzle nose, rhombus-like stripes and vivid orange colour.[34] 2012 Suedchinesischer Tiger.JPG
Sumatran tiger (P. t. sumatrae) Found only on the island of Sumatra, and is thus the last surviving of the three Indonesian island subspecies. Listed as a distinct subspecies as of 1998, when genetic testing revealed the presence of unique genetic markers, and is critically endangered.[37] As of 2014 the wild population is estimated at between 400 and 500, seen chiefly in the island’s national parks.[38][39] It is the smallest of all living tigers. Males range in total length from 220 to 255 cm (87 to 100 in) and weigh between 100 to 140 kg (220 to 310 lb), while females range between 215 to 230 cm (85 to 91 in) and 75 to 110 kg (165 to 243 lb).[18] Their reduced size is an adaptation to the thick, dense forests and smaller prey in their native habitat. This subspecies also has the darkest coat, with more narrowly spaced stripes and a longer mane and beard.[33][34] Panthera tigris sumatran subspecies.jpg
Extinct subspecies of tiger
Subspecies Description Image
Bali tiger (P. t. balica) Was limited to the Indonesian island of Bali. Had a weight of 90–100 kg (200–220 lb) in males and 65–80 kg (143–176 lb) in females.[40] Bali tigers were hunted to extinction; the last Bali tiger, an adult female, is thought to have been killed at Sumbar Kima, West Bali, on 27 September 1937, though there were unconfirmed reports that villagers found a tiger corpse in 1963.[41] The Bali tiger is reported to have had some spots in between its stripes.[34] BaronOscarVojnich3Nov1911Ti.jpg
Caspian tiger (P. t. virgata), also known as the Hyrcanian tiger orTuran tiger Was found in the sparse forest habitats and riverine corridors west and south of the Caspian Sea and east through Central Asiainto the Takla-Makan desert of Xinjiang, and had been recorded in the wild until the early 1970s.[42] The Siberian tiger is the genetically closest living relative of the Caspian tiger.[43] Panthera tigris virgata.jpg
Javan tiger (P. t. sondaica) Was limited to the island of Java, and had been recorded until the mid-1970s.[44] Javan tigers were larger than Bali tigers; males weighed 100–141 kg (220–311 lb) and females 75–115 kg (165–254 lb).[45] After 1979, no more sightings were confirmed in the region of Mount Betiri.[46] An expedition to Mount Halimun Salak National Park in 1990 did not yield any definite, direct evidence for the continued existence of tigers.[47] Panthera tigris sondaica 01.jpg



Further information: Panthera hybrid, Liger and Tigon


The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress.[51] Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the femaletiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Maleligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but, even if they do, their manes will be only around half the size of that of a pure lion. Ligers are typically between 10 and 12 feet in length, and can weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds or more.[51]







Though similar to a lion’s, the lower jaw structure is a reliable indicator of the species.

Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful forelimbs, large heads and long tails. The pelage is dense and heavy; colouration varies between shades of orange and brown with white ventral areas and distinctive vertical black stripes, whose patterns are unique to each individual.[18][53] Their function is likely for camouflage in vegetation such as long grass with strong vertical patterns of light and shade.[53][54] The tiger is one of only a few striped cat species; it is not known why spotted patterns and rosettes are the more common camouflage pattern among felids.[55] The tiger’s stripes are also found on the skin, so that if it were to be shaved, its distinctive coat pattern would still be visible. They have a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow irises. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black.[18]These false “eyespots”, called ocelli, apparently play an important role in intraspecies communication.[56]





Tigers are the most variable in size of all big cats, much more so than lions.[59] The Bengal and Siberian subspecies are the tallest at the shoulder and thus considered the largest living felids, ranking with the extinct Caspian tiger among the biggest that ever existed.[60] An average adult male tiger from Northern India or Siberia outweighs an average adult male lion by around 45.5 kg (100 lb).[59] Males vary in total length from 250 to 390 cm (98 to 154 in) and weigh between 90 to 306 kg (198 to 675 lb) with skull length ranging from 316 to 383 mm (12.4 to 15.1 in). Females vary in total length from 200 to 275 cm (79 to 108 in), weigh 65 to 167 kg (143 to 368 lb) with skull length ranging from 268 to 318 mm (10.6 to 12.5 in).[61] In either sex, the tail represents about 0.6 to 1.1 m (24 to 43 in) of total length.[18]

