International Tiger Day

Tigers are in trouble.  The numbers of this charismatic species have declined by more than 95% in a century.  Whether or not the species can survive remains in doubt.  So, the participants at a tiger conservation summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2010 decided that the tiger needed its own day to raise awareness of the animal’s plight.  Since then, International Tiger Day has been held each July 29. 

            The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the world’s largest cat, with males weighing up to 700 pounds.  Tigers are classified in a single species, but with six genetically distinct subspecies across its large range (taxonomists seem to be squabbling about this).  They are primarily solitary, maintaining large home ranges to provide sufficient prey for an appetite that can consume 80 pounds in one meal.  Tigers live up to 20 years in the wild, becoming reproductively mature in 4-5 years. Females have 2-4 cubs every other year. 

            Before humans started changing things, tigers lived throughout a huge range—in far eastern Russia, throughout southeastern Asia and in Malaysia.  Today, wild tigers inhabit only 7% of that former range, almost all in protected preserves.  About 70% of all wild tigers live in India; the other 30% are scattered among 12 other nations.  A century ago, as many as 100,000 tigers roamed freely, but today the population is about 4,000.  Multiple factors have impacted tigers—trophy harvest, habitat conversion, human-animal conflict, harvest for traditional medicines, and illegal poaching.  Ground tiger bone sells for as much as $115 per pound.  The combination of all these forces has led IUCN to classify the tiger as an “endangered species,” and CITES to place it on its Appendix I (no international trade).

Tigers live in a wide range of habitats across Asia (photo by Gowri Subrananya)

            Conservation efforts have expanded since the 2010 tiger summit.  A goal was set then to double the world population of wild tigers—to 6,000 individuals—by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.  The chosen strategy is an integrated habitat conservation program working across nations, organizations and local communities.  The biggest success has come from India, where the government has created 50 tiger reserves and whose tiger population has grown to 3,000.  Because populations in those reserves are growing, which forces some individuals into non-protected lands, the government is also working to create habitat corridors between reserves.  With a total worldwide population of about 4,000 wild tigers in 2020, however, reaching the goal of 6,000 by 2022 seems unlikely.

Tiger in an Indian national park (photo by Charles J. Sharp)

            Conservationists are quick to point out that saving tigers accomplishes so much more than just keeping one species—albeit a beautiful and meaningful one—alive.  Tigers are umbrella species, meaning that protecting their habitat protects a wide range of plants and animals that share their same ecosystem.  Tigers are also top predators, playing an important role in structuring the trophic levels below them.

            But perhaps it is enough to want to save tigers because they are, well, just tigers.

References:

BBC News.  2019.  India tiger census shows rapid population growth.  Available at:  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49148174.  Accessed April 3, 2020.

IUCN.  2019.  International Tiger Day:  Celebrating an integrated approach for tiger conservation.  Available at:  https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201907/international-tiger-day-celebrating-integrated-approach-tiger-conservation. Accessed April 3, 2020.

IUCN.  Red List – Tiger Panthera tigris.  Available at:  https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15955/50659951#taxonomy. Accessed April 3, 2020.

US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Tigers.  Available at:  https://www.fws.gov/international/animals/tigers.html. Accessed April 3, 2020.

World Wildlife Fund.  Species—Tiger, Facts.  Available at:  https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/tiger.  Accessed April 3, 2020.

This Month in Conservation

March 1
Yellowstone National Park Established (1872)
March 2
Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, Born (1904)
March 3
World Wildlife Day and Creation of CITES (1973)
March 3
Isle Royale National Park Authorized (1931)
March 4
Hot Springs National Park Established (1921)
March 5
Lynn Margulis, Evolutionary Biologist, Born (1938)
March 6
Martha Burton Williamson, Pioneering Malacologist, Born (1843)
March 7
Luther Burbank Born (1849)
March 8
Everett Horton Patents the Telescoping Fishing Rod (1887)
March 9
The Turbot War Begins (1995)
March 10
Cape Lookout National Seashore Established (1966)
March 11
Save the Redwoods League Founded (1918)
March 12
Girl Scouts Founded (1912)
March 12
Charles Young, First African American National Park Superintendent, Born (1864)
March 13
National Elephant Day, Thailand
March 14
First National Wildlife Refuge Created (1903)
March 15
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, Born (1874)
March 16
Amoco Cadiz Runs Aground (1978)
March 17
St. Patrick and Ireland’s Snakes
March 18
Nation’s First Wildlife Refuge Created (1870)
March 19
When the Swallows Return to Capistrano
March 20
“Our Common Future” Published (1987)
March 21
International Day of Forests
March 22
World Water Day
March 23
Sitka National Historical Park Created (1910)
March 24
John Wesley Powell, Western Explorer, Born (1834)
March 25
Norman Borlaug, Father of the Green Revolution, Born (1914)
March 26
Marjorie Harris Carr, Pioneering Florida Conservationist, Born (1915)
March 26
Kruger National Park Established (1898)
March 27
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Begun (1975)
March 28
Joseph Bazalgette, London’s Sewer King, Born (1819)
March 29
Niagara Falls Stops Flowing (1848)
March 30
The United States Buys Alaska (1867)
March 31
Al Gore, Environmental Activist and U.S. Vice President, Born (1948)
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