tiger

Tiger:-

India is the only country in the world in which tigers and lions are lived. But both tigers and lions are critically endangered species.there are only 2,967 tigers left in india in 2019. Only 600 Asiatic lions are left Indian jungle.

Due to degradation of the land for cultivation, previously consistent forest fall into pieces, and if all these developments have caused the worst catastrophe on a single animal, it is the tiger. Tiger needs healthy forests as well as healthy prey. In the race for development, we forgot that the coexistence of humans and tigers is impossible. the existence of one will be sacrificed for the other.

There is very beautiful Sholaka in Mahabharat about tigers:-

निर्वनो वध्यते व्याघ्रो निर्व्याघ्रो छिद्यते वनम् |
तस्माद्व्याघ्रो वनं रक्षेत् वनं व्याघ्रं च पालयेत् ||

(Tigers cannot survive without forest and similarly, forest shatter without tigers. Tiger protect the forests that nurture them.)

The early 1990s tiger population is around 1,00,000. In the 18th and 19th century India is very popular in European countries for hunting tigers. In 1972 Indian tiger population drop down to 40,000.

The oldest species of tiger is Javan tiger which is dating from about 1.8 million years ago. But last Javan tiger extinct in 1976.

The average weight of the male tiger is 250 to 310 kg. female tiger weight is from 120kg to 170kg. length of the male tiger is up to 3.9m. Claw size of tiger 8cm to 10.5cm. tiger's lifespan is 20-25 years. In big cats species, only tigers having stripes on their bodies. Tiger stripes are very unique.  No two tigers have the same stripes.

A male Siberian tiger patrols a territory of up to 2000  km² while Bengal tiger territory is up to 200  km². Tiger mark their territory by urinating on trees or rocks.

In the last 4 years, Indian tigers are increased by 741.

Only 600 Siberian tiger lives in the wild but from the 1980s Siberian tiger's number slowly increasing.

Tiger population in India
Year	Tiger population
2006	1,411
2010	1,706
2014	2,226
2018	2,967

species of tiger

Javan tiger

 scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Sondaica

 country:- Java island, Indonesia
 status:- Extinct(1970)

Bali tiger

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Balica
country:-Bali island, Indonesia

status:-Extinct(1950)

Caspian tiger

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Virgata
country:-Iran, Mongolia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

status:-Extinct(1970)

Royal Bengal tiger

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Tigris

country:-India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar

status:-Endangered(EN)

Siberian tiger

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Altaica
country:-Russia, China, North Korea

status:-Endangered(EN)

south china tiger 

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris  Amoyensis
country:-China

status:-Critically Endangered(CR)

Sumatran tiger 

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Sumatrae
country:-Sumatra, Indonesia
status:-Critically Endangered(CR)

sumatran tiger sub-species are smallest tigers

Indo-Chinese tiger 

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Corbetti
country:-Myanmar, China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand
status:-Endangered(EN)

Malayan tiger

scientific name:-Panthera Tigris Jacksoni
country:-Malaysia

status:-Critically Endangered(CR)

white tiger

White tigers are not separate subspecies or not an albino.

They are just born with white fur.

White fur is very rare.

White tigers born 1 in 10,000 tigers.

Generally, the white tigers are Bengal tigers.

There are approximately 200 tigers in the world.
White tigers are stronger than normal tigers.

What do tiger eats

All cats are "obligate carnivores" which means their main source of food is meat. Various animal has different abilities to consume their nutrients required for their body from the environment. for example, the human body can make its own vitamin D requirement from sunlight. most of the animals synthesize their own vitamin C.

Tigers may eat up to 45 kg of meat at once. Tigers can hunt 45 to 50 deer-sized animals in a year.

Tigers are top on food chain so they eats everything which they get. Tiger can hunt large animals like Gaur(1500 kg), water buffalo (600 kg),domestic cattle(1000 kg),barasingha deer(200 kg),nilgai (308 kg),wild boar(100 kg), takin(180 kg),sambar deer(180 kg), asian black bear(200 kg),red deer(200 kg),elk(500 kg), manchurian wapiti(180 kg),brown bear(600 kg),python(100 kg), crocodile(450 kg),wolf (60 kg).

Tiger hunts small animals for snacks like chital, gray langurs, goats, sheep, snakes, muntjac, hares, rabbits, porcupines, hog deer, dhole, birds, lizards, toads, crab, fish, rodent, baby elephant, baby rhino.

humans are not on the menu of tigers. If tigers are getting old or injured and not able to hunt their prey then and then only hunt humans.

bite force

Bite force is nothing but the force applied by the masticatory muscles. it's very important for the animals to hunt down their prey. in wild jaw and claws are the main weapon.
Bite force can be measured by a suitable transducer that can be placed in jaws of an animal

Bite force is measured in PSI(pounds per square inch)

In all animals, the bite force of male animals is always higher than female animals. Bite force of any animal depends upon age, growth, and development of the animal.

Tiger is the strongest member of the big cat family but that doesn't mean that the tiger has the highest bite force. The highest bite force in big cat family members is Jaguar which is 1300 psi. tigers bite force is 1050 psi

The human bite force is 150 to 200 psi.