Body size of different populations seems to be correlated with climate—Bergmann’s rule—and can be explained by thermoregulation.[18] Large male Siberian tigers can reach a total length of more than 3.5 m (11.5 ft) over curves and 3.3 m (10.8 ft) between pegs, and can weigh up to 306 kg (675 lb). This is considerably larger than the weight of 75 to 140 kg (165 to 309 lb) reached by the smallest living subspecies, theSumatran tiger. At the shoulder, tigers may variously stand 0.7 to 1.22 m (2.3 to 4.0 ft) tall.[40] The current record weight in the wild was 389 kg (858 lb) for a Bengal tiger shot in 1967.[60][62]

They are a notably sexually dimorphic species, females being consistently smaller than males. The size difference between males and females is proportionally greater in the larger tiger subspecies, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than females.[63] Males also have wider forepaw pads than females, enabling gender to be told from tracks.[63]

Colour variations


A well-known allele found only in the Bengal subspecies produces the white tiger, a colour variant first recorded in the early 19th century and found in an estimated one in 10,000 natural births. Genetically, whiteness is recessive: a cub is white only when both parents carry the allele for whiteness.[64] It is not albinism, pigment being evident in the white tiger’s stripes and in their blue eyes.[53] The causative mutation changes a single amino acid in the transporter proteinSLC45A2.[65]


Another recessive gene creates the “golden” or “golden tabby” colour variation, sometimes known as “strawberry”.Golden tigers have thicker than usual light-gold fur, pale legs, and faint orange stripes. Few golden tigers are kept in captivity; they are invariably at least part Bengal. Some golden tigers carry the white tiger gene,[67] and when two such tigers are mated, they can produce some stripeless white offspring. Although a “pseudo-melanistic” effect—wide stripes that partially obscure the orange background—has been seen in some pelts, no true black tigers have been authenticated, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846. These wholly or partially melanistic tigers, if they exist, are assumed to be intermittent mutations rather than a distinct species.[68][69] There are further unconfirmed reports of a “blue” or slate-coloured variant, the Maltese tiger. However, while some felids do exhibit this colouration as a solid coat, there is no known genetic configuration that would result in black stripes on a blue-gray background.[68]

Distribution and habitat

Historical distribution




Biology and behaviour

Tigers are comfortable in water, and frequently bathe.

Social activity


Unlike many felids, tigers are strong swimmers and often deliberately bathe in ponds, lakes and rivers as a means of keeping cool in the heat of the day. Among the big cats, only the jaguar shares a similar fondness for water.[74] They may cross rivers up to 7 km (4.3 mi) across and can swim up to 29 km (18 mi) in a day.[58] They are able to carry prey through or capture it in the water.

Young female tigers establish their first territories close to their mother’s. The overlap between the female and her mother’s territory reduces with time. Males, however, migrate further than their female counterparts and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male acquires territory either by seeking out an area devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male’s territory until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Young males seeking to establish themselves thereby comprise the highest mortality rate (30–35% per year) amongst adult tigers.[75]

Male tiger marking his territory



To identify his territory, the male marks trees by spraying urine[76][77] and anal gland secretions, as well as marking trails with scat and marking trees or the ground with their claws. Females also use these “scrapes”, as well as urine and scat markings. Scent markings of this type allow an individual to pick up information on another’s identity, sex and reproductive status. Females in oestrus will signal their availability by scent marking more frequently and increasing their vocalizations.[78]


A dominant tigress they called Padmini killed a 250 kg (550 lb) male nilgai – a very large antelope. They found her at the kill just after dawn with her three 14-month-old cubs and they watched uninterrupted for the next ten hours. During this period the family was joined by two adult females and one adult male, all offspring from Padmini’s previous litters, and by two unrelated tigers, one female the other unidentified. By three o’clock there were no fewer than nine tigers round the kill.


