Tigers inspire a mix of awe and fear. These large cats can weight up to 575 pounds and be three feet high at the shoulder, standing taller than a man on hind legs. Their coats are usually orange with black stripes (the white tiger is a recessive gene so that the tiger lack the orange pigment in its fur.) The Bengal tiger is a nocturnal predator, eating mainly wild ox and buffalo. There once were eight sub-species of tigers, but now only five sub-species remain.
Tigers have often been maligned as being vicious man-eaters, but most often this is not the case. Most tigers resort to killing men only if humans are encroaching on their territory as we have been doing over the past 100 or so years, hunting their prey, or otherwise removing their normal food source. There is also a possibility that saline drinking water, or man-made effluent in the water may be causing the tigers to act strangely.
The decline in the tiger population has been a combination of many factors. Tigers live in dense forests and do not survive well in other areas. As the forests of their original habitat are cleared for agricultural purposes the tiger and his food supply are displaced, and often the areas of dense forest are separated. Bengal tigers require a territory of approximately 20 square miles at the least and many need twice that amount of space. Tigers are solitary creatures and do not share their hunting grounds. The rapid clearing of forest lands forces tigers into areas poor for hunting and worse for hiding from men.
Tiger pelts and various organs used for medical practices and aphrodisiacs have long been prized in some cultures. Even though research has found that none of the tiger's body parts are any more effective than readily available herbal or pharmaceutical remedies, tiger organs are still sold as medicines. In China the tiger bones are used as a cure all for rheumatism and a variety of other diseases. A whole tiger, once sold for its parts can bring in 10,000 U.S. dollars. Recent legislation has banned the sale of any herbal product with any tiger material reportedly in it. (Most advertised products have other material in it or the poaching of tigers is greatly underestimated.)
Go To Page: 1 2
