TIGER

Class: MAMMALIA

Order: CARNIVORA

Family: FELIDAE

Genus: PANTHERA

Species: TIGRIS

This species of large carnivore is the largest of any species of cat, and also one of the largest land predators of the Asiatic continent. Historically, the tiger has been recorded over an especially large range – as west as the Caucaus Mountains and areas of eastern Turkey, stretching further west of the Altay Mountains, and into India south of the Himalayas, a significant portion of China [aside from extreme montane and desert regions], up into the Manchurian plain, and as far south as Java. Today, however, they are found only in fragmented populations of India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, north-East China and Sumatra, with as much as 90% of their original range being destroyed. It was across the former wider range that 9 subspecies of tiger were recognised – the Amur Tiger, P. t. altaica, Bengal Tiger, P. t. tigris, South China Tiger, P. t. amoyensis, Malayan Tiger, P. t. jacksoni, Indo-Chinese Tiger, P. t. corbetti, Sumatran Tiger, P. t. sumatrae, Bali Tiger, P. t. balica, Javan Tiger, P. t. sondaica, and the Caspian Tiger, P. t. virgata. It was by the end of the twentieth century that the latter three described were declared extinct, leaving six sub-species still in existence. But in more recent times, scientists have proposed a simpler means of classifying tigers – P. t. tigris, which lives on the mainland of Asia, and P. t. sondaica, which lives on the island of Sumatra, which would’ve also included the Bali and Javan tigers which are now believed extinct.

Tiger fossils have been found in the countries of Indonesia, Mongolia, China, Japan, and Italy – and from fossil evidence it would appear that tigers have existed on Earth for more than 2 million years. A fossil species considered most closely related to the tiger, Panthera zdanski, constitutes the oldest complete big cat skull ever found – and may have appeared around the same time as the tiger. The ‘Longdan Tiger’, as it is sometimes called, lived in the Gansu Province in China from 2.55 million years ago, before disappearing 390,000 years later. It was about the size of a large jaguar, at 75 centimetres at shoulder. Today, the closest living relative of the tiger is believed to be the snow leopard, which it may have diverged from 3 million years ago.

The largest of any cat at up to 300 kilogrammes and up to 110 cm at shoulder, the skeletons of tigers and lions are so similar that even scientists have trouble telling the two apart without advanced investigation. It is only in living animals that many differences are clearly visible, but skeletons do show a few subtle differences as well. The skull of the tiger is slightly shorter than that of the lion – and tigers also have a slightly more narrow snout. The tail of the tiger is also slightly shorter than that of the lion. But it is pelage where differences are most obvious – tigers are orange or yellowish in colour, covered with numerous thick, vertical, black stripes. On the face the stripes circle around the shape of the face, and on the body they can circle almost the entire body, or end abruptly. Tiger stripes occur both from the bottom of the tiger as well as from the dorsal. The stripes also encircle the tail, until the very tip where the black markings form a veritable ‘territory’. The underside of the tiger, disregarding the black stripes, is coloured white. Stripes are less prominent on the legs when viewed face on, and side-on closer to the paw. Stripes are individual amongst tigers, and scientists who work with wild tigers in the field, typically done through camera-trapping, use the striped patterns of various tigers as identifying features. Unlike the patterns of leopards and jaguars, the striped pattern of tigers in embedded into the animal’s skin.

Like all big cats, tigers are muscular, with the tail comprising a significant amount of the body’s length [up to 4 metres]. Some tigers are white in colouration – white tigers, a genetic mutation of the Bengal tiger, have been observed since the 16th century – and in the 20th century they became increasingly popular amongst zoos and circuses, and also amongst hunters. All white tigers living in captivity have genetic influence from a single male, ‘Mohan’, who was caught in 1951, and the last known white-coloured tiger in the wild was shot in 1958. White tigers today are common in captivity – but given that the genetic trait comes from a single male, these tigers are often a result of inbreeding, which then leads to various genetic deformities. And with little conservation value, as many white tigers are also hybrids between two different tiger races, for preferable characteristics such as size, the breeding of these tigers has been phased out by responsible zoo associations, such as the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, of the United States of America. If orange-coloured tigers carry the gene for white fur, then they can breed together to produce a white cub. One white tiger that lived in the Nicaragua Zoo was born to orange parents – but both carried the recessive gene, and the cub’s great-grandfather was a white-coloured animal.