Male tigers are generally more intolerant of other males within their territories than females are of other females. Territory disputes are usually solved by displays of intimidation rather than outright aggression. Several such incidents have been observed in which the subordinate tiger yielded defeat by rolling onto its back and showing its belly in a submissive posture.[82] Once dominance has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not live in too close quarters.[75] The most aggressive disputes tend to occur between two males when a female is in oestrus, and may rarely result in the death of one of the males.[75][82]

Young male showing flehmen response while sniffing urine marking

Facial expressions include the “defense threat”, where an individual bares its teeth, flattens its ears and its pupils enlarge. Both males and females show a flehmen response, a characteristic grimace, when sniffing urine markings but flehmen is more often associated with males detecting the markings made by tigresses in oestrus. Like other Panthera, tigers roar, particularly in aggressive situations, during the mating season or when making a kill. There are two different roars: the “true” roar is made using the hyoid apparatus and forced through an open mouth as it progressively closes, and the shorter, harsher “coughing” roar is made with the mouth open and teeth exposed. The “true” roar can be heard at up to 3 km (1.9 mi) away and is sometimes emitted three or four times in succession. When tense, tigers will moan, a sound similar to a roar but more subdued and made when the mouth is partially or completely closed. Moaning can be heard 400 m (1,300 ft) away.[18] Chuffing, soft, low-frequency snorting similar to purring in smaller cats, is heard in more friendly situations.[83]Other vocal communications include grunts, woofs, snarls, miaows, hisses and growls.[18]

Tigers have been studied in the wild using a variety of techniques. The populations of tigers have been estimated using plaster casts of their pugmarks, although this method was criticised as being inaccurate.[84] More recent attempts have been made using camera trapping and studies on DNA from their scat, while radio collaring has been used to track tigers in the wild.[85] Tiger spray has been found to be just as good, or better, as a source of DNA as scat.[86]

Hunting and diet


Tiger dentition (above) andAsian black bear (below). The large canines make the killing bite; the carnassials tear flesh.

In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized animals, preferring native ungulates weighing at least 90 kg (200 lb).[87][88] They typically have little or no deleterious effect on their prey populations.[58]Sambar deer, chital, barasingha, wild boar, gaur, nilgai and both water buffalo and domestic buffalo, in descending order of preference, are the tiger’s favoured prey in Tamil Nadu, India,[87] while gaur and sambar are the preferred prey and constitute the main diet of tigers in other parts of India.[89][90] They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, sloth bears, and crocodiles. In Siberia, the main prey species are Manchurian wapiti and wild boar (the two species comprising nearly 80% of the prey selected) followed by sika deer, moose, roe deer, and musk deer.[91] Asiatic black bears and Ussuri brown bears may also fall prey to tigers,[40][92][93] and they constitute up to 40.7% of the diet of Siberian tigers depending on local conditions and the bear populations.[94] In Sumatra, prey include sambar deer,muntjac, wild boar, Malayan tapir and orangutan.[95][96] In the former Caspian tiger’s range, prey includedsaiga antelope, camels, Caucasian wisent, yak, and wild horses. Like many predators, tigers are opportunistic and may eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines, and fish.[87]

Tiger standing over a recently killed antelope

Bengal tiger devouring a pangolin

Tigers generally do not prey on fully grown adult Asian elephants and Indian rhinoceros but incidents have been reported.[97][98] More often, it is the more vulnerable small calves that are taken.[99] Tigers have been reported attacking and killing elephants ridden by humans during tiger hunts in the 19th century.[100] When in close proximity to humans, tigers will also sometimes prey on such domestic livestock as cattle, horses, and donkeys.[101] Old or wounded tigers, unable to catch wild prey, can become man-eaters; this pattern has recurred frequently across India. An exception is in the Sundarbans, where healthy tigers prey upon fishermen and villagers in search of forest produce, humans thereby forming a minor part of the tiger’s diet.[102] Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre. The fruit of the slow match tree is a favorite.[101]

Tigers are thought to be mainly nocturnal predators,[103] but in areas where humans are typically absent, they have been observed via remote-controlled, hidden cameras, hunting in daylight.[104] They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth.[58] Despite their large size, tigers can reach speeds of about 49–65 km/h (30–40 mph) but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover. If the prey catches wind of the tiger’s presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than chase prey or battle it head-on. Horizontal leaps of up to 10 m (33 ft) have been reported, although leaps of around half this distance are more typical. One in 2 to 20 hunts, including stalking near potential prey, ends in a successful kill.[58][105][106]

