Sunday, December 5, 2010

Fading Stripes ( Copy pasta from 1 of my college papers) Tl;Dr warning!

The tiger (Panthera Tigris), one of the world's most beautiful and revered animals, stands near the brink of extinction. Since the turn of the century, its habitat and numbers have been reduced by up to 95 per cent. Its habitat spanning from China to Russia has been reduced to a more urban setting, forests being cut down and paved over for factories and buildings. Apart from the deforestation the tiger faces an onslaught of poaching throughout its range. In 1991, one-third of the Siberian or Amur tigers were killed to meet the demand for their bones and other parts. This paper will focus on the general causes that are leading to the tiger’s extinction.

“Illegal Hunting for Medicinal Trade
poaching for tiger skins has a long history; the magnificent striped pelt has been in demand for rugs, wall hangings, and fur coats. These are less important now as the market is restricted by trade bans. The poacher's targets today are bones and other parts to meet the demand for pseudo-medicinal use in eastern Asia, primarily China, Taiwan, and South Korea, but also in Indo-China. The extent of this demand has yet to be ascertained because very little data exists beyond the evidence of tiger products in pharmacies and markets throughout the region. Chinese authorities have disclosed that, in 1991, exports of tiger bone medicines included 15,079 cartons of tablets, 5,250kg of liquid medicines, and 31,500 bottles of wine. Most of the exports are believed to have been to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, but tiger-based medicines have been found in many parts of the world where there are Chinese communities, including Australia, Europe, and the USA.” (Taken from a National Geographic Article)

To the addition of the illegal poaching of tigers for medicinal purposes. Weak law enforcement has also played a big role in the tiger’s endangerment. Without heavy consequences to penalize poachers for the bones and coats the tigers remain fair game even though their population is dwindling to the brink of nothing. In China if a poacher is caught hunting a tiger it is simple a $400 fine. That’s a portion of what the hunter is selling the cat for. Some people think they are just killing one tiger. That is not entirely true. If it is a female tiger that is killed, she is likely to have cubs, which may be unable to fend for themselves, in which case the real loss may be three or four tigers, without counting the loss of the tigress's breeding potential. When a male is killed, the result may be an intensive struggle among other males to take over the territory during which cubs get killed and breeding is disrupted for a lengthy period, possibly for several years.

Habitat Loss:
The current range of the tiger extends through one of the most densely inhabited regions of the world, where human numbers are rising at an average of 1.87 per cent per annum (i.e. doubling in 37 years), according to the World Resources Institute. Except for Thailand and China (where there are fewer than 100 tigers), human populations are increasing much faster than the average global rate. During the 20 years since Project Tiger began in 1973, India's human population has increased by over 300 million and livestock by over 100 million. In the past 30 years, Vietnam's population has doubled, making it one of the world's most densely populated countries. It is second to another tiger range state, Bangladesh, in terms of farming population per hectare of cultivated land. The human pressure on wild habitat, including protected areas, is clearly intense, and increasing. Like other big cats, the tiger probably has little future outside protected areas because of the danger to livestock and human life. Tigers which stray out of reserves and attack livestock are often poisoned by local people. Besides the overpopulation, tigers are also facing more natural disasters too. Hurricanes are flooding their coastline habit, earthquakes, floods, wild fires ect.
Genetic instability:
Most tiger populations today consist of fewer than 100 individuals and only about 40 per cent of them constitute the breeding population. Inbreeding is inevitable and father-daughter and mother-son mating has been recorded. The balance of the sexes may be distorted by an excess of males or females surviving to maturity, thus increasing the impact of inbreeding. A loss of variability and genetic deterioration follow, with lowered cub production and survival, which may not be apparent until they have reached a level that, threatens the population.


Giving just these 3 main causes (poaching, habitat loss, and breeding problems) the tiger is sadly on its way out. The only way to save this breed of cat is by focusing on these 3 main causes, among the lesser known ones. But if I keep talking about that, this paper would soon lead to solutions.

12 comments:

  1. bawww i love tigers, itd be sad to see them go. there was a UN resolution recently about bringing them back by 2020 or something to that extent, so I cant wait to see that, but I dont have high hopes for China.... :( follow my blog too!

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  2. Lol, yea :\ There are only like 100 tigers left in the wild. Which sucks.

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  3. I will be honest in saying that I had no idea concerning the medicinal uses. I was completely unaware that they could even be used that way. ):

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  4. Wow I had no idea that they were being used for medicine. Do you know if there are any breeding programs working to interbreed the different tiger populations to help alleviate inbreeding?

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  5. As far as I know, I do not. I only skimmed through my resources lol. I typed this in 30 minutes, with out reviewing it. ( re-reads) HOLY SHIT grammar mistakes!

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  6. There's a lot of screwed up stuff going on in the world and I really hope that something can be done in time for these awesome animals. Unfortunately, it's not looking great... :(

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  7. alrite so when we gonna start shooting police and politicians?

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  8. Virtue preserved from fell destructions blast, Following!

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  9. Holy crap thats messed up

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  10. wow I had no idea people were using tiger parts for pseudo-medicine. Weird!

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