The texture of tiger’s fur is variable based on where the tiger is found – Sumatran tigers of the jungle which has a constant of 25 degrees Celsius have relatively thin fur, and have a more muscular consistency. They also have the most prominent facial ‘ruff’. They are also the smallest race of tiger – males about 120 kilogrammes and 2 metres in length, and females about 90 kilogrammes, and a slightly shorter length. The Amur, or Siberian tigers, found in areas of north-eastern China and small areas of far-eastern Russia, are the largest race of tiger – up to almost 3.7 metres [though most are closer to 3 metres], with males weighing in the region of 175 kg [up to 190 kg], and females in the region of 120 kg [up to 130 kg]. They have the thickest fur, which is also the most pale in colouration. The Bengal Tiger, found in India, can be considered as ‘intermediate’ – males are up to 3 metres in length and up to 225 kg in weight, with females slightly shorter and weighing up to 135 kg. The fur consistency is also ‘intermediate’.

Tigers, like other big cats, have 4 large toes [and one smaller toe; 5 in all] on their front paw, and just the 4 large paws on their hind paw. The sex of a tiger can be determined from its track – with males having wider paws. The size difference between the lion and tiger is debatable – the mean weight of a male tiger, 160 kilogrammes, is somewhat behind that of lions, at 175 kg. Tigers have the longest canines of all the cats – about 51 mm in length, rivaled in size only by the lion. Like all other cats, they have 30 teeth – 6 incisors [3 for both upper and lower], 2 canines [1 upper and lower], 5 premolars [3 upper and 2 lower], and 2 molars [1 upper and lower]. The eyes of a tiger are usually yellow – with the exception of the blue eyes of white tigers. The ears are rounded, and appear to have hearing greater than that of humans. Like other cats, tigers have large pupils to maximise light obtained. Tigers, like other big cats, but unusual amongst most cats, have round pupils, better-suited for daytime activity. Cats, tigers included, do not have excellent sense of smell – which is something that tigers use more often for communication than for hunting. Like most cats, they also have retractable claws – which are curved, and up to 100 mm long. Tigers can run some 60 kilometres per hour – but prefer to not engage in high-speed chases, as they are comparatively bulky.

With a wide range, tigers are highly adaptable to a wide range of habitats, and were likely adapted to an even greater range of habitats in times before European colonisation. Bengal Tigers, found in India, are best-suited to humid jungle, though also thrive in swamps and mangroves. Most Bengal Tiger populations are located in India – though a few also exist in Nepal, with even smaller populations in southern Bangladesh and Southern China. One especially large population is found in Telangana, where tigers are kept in various reserves. In this Indian state, humidity stays around 65% year-round, with a typical hot, dry climate. The cooler period is marked by a period of monsoon – which lasts from June until September – resulting in 755 millimeters of precipitation. Telangana is of mixed evergreen forest – some trees reaching 70 metres in height. Leopards are the only big cats the use trees intensively – but tigers use trees mainly to mark territory, but should a tiger come across a tree with low-hanging branches, it will use it as a refuge or place of rest. Younger tigers, up to the age of sixteen months, climb trees often as a form of adventure, and sometimes even chase langur monkeys into the trees. Nuts also fall from trees, becoming a primary food-source for deer and wild pigs, so healthy trees are instrumental to the abundance of tigers in an area. Some Bengal Tigers can also be found at the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, a coastal environment – the only such environment where tigers live. The Sundarbans, however, present a challenging environment for tigers to thrive – as it is an area where human settlement is becoming more commonplace; and people often kill wild pigs, deer, and buffalo for food. With reduction of this prey, tigers of the Sundarbans seem to have become more inclined to hunt people for food, with about 300 people being killed by tigers since the start of the 21st century.

In Nepal, there are Bengal Tigers which live mainly in five national parks – where they live in the Terai Arc Landscape – an area of some 24,710 kilometres. Sitting at the foothills of the Himalayas, the humidity and temperature of the TAL are not greatly different than that of Telangana. The most common tree within much of the region is the Sal tree, Shorea robusta. 22% of the Indian tiger population is located in the TAL, where it often comes into contact with people – of which the population there numbers 6.7 million; and is in increase. There may be as many as 5 tigers for every 100 square kilometres at the TAL. Whilst tigers cause sizable economic losses within the area, leopards are typically seen as greater economical threats, as they attack people and livestock more often. Malayan Tigers are another race of tiger that is well-suited to humid environments – confirmed to be separate from the Indo-China Tiger in 2004. Most Malayan Tigers are found in Taman-Negara, one of the oldest tropical rainforests on Earth. 4000 kilometres in area, it is a dense forest, with Tualang trees, which can reach more than 75 metres in height, being the most common tree in the area; though tree-diversity per hectare is high, with some 280 species per hectare. It is also a humid forest – with humidity staying around 90% year-round, and temperatures staying around 30 degrees Celsius year round. Around winter is a period of monsoon, which lasts about a month. As well as sambar deer, a species often consumed by both Bengal and Malayan tigers, the Malayan Tapir is another prey which is sometimes consumed – but not as often as deer, as Malayan tapir are nocturnal, compared to the often crepuscular nature of tigers. Outside captivity, Taman-Negara appears the last refuge for the Malayan Tiger – of which only 60 might remain in the wild. In the 1950s, it may have been that within Malaysia about 3000 tigers lived. The Sumatran Tiger is the only living tiger of an island environment – where it mainly lives in the Barisan Mountains, which cover some 1700 km of Sumatra’s west side. Most of Bukit Barisan, as it is otherwise called, consists of volcanic rock which is now covered, over a layer of ash, with tropical rainforest. Several national parks, including the Bukit Barisan National Park, offer the last refuge to the Sumatran Tiger – with it believed that there are no more than 600 remaining. At Bukit Barisan, temperatures fluctuate between 22 and 35 degrees Celsius, and humidity fluctuates from 72% to 86%. The Bali and Javan Tigers, now extinct, may well have experienced similar climatic conditions.