When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their powerful forelimbs to hold onto the prey, often simultaneously wrestling it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its target dies of strangulation.[56] By this method, gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much.[107] Although they can kill healthy adults, tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species.[108] Healthy adult prey of this type can be dangerous to tackle, as long, strong horns, legs and tusks are all potentially fatal to the tiger. No other extant land predator routinely takes on prey this large on their own.[109][110] Whilst hunting sambars, which comprise up to 60% of their prey in India, tigers have reportedly made a passable impersonation of the male sambar’s rutting call to attract them.[87][101] With smaller prey, such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery.[111] Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle,[101] and break the backs of sloth bears.[112]

During the 1980s, a tiger named “Genghis” in Ranthambhore National Park was observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water, a pattern of behaviour that had not previously been witnessed in over 200 years of observations. Moreover, he appeared to be unusually successful, with 20% of hunts ending in a kill.[113]


Interaction with other predators


Tigers usually prefer to eat prey they have caught themselves, but are not above eating carrion in times of scarcity and may even pirateprey from other large carnivores. Although predators typically avoid one another, if a prey item is under dispute or a serious competitor is encountered, displays of aggression are common. If these are not sufficient, the conflicts may turn violent; tigers may kill competitors asleopards, dholes, striped hyenas, wolves, bears, pythons and crocodiles on occasion. Tigers may also prey on these competitors.[40][112][114][115][116][117] Attacks on smaller predators, such as badgers, lynxes, and foxes, are almost certainly predatory.[87]Crocodiles, bears and large packs of dholes may win conflicts against tigers and in some cases even kill them.[40][118][119][120]

The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey.[121] In India’s Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from 30 to 175 kg (66 to 386 lb) against a preference for prey weighing over 176 kg (388 lb) in the tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was 37.6 kg (83 lb) against 91.5 kg (202 lb).[122] With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna (where the leopard may coexist with the lion).[122]Lone golden jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with tigers. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will attach themselves to a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat’s kills.[123]


Tigress with her cub

Mating can occur all year round, but is more common between November and April.[58] A female is only receptive for three to six days.Mating is frequent and noisy during that time. Gestation can range from 93 to 112 days, the average being 105 days.[58] The litter is usually two or three cubs, occasionally as few as one or as many as six. Cubs weigh from 680 to 1,400 g (1.50 to 3.09 lb) each at birth, and are born blind and helpless.[58] The females rear them alone, with the birth site and maternal den in a sheltered location such as a thicket, cave or rocky crevice. The father generally takes no part in rearing them. Unrelated wandering male tigers may kill cubs to make the female receptive, since the tigress may give birth to another litter within five months if the cubs of the previous litter are lost.[58] The mortality rate of tiger cubs is about 50% in the first two years.[58] Few other predators attack tiger cubs due to the diligence and ferocity of the mother tiger. Apart from humans and other tigers, common causes of cub mortality are starvation, freezing, and accidents.[110]


Conservation efforts

Main article: Tiger conservation
Tiger populations
Country Estimate
Bangladesh Bangladesh 440
Bhutan Bhutan 103
Cambodia Cambodia 20
China China 45
India India 2,226
Indonesia Indonesia 500
Laos Laos 17
Malaysia Malaysia 500
Myanmar Myanmar 85
Nepal Nepal 198
North Korea North Korea n/a
Russia Russia 540
Thailand Thailand 200
Vietnam Vietnam 20
Total 5,219

The tiger is an endangered species.[124] Poaching for fur and body parts and destruction of habitat have simultaneously greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the wild, but the population has dwindled outside of captivity to between 1,500 and 3,500.[125][126] Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation andpoaching.[1] Demand for tiger parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine has also been cited as a major threat to tiger populations.[127][128] Some estimates suggest that there are fewer than 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals.[1] The global wild tiger population was estimated by the World Wide Fund for Nature at 3,200 in 2011.[129] The exact number of wild tigers is unknown, as many estimates are outdated or are educated guesses; few estimates are based on reliable scientific censuses. The table shows estimates per country according to IUCN and range country governments.[124] The Wildlife Conservation Society and Panthera Corporationformed the collaboration Tigers Forever, with field sites including the world’s largest tiger reserve, the 21,756 km2 (8,400 sq mi) Hukaung Valley in Myanmar. Other reserves were in the Western Ghats, in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, the Russian Far East and China, covering in total about 260,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi).[130]

