Extract from the chapter, carnivore: FELIDAE-DR. KEVIN LAZARUS-Director Zoo Taiping

Other Name: Tiger (French); Tiger (German); Tigre (Spanish); Bagh (Hindi, Bengali: India, Bangladesh); Rimau, Harimau (Indonesia, Malaysia); Sua Khong, Sua Lay (Laos); Babr (Farsi, Iran); Tigr (Russian); Lao Hu (Chinese); Seua (Thailand); Tag (Tibetan); Amba Darla (Udege: Amur river region, Russia)

Tiger Panthera Tigris head and body length is 1,400-2,800mm and tail length is 600-950mm (grzimek 1975). The subspecies found in southeastern Siberia and Manchuria, P.t.altaica, is the largest living cat. The other mainland subspecies are also large, but those of the East Indies are much smaller. In P.t.altaica male weigh 180-306kg, and females, 100-167kg; in P.t.tigris, of India and adjoining countries, male weigh 180-258kg, and females, 100-160kg, in P.t.sumatrae, of Sumatra, males weigh 100-140kg, and females, 75-110kg; and in P.t.balica, of Bali, males weigh 90-100kg, and females, 65-80kg (Mazak 1981). The ground color of the upper parts ranges from reddish orange to reddish ochre, and the underparts are creamy or white. The head, body, tail and limbs have a series of narrow black, gray, or brown stripes. On the flanks the stripes generally run in a vertical direction; and in some specimens the stripes are much reduced on the shoulders, forelegs, and anterior flanks (Guggiesberg 1975). There also is a rare but much publicized variant with a chalky white coat, dark stripes, and icy blue eyes; 103 are now in captivity (Roychoudhury 1987)

Except as noted, the information for the reminder of this account was taken from Mazak (1981). The tiger is tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions, its only requirements being adequate cover, water, and prey. It is found in such habitats as tropical rainforest, evergreen forest, mangrove swamps, grasslands, savannahs, and rocky country. An individual may have one or more favored dens within its territory, located in such places as caves, hollow trees, and dense vegetation. The tiger usually does not climb tress but is capable of doing so. It has been reported to cover up to 10 meters in a horizontal leap. It seems to like water and can swim well, easily crossing rivers 6-8km wide and sometimes swimming up to 29km. It is mainly nocturnal but may be active in daylight, especially in winter in the northern part of its range. Siberian animals have moved up to 60km per day. In Nepal, Sunquist (1981) determined the usual daily movement to be 10-20km.

To hunt, the tiger depends more on sight and hearing than on smell. It usually carefully stalks its prey, approaching from the side or rear and attempting to get as close as possible. It then leaps upon the quarry and tries simultaneously to throw it down and grab its throat. Killing is by strangulation or a bite to the back of the neck. The carcass is often dragged to an area within cover or near water. One individual dragged an adult gaur (Bos gaurus) 12 meters, and later 13 men tried to pull the carcass but could not move it (Grzimek 1975). After eating its fill, the tiger may cover the remains with grass or debris and then return for additional meals over the next several days. The diet consists mainly of large mammals, such as pigs, deer, antelope, buffalo, and gaur. Smaller mammals and birds occasionally are taken. A tiger can consume up to 40kg of meat at one time, but individuals in zoos are given 5-6kg per day. Although the tiger is an excellent hunter, it fails in at least 90 percent of its attempts to capture animals. The tiger thus cannot eliminate entire prey populations. In deed, Sunquist (1881) found that prey numbers, with the exception of one species, were not even being limited by tiger predation.

In Kanha National Park, in central India, Schaller (1967) determined that 10-15 adult tigers were regularly resident in an area of about 320 sq km. In Royal Chitawan National Park, in Nepal Sunquists (1981) found an overall population density of 1 adult per 36 sq km. Observation in these and other areas indicate much variation in home range size and social behavior, evidently depending on habitat conditions and prey availability. In India, individual home range seems usually to be 50-1,000 sq km. In Manchuria and Southeastern Siberia the usual size in 500-4000 sq km, and the maximum reported is 10,500 sq km. In Nepal, Smith, McDougal, and Sunquist (1987) found home range size to be 19-151 sq km for males and 10-51 sq km for females. These ranges essentially corresponded to defended territories, in that there was no overlap between those of adults of the same sex. A male range, however, overlapped the ranges of several females. Mothers evidently allowed their daughters to establish adjacent territories, but eventually the two generations may become agonistic. Schaller’s studies indicate that the same kind of situation may exist in central India but also that females are not territorial there, adults of the same sex sometimes share a home range, and there transient animals that lack an established range. All of these authorities suggested the presence of a land tenure system base don prior right, by which a resident animal is never replaced on its range until its death.

Chinese Tiger (Panthera Tigris Amoyensis)

Territorial boundaries are not patrolled, but individuals do visit all parts of their ranges over a period of day or weeks. These areas are marked with urine and feces. Avoidance, rather than fighting, seems to be the rule for tigers, nonetheless, one individual transplanted form its normal range to a different area evidently was killed soon thereafter by another tiger (Seidensticker et. al. 1976)

The tiger is essentially solitary, except for courting pairs and females with young. Even individuals that share a range usually keep 2-5km apart (Sunquist 1981). The tiger is not unsociable, however, and the animals in a given area (probably close relatives) may know one another and have a generally amicable relationship (Schaller 1967). Several adults may come together briefly, especially to share a kill. Limited evidence suggests that a tiger roars to announce to its associates that it has made a kill. An additional function of roaring seems to be attraction of the opposite sex. There are a number of other vocalizations, such as purr and grunts, and the tiger also communicates by marking with urine, feces, and scratches.