The South China Tiger, now extinct in the wild, mainly inhabited broadleaf forests of Southern China, where it was mainly a resident of moderate montane environments. About 100 live in captivity, most living in the Wangcheng Park Zoo, with some 40. A few now also live at Laohu Valley Reserve – a nature reserve located in South Africa. Humidity and climate of this reserve is somewhat dissimilar to what would be experienced in native China – but breeding success has occurred here. The Indochinese Tiger is now found neither in India or China, but is now mostly found in Thailand, with some small populations in Myanmar. Like the South China Tiger, it most often resides in mixed broadleaf forests. The Amur, or Siberian Tiger, is the most unusual race of tiger in terms of habitat today – where the five other major races live in mostly tropical environments, the Amur Tiger is found in rather colder climates. Most live amongst the Sikhote Alin mountain range, of the Russian far-east, primarily in montane forests. Here it is most rainy during the Summer period, with snow falling on peaks from September, and snow continues to fall into the mountain range until December. The summer at Sikhote-Alin reaches a high of 20 degrees Celsius in July – with Winter temperatures falling below 30 degrees Celsius at lowest. Most mountains are covered with birch and conifer at higher slopes; with deciduous forest at lower altitudes. The Amur Tiger’s main prey is that of the Manchurian Wapiti, Cervus elaphus xanthopygos – with another sizable proportion represented by that of wild pigs. In these mountains tigers have to compete with various other large or medium-sized meat-eaters – lynx, brown and Asiatic black bear, and wolverines. Of all the trees in the area, Amur Tigers appear most dependent on Korean pine trees – as they use these trees most often for shelter – and also provide food for wapiti and pigs, the prime prey of the Amur Tiger.

As discussed above, the prey of tigers can vary dependent on the area, but seem to show a preference for deer, pigs, and buffalo on occasion. Tigers often avoid human settlement when possible, and most cases where tigers venture into human settlement to violent result come about as a product of the destruction of species that tigers prey on. The time of day in which tigers are most active is dependent on the situation in which they are found – tigers observed in wild environments, like those of Sikhote-Alin, tend to be more nocturnal-leaning crepuscular – in that they are most active during sunrise and sunset hours, though they have been observed to show activity at night hours. Closer to human settlement, like at Sundarban, they are more nocturnal to evade human confrontation. Most human-tiger confrontations occur during hours of early morning. Capable swimmers, tigers may cross between island in search of food, which could be a reason that fishermen are one occupation with which tigers most often encounter at Sundarban. Some tigers there have shown preference for mangrove; mainly because there deer and monkeys are easy to hunt. Tigers rely mainly on their sense of sight and hearing to locate prey, and cautiously stalk their unsuspecting prey – and can travel up to 20 kilometres whilst hunting. Their striped coat gives them good camouflage to keep them concealed from prey. Tigers, as do lions, bite their prey in the neck after wrestling it to the ground, after which the tiger brings the prey to a secluded location to eat. Tigers may only successfully complete a hunt once every twenty attempts. About 16 kg of meat is consumed per night, and if the carcass is not finished, the tiger will return nightly – should it not be that other carnivores haven’t eaten the kill themselves.