India is home to the world’s largest population of wild tigers[131] but only 11% of the original Indian tiger habitat remains, and it has become fragmented and degraded.[132][133] From 1973, India’s Project Tiger, started by Indira Gandhi, established over 25 tiger reserves in reclaimed land, where human development was forbidden. The project was credited with tripling the number of wild Bengal tigers from some 1,200 in 1973 to over 3,500 in the 1990s, but a 2007 census showed that numbers had dropped back to about 1,400 tigers because of poaching.[134] Following the report, the Indian government pledged $153 million to the initiative, set up measures to combat poaching, promised funds to relocate up to 200,000 villagers in order to reduce human-tiger interactions,[135] and set up eight new tiger reserves.[136] India also reintroduced tigers to theSariska Tiger Reserve[137] and by 2009 it was claimed that poaching had been effectively countered at Ranthambore National Park.[138] A 2014 census estimated a population of 2,226, a 30% increase since 2011.[16]

In the 1940s, the Siberian tiger was on the brink of extinction with only about 40 animals remaining in the wild in Russia. As a result, anti-poaching controls were put in place by the Soviet Union and a network of protected zones (zapovedniks) were instituted, leading to a rise in the population to several hundred. Poaching again became a problem in the 1990s, when the economy of Russia collapsed. The major obstacle in preserving the species is the enormous territory individual tigers require (up to 450 km2 needed by a single female and more for a single male).[139] Current conservation efforts are led by local governments and NGO‘s in concert with international organisations, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Wildlife Conservation Society.[140] The competitive exclusion of wolves by tigers has been used by Russian conservationists to convince hunters to tolerate the big cats. Tigers have less impact on ungulate populations than do wolves, and are effective in controlling the latter’s numbers.[141] In 2005, there were thought to be about 360 animals in Russia, though these exhibited little genetic diversity.[30] However, in a decade later, the Siberian tiger census was estimated from 480 to 540 individuals.

Camera trap image of wild Sumatran tiger

Having earlier rejected the Western-led environmentalist movement, China changed its stance in the 1980s and became a party to theCITES treaty. By 1993 it had banned the trade in tiger parts, and this diminished the use of tiger bones in traditional Chinese medicine.[142]After this, the Tibetan people‘s trade in tiger skins became a relatively more important threat to tigers. The pelts were used in clothing, tiger-skin chuba being worn by singers and participants in horse racing festivals, and had become status symbols. In 2004, international conservation organizations launched successful environmental propaganda campaigns in China against the Tibetan tiger skin trade. There was outrage in India, where many Tibetans live, and the 14th Dalai Lama was persuaded to take up the issue. Since then there has been a change of attitude, with some Tibetans publicly burning their chubas.[143]


A rewilded South China tiger hunting blesbok in South Africa.

Rewilding and reintroducing

In 1978, the Indian conservationist Billy Arjan Singh attempted to rewild a tiger in Dudhwa National Park; this was the captive-bred tigress Tara.[147] Soon after the release, numerous people were killed and eaten by a tigress that was subsequently shot. Government officials claimed it was Tara, though Singh disputed this. Further controversy broke out with the discovery that Tara was partly Siberian tiger.[148][149][150][151]

The organisation Save China’s Tigers has attempted to rewild the South China tigers, with a breeding and training programme in a South African reserve known as Laohu Valley Reserve (LVR) and eventually reintroduce them to the wild of China.[152][153]

A future rewilding project was proposed for Siberian tigers set to be reintroduced to northern Russia’s Pleistocene park. The Siberian tigers sent to Iran for a captive breeding project in Tehran are set to be rewilded and reintroduced to the Miankaleh peninsula to replace the now extinct Caspian tigers.[154]

Relation with humans

Tiger as prey

Main article: Tiger hunting

Tiger hunting on elephant-back, India, 1808.