The average bite force of dog is 269 psi

bite force of big cats:-

Jaguar 1300 psi
tiger 1050 psi
lion 650 psi
leopard 500 psi
cheetah 470 psi(cheetah is not big cat)

Topmost powerful bite force of animals:-

Top 10 most  powerful animal bite force
Megalodon	40,131
Orca	19,000
Nile Crocodile	5,000
Saltwater Crocodile	3,700
Hippopotamus	1,800
Jaguar	1,300
Gorilla	1,300
Bull Shark	1,250
Grizzly Bear	1,200
Spotted Hyena	1,100

tiger vs lion

90% of people think that the lion is the king of the jungle but its not completely true.

In India, there is a very famous proverb that almost every Indian knows that,” Sher humesha akele shikaar Karta hai aur jhund me to suar aur kutte aate hai”(means lion always hunt solitarily, dogs or wild boars hunts in group)

But the reality is the lion, wild boars and dogs hunt in group only tiger hunts in solitary.

even our school book tells us that the lion is bigger than the tiger and the lion is king of the jungle.

lion and tiger both come from big cat families and members of the Panthera genus.

In all aspects, tigers are greater than the lion.

highest recorded weight of lion(Simba) is 370 kg. 

The largest weight of the Siberian tiger(Jaipur) is 465kg.

Tigers are more muscular than lions and their muscles are denser than the lion.

Tigers are solitary hunters while lions are social animals.

Tigers are more active than lion.

Tigers may eat up to 45 kg and the lion may eat up to 40 kg.

Tigers prefer hunting at night and lions prefer in the day.

Tigers are hyper-aggressive.

Tiger's brains are 25% bigger than the lion.

tigers are 10 to 12 feet long in size while lions are 8 to 10 feet long.

Tigers are more intelligent than the lion.tigers are natural boxer.

tigers can climb on trees and very good swimmers while lions are uncomfortable in the water and
able to climb.

Lions are the laziest cat in big cat species.

Gaurs are 7ft long and their weight is near about 1500 kg then also tiger hunt down Gaurs on its own, on the other side African buffalo are weight up to 600kg, for hunting African buffalo group of lions required. single lion can not able to hunt buffalo. Many incidences happened in which African buffalo kills lions.

The lion is never able to hunt big fully grown crocodile but tiger can do, a few years ago “Machali” female tiger from Ranthambore National Park kills fully grown 14 feet crocodile at that time Machali tigers is 20 years old that's too much old.

In the 19th century, Maharaja of Baroda(3rd Sayajirao ) arranged a fight between a Barbary lion("Atlas") from atlas mountain and Man-eating Bengal tiger from Shimla.the tiger was more than 3 m long and 4 feet at the shoulder. Atlas lion looked taller and larger in all aspects. Before fights both lion and tigers kept hungry. In this match, the tiger kills the lion and wins the fight and Maharaja accepted that the tiger was the "King of the Big Cats". This fight is very detailed explained on Wikipedia page "atlas the Barbary lion versus the Bengal tiger of Shimla".  

what do you think who will win Tiger or Lion tell us on the comment section

Tiger vs Lion
	Tiger	Lion
weight	250-350kg	180-220kg
Habitat	Mountains, forests, rainforests, mangrove swamps, savannahs, grasslands	Grasslands
Lifespan	15-20 years	10-14 years
Size	10-12 feet	8-10 feet
Bite Force	1050	650
Speed	40miles/hour	30miles/hour
Canines	78mm/4 inch	70mm/3 inch
Muscularity	More muscular	Less muscular
Claw	8-10.5cm	6-8cm
Give birth at a time	2-4 cubs	1-3 cubs
Intelligence	More intelligent	Less intelligent
Success rate of killing prey	10-20%	30% (in a group)

Jim Corbett's story

Jim Corbett was a famous British hunter, writer, and naturalist.

Jim Corbett national park is India's biggest and oldest national park.

Corbett killed 19 tigers and 14 leopards in his career.
Jim Corbett in his early life very famous for tiger hunting but after some time he was known for tiger protector.

Jim Corbett had a very unique habit that first, they hunt tiger then they brought that tiger to home for analyzing after that they hanged the skull and skin of tiger on the wall.

Champawat tigress killed 436 people in 4 years in 1907, Jim Corbett hunt down this beast.
after post mortem of tigress Jim Corbett founds that there are many wounds of arrows on her body and upper and lower side canines are broken by hunters bullet because of that she can't able to hunt wild animals and from that days she became a man-eater. Jim Corbett understood that there is no fault of the Champawat tigress, because of the hunters, she became a man-eater. this incident completely changed the Jim Corbett.after this incident, Jim Corbett got engaged in rescuing tigers. they understood that the conflict between tigers and humans would continue, so the tigers need a separate area. Jim Corbett had a very good reputation in the British parliament, they used this to make a sanctuary for the tigers.