Solitary, tigers come together mainly for reproduction. They roar to notify other tigers of their presence – that they are possessive of a given territory. They also mark their territory by scent marking – spraying urine on trees, defecating, and scratching trees. Breeding occurs at any time of the year, but is especially more common in cooler seasons. In areas where the Amur tiger lives, breeding is especially prevalent from December until January. When female tigers are in heat, she releases a specific smell from her scent glands to notify male tigers of their presence. She will be submissive for about three days, when copulation occurs very often. After this, the male tiger leaves the female behind, after which the tigress is pregnant for about 3 months before giving birth to a litter of two or three. Cubs are born blind, weighing about 1 kilogram at birth. Mothers stay in close proximity to cubs for the first few days of their lives – and slightly later on she goes off to hunt, but still remaining in close proximity to the cubs. The cubs are weaned at 6 months old, when the mother starts to bring them to her kills. The cubs are playful, including when they are learning to hunt, as they become more familiar with their surrounding environment and skills that they will require so to lead successful lives. They develop entire canine teeth by 18 months – by that time they are largely independent. By 3 years of age, tigers establish their own territories. Female tigers have territories of plentiful food supply so that cubs can be raised efficiently – where male tigers have larger territories – which often overlap with up to 3 female territories. Female territories don’t usually overlap. By 4 years old, female tigers are sexually mature – and males are sexually mature at 5 years of age. Tigers need a water source, usually for drinking – so many tiger territories are found close to major rivers. By regulating herbivore populations, tigers keep the populations of plants at stable magnitude. A wild tiger usually lives up to 15 years in the wild – on rare occasions, twenty.

Across the countries where they have been observed in a wild state, tigers feature prominently in the cultures and religions of these nations. In China, tigers take hold of the symbolism of power and fear – the king of all beasts. In Chinese art, tigers feature in great prominence – symbolic of Earth, where the dragon symbolises the spirit. In Chinese culture, they are protectors of good people, and arbiters of those who are unlawful. They are the third animal of the Chinese Zodiac. In India, tigers are associated with the deity of Durga, who is depicted as riding a tiger into battle. The peoples of the nations where the tiger found presence lived in harmony with the animal for thousands of years – a creature of utmost respect. Tigers have been hunted for medicinal purposes for centuries – but the possibility of extinction was only a recent phenomenon.

With the arrival of western colonisation, came the anthropocentric ideology held by Europe for thousands of years, placing people at the highest position of the ‘natural order’ – and so too did western machinery, such as guns, arrive. British Colonialism in particular was greatly destructive to the culture which India held for thousands of years – draining it from wealth that it had accrued independently, and inciting famine. And with the culture that had allowed for the tiger to prosper for thousands of years, so did disappear the respect the tiger had in these regions. The tiger was heavily persecuted under Imperial rule as a savage – and many tigers were hunted not only under the portent of such prejudice; but also for the aesthetic ‘feat’ of possessing a tiger’s coat as a trophy. Tigers would go on to be used in menagerie and circus; but people of the time had little regard or respect for the wellbeing of these animals, let alone their wild populations. Under British rule, the tiger population, largely though not entirely contained within India, fell staggeringly from 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century to about 40,000 after India’s withdrawal from the British Empire. Further persecution into the 20th century left about 2000 by the year 1999.

But the plight of the tiger, by then, was well-known about – and several legislative changes had taken place. China had banned the domestic trade of tiger-based products – and a symposium was held in London, ‘Tigers 2000’, which would lead into a project which raised money for tigers in wild populations. In 2007, some 11,000 tigers existed in managed care worldwide – 5,000 in Chinese breeding centres, which gave concern that it could fuel a market for tiger parts and medicine. In 2010 some hope was given to the state of tigers in the wild – in some areas of India, population density had increased. Political support had been given to tiger population extensions in India, with 2,225 or so tigers in India by 2014 – an increase from 1700 or so in 2010. In 2016 almost 4000 tigers were believed to exist in the wild, with 300 Amur tigers existing in colder regions. With continued destruction of natural habitat, as well as ongoing hunting, tigers are still considered as ‘endangered’ by the IUCN – but with strengthened governmental support, in a sense, the plight to return tigers to natural habitat hasn’t been stronger at most any points before.

In the Western world, tigers have become somewhat removed from being menaced as ‘savage’; rather, tigers have manifested into many playful characters, and appear in many novels, songs, and films. They are a common animal to be kept in zoos – as it is believed that the number of tigers in captivity exceeds the number found in the wild. It is partially because of this that some concern has arisen for the welfare of many such tigers – in the United States of America, there exists a trade of tiger cubs that are sold as pets – and often when these cubs grow up, they end up in disreputable areas – such as third-party backyards, or exported for meat. Several such cubs are also used for photo opportunity, and other such events – but little documentation exists for these, so the fate that many cubs have when they grow up is impossible to discern. But these may not exist for much longer – in December of 2022, President Biden signed the ‘Big Cat Safety Act’ – which would terminate the private ownership of big cats as pets, and prevent public contact with big cats. The reputable breeding of tigers takes place in zoos, segregated by natural race; though reintroduction has yet to occur, with responsible management of native tiger populations being of prime importance, whilst zoos play a vital role of informing the public of the threats that wild tigers face. The situation may have even come full circle – as many western tourists visit countries such as India or Nepal to engage in tiger-based safaris as a form of ecotourism, to observe tigers in their natural habitat – giving revenue for these countries to support their conservation work.