Man-eating tigers

Main article: Tiger attack

Wild tigers that have had no prior contact with humans actively avoid interactions with humans. However, tigers cause more human deaths through direct attack than any other wild mammal.[58] Attacks are occasionally provoked, as tigers lash out after being injured while they themselves are hunted. Attacks can be provoked accidentally, as when a human surprises a tiger or inadvertently comes between a mother and her young,[156] or as in a case in rural India when a postman startled a tiger, used to seeing him on foot, by riding a bicycle.[157] Occasionally tigers come to view people as prey. Such attacks are most common in areas where population growth, logging, and farming have put pressure on tiger habitats and reduced their wild prey. Most man-eating tigers are old, are missing teeth, and are unable to capture their preferred prey.[53] For example, the Champawat Tiger, a tigress found in Nepal and then India, had two broken canines. She was responsible for an estimated 430 human deaths, the most attacks known to be perpetrated by a single wild animal, by the time she was shot in 1907 by Jim Corbett.[60] According to Corbett, tiger attacks on humans are normally in daytime, when people are working outdoors and are not keeping watch.[158] Early writings tend to describe man-eating tigers as cowardly because of their ambush tactics.[159]

Stereographic photograph (1903), captioned ‘Famous “man-eater” at Calcutta—devoured 200 men, women and children before capture—India’[160]

Man-eaters have been a particular problem in recent decades in India and Bangladesh, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and theSundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal, where some healthy tigers have hunted humans. Because of rapid habitat loss attributed toclimate change, tiger attacks have increased in the Sundarbans.[161] The Sundarbans area had 129 human deaths from tigers from 1969 to 1971. In the 10 years prior to that period, about 100 attacks per year in the Sundarbans, with a high of around 430 in some years of the 1960s.[58] Unusually, in some years in the Sundarbans, more humans are killed by tigers than vice versa.[58] In 1972, India’s production ofhoney and beeswax dropped by 50% when at least 29 people who gathered these materials were devoured.[58] In 1986 in the Sundarbans, since tigers almost always attack from the rear, masks with human faces were worn on the back of the head, on the theory that tigers usually do not attack if seen by their prey. This decreased the number of attacks only temporarily. All other means to prevent attacks, such as providing more prey or using electrified human dummies, worked less well.[162]

At least 27 people were killed or seriously injured by captive tigers in the United States from 1998 to 2001.[163][163]


Commercial hunting and traditional medicine

See also: Tiger penis

A hunting party poses with a killed Javan tiger, 1941.



However, the trading of tiger parts in Asia has become a major black market industry and governmental and conservation attempts to stop it have been ineffective to date.[58] Almost all black marketers engaged in the trade are based in China and have either been shipped and sold within in their own country or into Taiwan, South Korea or Japan.[58] The Chinese subspecies was almost completely decimated by killing for commerce due to both the parts and skin trades in the 1950s through the 1970s.[58] Contributing to the illegal trade, there are a number of tiger farms in the country specialising in breeding the cats for profit. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 captive-bred, semi-tame animals live in these farms today.[167][168][169] However, many tigers for traditional medicine black market are wild ones shot or snared by poachers and may be caught anywhere in the tiger’s remaining range (from Siberia to India to the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra). In the Asian black market, a tiger penis can be worth the equivalent of around $300 U.S. dollars. In the years of 1990 through 1992, 27 million products with tiger derivatives were found.[58] In July 2014 at an international convention on endangered species in Geneva, Switzerland, a Chinese representative admitted for the first time his government was aware trading in tiger skins was occurring in China.[170]

In captivity

In Ancient Roman times, tigers were kept in menageries and amphitheatres to be exhibited, trained and paraded, and were often provoked to fight humans and exotic beasts.[171][172] Since the 17th century, tigers, being rare and ferocious, were sought after to keep at European castles as symbols of their owners’ power.[173] Tigers became central zoo and circus exhibits in the 18th century: a tiger could cost up to 4,000 francs in France (for comparison, a professor of the Beaux-Arts at Lyons earned only 3,000 francs a year),[174] or up to $3,500 in the United States where a lion cost no more than $1,000.[175]

China (2007) had over 4,000 captive tigers, of which 3,000 were held by about twenty larger facilities, with the rest held by some 200 smaller facilities.[176] The USA (2011) had 2,884 tigers in 468 facilities.[177] Nineteen states have banned private ownership of tigers, fifteen require a license, and sixteen states have no regulation.[178] Genetic ancestry of 105 captive tigers from fourteen countries and regions showed that forty-nine animals belonged distinctly to five subspecies; fifty-two animals had mixed subspecies origins.[179]