Jim Corbett always took lecturing classes of school children and taught them about our natural heritage and tiger's importance. Jim Corbett author of many famous books." man-eaters of the Kumaon" was the best seller book at that time.

best books of Jim Corbett

jungle stories (1935)

man-eaters of Kumaon (1944)

the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag (1947)
my india (1952)
jungle lore (1953)
the temple tiger and more man eaters of Kumaon (1954)
treetops (1955)
Jim Corbett's india - selections by R.E. Hawkins (1978)
My Kumaon - uncollected writings, press(2012)

Tiger body parts 

According to Hindustan times news, rug made by tigers skin cost 86,80,000₹($124,000).Leopard's skin cost from $100,000 to $300,000(7,000,000₹ to 21,000,000₹) while cost of stuffed tiger is $700,000 (49,000,000₹).
The business of illegal tiger parts is worth $6 billion and the entire illegal trade of wildlife animals is estimated to be worth $ 19 billion. Tiger's body part is used in Chinese medicine. There is a huge demand for the tiger's body part in Chinese medicine.

Tiger body part price
Tiger bone	$400/kg
Pair of eye	$200
paw	$1000
Bone powdered	$64 to $168/lb
Tiger wine	$30,000

Tiger's body parts and their uses

claws                             necklaces, decoration, sedative for insomnia

canines                          jewelry, treat fever

whiskers                        cure toothaches

skin                               making rug, cloths

bones                            headache,general weakness,arthritis,ulcer,typhoid,malaria

eyebrow                        believe that ability to protect from evil

brain                             used to treat laziness and pimples

flesh                              eat to cure skin diseases

fat                                  to cure leprosy & rheumatism

eyeball                          cure malaria

milk                             medical remedies

Tiger save project

Project tiger is India's tiger conservation program launched by Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1973. Tiger project aims to secure the tigers in natural habitat and increase their population. The Indian government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and relocate the villagers to minimize the tiger-human conflicts.

Project Tiger is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA). There is a total of 50 tiger sanctuaries in india which covered 75,788 km2. India's 2.30% land area is declared as a tiger conserved and governed by project tiger. 

In Sundarban Delta (it spans from Indian Hoogly river to the Baleshwar river in Bangladesh), every year on an average 50 to 60 peoples was killed in tigers attack. tiger always attack human from behind so one experiment being conducted in which people who go in the tiger protected area started wearing a face mask on the back of their heads. this tricked worked. for the last three years, no one wears a mask has been killed.

Save the tiger

Tiger is a symbol of a good ecosystem.saving tigers means protecting the ecosystem.extinction of tiger from the jungle can major impact on herbivore (plant-eating animals) species. In the absence of tigers,  herbivore's population will increase and they eat more grass and plant and this will change the climate. climate change not good for humans also, so we need tigers.

Tiger is not just a beautiful animal it plays a major role in the food chain. 

Tiger is the apex predator. 

If we hunt tiger to extinction then our entire ecological system collapse
for ex:- wolf
and dodos

Dodo:-

About 300 years ago dodo birds were lived in islands of Mauritius. In the 15th and 16th centuary Portuguese and Dutch sailors set the first footsteps on the land of Mauritius for trading and empire expansion. Before that dodo bird has no natural predator. Dodo birds are the flightless birds and their legs are very weak so they easily caught by these sailors. Dodo birds weight up to 15 to 30 kg so they are easy meat for the sailor. Within 100 years of human presence, the dodo bird got extinct. The last dodo bird hunted in 1681.
In Mauritius, some species of trees are near about 300 years old. The life span of these trees is 300 years and now these trees are getting extinct. these trees completely depend on dodo birds. Dodo birds ate the fruit of these trees and only dodo birds digestive system can make these fruits seed grow. Luckily scientist found that domestic turkeys digestive system make the same impact on seeds

Wolf:-

In the 1920s, the US government Hunted all wolf in Yellowstone National Park because there are some cases happened that wolfs are coming to the human areas and attacking human so they hunted all wolfs.
after hunting wolfs some years later continuous drought has to occur, rivers are shrinking,  the population of rabbits is decreasing and elk population rapidly increasing, this has happened because wolfs are the top predator in Yellowstone Park and in the absence of top predator coyote takes place of the wolf. Coyote hunts small prey like rabbits, mice, snake and they are basically scavengers they can't hunt big animals like elk, bison, moose. these elk, bison, and moose eat plants, grasses, leaves, and bark.and because there is no predator to hunt these animals their population is increased and trees and plants are not growing that's why drought occurring.

In 1995, after 70 years thirteen wolfs are reintroduced in Yellowstone park and within 6 years remarkable changes happened in the environment. wolf kills many animals but they also give life to many animals.wolf kills ruminant animals so the number of trees in the jungle is growing and wolf kills coyotes that affect the population of rabbits and mice.

how we can save the tiger

There are many ways which can help to save the tiger:-

-Spread awareness of the tiger and why we need them.

-Visit the nearest wildlife sanctuary. 

-if you have seen any crime happening against the tiger then report it.

-Various organizations such as "World Wildlife Fund(WWF)", "Save Tigers Now", "International Fund For Animal Welfare(IFAW)" are saving the tigers.

-Be a part of the organization and make some donations that will help to save the tiger and support online campaigns. 

---------------------------------------