Endangered Animals – Tigers
Tigers, These cat species are one of the beautiful creatures of nature. Tigers belong to the Felidae family. Felidae is a family of mammals with carnivora order. There are three colour variations in tigers namely golden, white and stripeless snow white. The golden one’s with dark stripes on orange-brown fur, white with sepia brown stripes on white fur and the stripeless snow white tigers are rarely encountered because of the reduction in wild tiger population. Tigers belong to a subfamily called Pantherinae. Tigers are seen to be extremely predatory species. But these supreme predators are decreasing day by day. In a survey done in 2015 it was found that the global wild tiger population was estimated between 3062 to 3948. Most of the tigers are living in small groups isolated from each other. There is a huge decline in the population of tigers globally which has led them to be in the list of endangered species. There are several reasons behind this population decline. Some of the major reasons are poaching, habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation.
Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary reasons for extinction of several species worldwide. Habitat destruction through Human activity include mining, logging, urban sprawl and trawling etc. Habitat fragmentation begins with the end of habitat destruction. The geographical changes made by humans through mining and land conversions may lead to changes in a species’s environment. These changes cause population fragmentation and eventually the reason for a species to be extinct.Coming to poaching which is illegal hunting. Mostly because of land/ property controversies. Trespassing one’s land to hunt/ capture wild animals without permission.
Ungulate animals such as deer, sheep,pigs, horses etc are prey for tigers. These mammals are typically herbivores and very few belong to carnivores. Tigers are incredible animals. Tigers or panthera tigris according to its subfamily is the largest living cat species so far on earth. These tigers are members of the genus panthera.
Tiger is the National Animal of India, South Korea, Malaysia and Bangladesh. In India, it is the Bengal tigers. The Bengal tigers ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. These Bengal tigers are considered as the World’s charismatic megafauna. By 2010, It was estimated that the population of the Indian Bengal tigers were between 1,706-1,909. It comprised fewer than 2,500 till 2011. But by 2018, The population of these Bengal tigers increased to 2,603 to 3,346 individuals. Hopefully increasing in the coming years as well.