Matting may occur at anytime but is most frequent from November to April. Females usually give birth every 2-2.5 years and occasionally wait 3-4years; if all newborn are lost, however, another litter can be produced within 5 months (Shaller 1967). Females enter estrus at intervals of 3-9weeks, and receptivity lasts 3-6days. The gestation period is usually 104-6 days but ranges from 93 to 111 days. Births occur in a cave, a rocky crevice, or dense vegetation. The number of young per litter is usually two or three and ranges from one to six. The cubs weigh 780-1,600 grams at birth, open their eyes after 6-14 days, nurse for 3-6 months, and begin to travel with the mother at 5-6 months. They are taught how to hunt prey and apparently are capable killer at 11 months (Schaller 1967). They usually separate from the mother at 2 years but may wait another year. Sexual maturity is attained at 3-4 years by females and at 4-5 years by males. About half of all cubs do not survive more than 2 years, but maximum known longervity is about 26 years both in the wild and in captivity.

Tiger (Panthera Tiger)

The tiger probably has been responsible for more human deaths, through direct attack, than has any other wild mammals. In this regard, perhaps the most dangerous place in modern history was Singapore and nearby islands, where, following extensive settlement during the 1840s, over 1000 persons were being killed annually (McDougal 1987). About 1000 more people were reportedly killed each year in India during the early 1900s. Guggisberg (1975) questioned the accuracy of these statistics, but there seems to be little doubt that some tigers have preyed extensively, or almost exclusively, on people. One individual is said to have killed 430 persons in India.

Although such man-eaters have declined with the general reduction in tiger numbers in the twentieth century, the problem does persist. In 1972, for example, India’s production of honey and beeswax dropped by 50 percent when at least 29 persons who gathered these materials were devoured (Mainstone 1974).

Tigers currently seem to be especially dangerous in the Sundarbans mangrove forest, at the mouth of the Ganges River Hendrichs (1975c) reported that 129 persons were killed in this area from 1969 to 1971 but noted that only 1 percent of the tigers were actually seem to seek out human prey. P. Jackson (1985) wrote that 429 persons had been killed in the same area during the previous 10 years, but Chakabarti (1984) noted that unofficial estimates put the average annual toll at 100. A table compiled by Khan (1987) indicates a unique mammalian situation, in that the number of people killed by tigers in the Sundarbans during some recent years considerably exceeds the number of tigers killed by people.

Because it is considered to be a threat to human life and domestic livestock, and also because it is valued as a big game trophy, the tiger has been relentlessly hunted, trapped, and poisoned. Some European hunters and Indian maharajas killed hundreds of tigers each. After World War II, hunting became even more widespread than previously (Guggisberg 1975). The commercial trade in tiger skins intensified in the 1960s, and 1977 a pelt brought as much as U.S$4,250 in Great Britian (IUCN 1978)

Siberian Tiger (Pantera Tigris Altaica)

Sumatran Tiger (Pantera Tigris Sumatrae)

Perhaps the greatest threat to the survival of the tiger is destruction of its habitat. With the expansion of human populations, the logging of forest, the elimination of natural prey, and the spread of agriculture, there is continuous conflict between people and the tiger, and the latter species is almost always the loser. It is estimated that in 1920 there were about 100,000 tigers in the world. Estimates of wild population ranged as low as 4,000 in the 1970s (Fisher 1978, Jackson 1978) but subsequently increased to about 6,000-8,000 (Foose 1987a; P. Jackson 1985; Luoma1987). The increase has resulted largely from an intensive effort to protect the species and establish reserves in India (Karanth 1987); Panwar 1987), though there are doubts as to how long viable populations can be maintained there in the face of growing human encroachment (Ward 1987). The tiger is classified as endangered by the IUCN.

Except as noted, the information for the following summaries of the status of the eight subspecies of P. tigris was taken from the IUCN (1978), Luoma (1987), and Mazak (1981):

P.t.virgata (Caspian tiger), formerly occured from eastern Turkey and the Caucasus to the mountains of Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan, a few individuals still present in Turkey in the 1970s, now probably extinct;

P.t.tigris (Bengal tiger), originally found from Pakistan to western Burma, exterminated in Pakistan by 1906 (Roberts 1977), about 4,000 individuals now thought to survive in India, 400 in Bangladesh, 300 in Burma (Seal, Jackson, and Tilson 1987), at least 230 in Nepal (Mishra, Wemmer, and Smith 1987), and 200 in Bhutan (Dorji and Santiapillai 1989);

P.t.corbetti (Indochinese tiger), still found from eastern Burma to Viet Nam and the Malay Peninsula, about 2,000 individuals remain;

P.t.amoyensis (Chinese tiger), formerly occurred through-out eastern China, an estimated 4,000 individuals still survived in 1949 (Lu 1987), now confined largely to the Chang-jiang (Yangtze) Valley and apparently near extinction, with only 40-80 animals left in the wild, another 40 in capacity in China (Tan 1987; Xiang, Tan, and Jia 1987);

P.t.altaica (Siberian tiger), formerly found from Lake Baikal to he pacific coast and Korea, apparently now very rare in Manchuria and Korea, protection in the Ussuri region of the Soviet Union seems to have resulted in an increase in numbers and distribution there – about 200-300 individuals are now present in the wild (Prynn 1980), and 567 in capacity (foose 1987a);

P.t.sumarae (Sumatran tiger), population declined rapidly from an estimated 1,000 in the 1970s to about 500-600 now in the wild, another 157 in capacity (Ballou and Seidensticker 1987).

P.t.sondaica (Javan tiger), almost all suitable habitat destroyed, only 4 or 5 individuals survived in 1970s, now probably extinct;

P.t.balica (Bali tiger), probably extinct, last known specimen taken in 1937, though Van Den Brink (1980) held out some hope that it survives.