According to the WWF, there are approximately only 4,500 tigers left in the wild. However, some estimates put the number even lower. Habitat loss is a major factor in the decline in wild tiger populations. Today, an estimated 95% of lands where tigers once lived are now gone due to human activity.
About 4,500 tigers remain in the wild, but much more work is needed to protect this species if we are to secure its future in the wild.
Report: At Least 150 Tigers are Killed by Poachers Every Year.
In 1900, more than 100,000 tigers were estimated to roam the planet, but that fell to a record low of 3,200 globally in 2010. That year, India and 12 other countries with tiger populations signed an agreement to double their big cat numbers by 2022 – which India has now done.
3 Extinct Species of Tigers
These include the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), the Bali tiger (Pantera tigris balica) and the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica). These subspecies of tigers have not been spotted in decades and none are known to be in captivity.
Sumatran tigers are the rarest and smallest subspecies of tiger in the world and are currently classed as critically endangered. Tigers are both good swimmers and climbers with powerful muscular builds and large claws. In order to catch prey, they hunt alone.
White tigers are rare because their colouring is caused by a mutation in their genes – the building blocks that make all animals look the way they do. Most white tigers are Bengal tigers that have the mutation, which also gives them blue eyes.
A black tiger is a rare colour variant of the tiger, and is not a distinct species or geographic subspecies.
They conclude that while one on one, a tiger would certainly best a lion, in the wild the lion pride could hold their own against the solitary tiger.
Currently, India has the largest tiger population in the world. It is the home for nearly 3000 tigers. Further Reading: National Tiger Conservation Authority.
July 25 is the birth anniversary of legendary British hunter-turned-wildlife conservationist Jim Corbett. Born in Nainital, Uttarakhand, in 1875, his legacy as a hunter who specialised in killing maneater tigers and leopards that terrorised local populations across northern India got its start from Champawat.
"After bringing down the Champawat Tiger, Jim Corbett acquired a reputation as the leading hunter of man-eaters. This ability served him well, at a time when deforestation and diminishing prey were driving more and more tigers and leopards to hunt humans for food."
An outsized male Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris) shot in northern Uttar Pradesh, India, in November 1967, measured 3.22 m (10 ft 7 in) between pegs – or 3.37 m (11 ft 1 in) over the curves – and weighed approximately 389 kg (857 lb).
The white tiger is a result of a rare genetic mutation and the most efficient way to breed them is by using two tigers who have the recessive genes needed to produce offspring with a white coat. In captive breeding facilities these two individuals are often related, making inbreeding common.
White tigers in captivity exist due to inbreeding
In captive breeding facilities these two individuals are often related, making inbreeding common. In the US, all white tigers originate from a single male white continental tiger which was imported to the country decades ago.
Data collected from camera traps indicates that only six to seven melanistic tigers remain in India today. They are found only in Odisha.
In the battle of the grizzly bear vs tiger, a Siberian tiger would win a fight against a grizzly bear. The Siberian tiger is an ambush predator, and it's the only big cat that comes close to the grizzly bear in terms of size and power.
A tiger would kill a gorilla in a fight. If a tiger managed to ambush a gorilla, the tiger would immediately kill it. Although the gorilla is strong, the fact is that it could not stop 600 pounds of charging muscle and teeth.
Gorillas are strong and powerful animals. They are known to be able to fight off lions and other large predators.
Long-extinct Tasmanian tiger may still be alive and prowling the wilderness, scientists claim. Based on reported sightings, some scientists say the iconic creature probably survived until the late 1980s or 1990s, but others are skeptical.
There are currently believed to be fewer than 30 of these rare tigers in the world, but many more carriers of the gene. While no official name has been designated for the colour, it is sometimes referred to as the strawberry tiger due to the strawberry blonde colouration.
Purple Tiger Rhyparia purpurata Inactive Taxon
It is found in Europe, Anatolia, Syria, Transcaucasus, Central Asia (mainly in Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan), South Siberia, Mongolia, Amur Region, northern China, Korea and Japan (Honshu).
The rarest animal in the world is the vaquita (Phocoena sinus). It is a kind of critically endangered porpoise that only lives in the furthest north-western corner of the Gulf of California in Mexico. There are only 18 left in the world. It is thought that they may be extinct in ten years.
Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue eyes, due to the gene for blue eyes being linked to the gene for white fur. The gene for being cross-eyed, or boss-eyed, is also linked, so many white tigers have crossed blue eyes.
Rainbow Tiger or Tshenkutshen is a rather strange feline of Ecuador. It is said to be a large species with a white coat, spotted with black, but having stripes of black, white, red and yellow across it's chest.