The Tiger Species Survival Plan has condemned the breeding of white tigers, alleging they are of mixed ancestry and of unknown lineage. The genes responsible for white colouration are represented by 0.001% of the population. The disproportionate growth in numbers of white tigers points to inbreedingamong homozygous recessive individuals. This would lead to inbreeding depression and loss of genetic variability.[180]

Cultural depictions

Augustus Aaron Wilson. Tiger, 1931. When the Ringling Brotherscircus came to town in 1931, Wilson was inspired by Emyr, said to be the largest tiger in captivity, to carve these tigers from salvaged railroad ties and telephone poles that he kept in his barn. Brooklyn Museum

Chinese headrest with tiger from the 12th century. Hallwyl Museum


The Hindu goddess Durgariding a tiger. Guler school, early 18th century

In myth and legend

See also: Tiger worship

19th-century painting of a tiger by Kuniyoshi Utagawa


The tiger’s tail appears in stories from countries including China and Korea, it being generally inadvisable to grasp a tiger by the tail.[183][184]

In Buddhism, the tiger is one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolising anger, with the monkey representing greed and the deer lovesickness.[182] The Tungusic peoples considered the Siberian tiger a near-deity and often referred to it as “Grandfather” or “Old man”. The Udege and Nanai called it “Amba”. The Manchu considered the Siberian tiger as Hu Lin, the king.[63] In Hinduism, the god Shiva wears and sits on tiger skin.[185] The ten-armed warrior goddess Durga rides the tigress (or lioness) Damon into battle. In southern India the god Ayyappan was associated with a tiger.[186]

The weretiger replaces the werewolf in shapeshifting folklore in Asia;[187] in India they were evil sorcerers, while in Indonesia and Malaysia they were somewhat more benign.[188]

In literature and film

William Blake‘s first printing of The Tyger, c. 1795

In William Blake‘s poem in the Songs of Experience, titled “The Tyger,” the tiger is a menacing and fearful animal. In Yann Martel‘s 2001 Man Booker Prize winning novel Life of Pi, the protagonist, surviving shipwreck for months in a small boat, somehow avoids being eaten by the other survivor, a large Bengal tiger. The story was adapted in Ang Lee‘s 2012 feature film of the same name. Jim Corbett‘s 1944 Man-Eaters of Kumaon tells ten true stories of his tiger-hunting exploits in what is now the northern Uttarakhand region of India. The book has sold over four million copies,[189] and has been the basis of both fictional and documentary films. In Rudyard Kipling‘s 1894 The Jungle Book, the tiger, Shere Khan, is the mortal enemy of the human protagonist, Mowgli; the book has formed the basis of both live-action and animated films. Other tiger characters aimed at children tend to be more benign, as for instanceTigger in A. A. Milne‘s Winnie-the-Pooh and Hobbes of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, both of whom are represented as simply stuffed animals come to life.

As a symbol

An early silver coin of king Uttama Cholafound in Sri Lanka shows the Chola Tiger sitting between the emblems of Pandyan and Chera.

The tiger is one of the animals displayed on the Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The tiger was the emblem of the Chola Dynasty and was depicted on coins, seals and banners.[190] The seals of several Chola copper coins show the tiger, the Pandyan emblem fish and the Chera emblem bow, indicating that the Cholas had achieved political supremacy over the latter two dynasties. Gold coins found in Kavilayadavalli in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh have motifs of the tiger, bow and some indistinct marks.[191] The tiger symbol of Chola Empire was later adopted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the tiger became a symbol of the unrecognised state of Tamil Eelam and Tamil independence movement.[192]

The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh.[193] The Malaysian tiger is the national animal of Malaysia.[194] The Siberian tiger is the national animal of South Korea. Since the successful economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong andSingapore were described as the Four Asian Tigers, a tiger economy is a metaphor for a nation in rapid development. Tiger are also mascots for various sports teams around the world. Tony the Tiger is a famous mascot for Kellogg’s breakfast cereal Frosted Flakes. The Esso (Exxon) brand of petrol was advertised from 1969 onwards with the slogan ‘put a tiger in your tank’, and a tiger mascot; more than 2.5 million synthetic tiger tails were sold to motorists, who tied them to their petrol tank caps.[195]


See also




Westhaven receipt 06-23-15 Westhaven receipt 06-23-15 june 23 , retaining wall material – receipt by robert total $114.83