BENGAL TIGER

The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most numerous tiger subspecies


TIGER SISTER

The Bengal tiger is found in India as well as Bangladesh and it is known to live both in the heated areas of desert and the grasslands where it is wet and cool.
The Bengal Tiger is one of the largest species of tigers in the world. They are also the one that offers the highest number of them in the wild. Don’t get to excited though as they are still at a high risk of being endangered. There are only about 2,500 of them in the wild.
What is also interesting is that there is about 1% which are DNA verified hybrids. They have one parent that is a Bengal Tiger and one that is a Siberian Tiger. These hybrid tigers seem to do quite well in the wild with most of the males being sterile. It is believed that this genetic link though was the result of mistakes in breeding while in captivity and then released to the wild instead of a natural occurrence that takes place in the wild. You may find many similarities between the Bengal Tiger and the Siberian Tiger.
As of 2010, Bengal tiger populations in India have been estimated at 1,706–1,909.As of 2014, they had reputedly increased to an estimated 2,226 individuals, but the method used in the census may not be accurate. Bengal tigers number around 440 in Bangladesh, 163–253 in Nepal, and 67–81 in Bhutan

The biggest threat to the in India is that their natural habitat continues to be cut away by logging companies. As a result they struggle to survive in less area and with less prey to feed upon. Finding enough water is a common problem for them as well. This is because the former is a subspecies off the latter.
This particular species of tiger can weigh up to 500 pounds for a full grown male and about 310 pounds for a full grown female. They also feature very long tails and heads that are larger than that of other species. They are excellent hunters and feed on a variety of prey found around India. They include deer, antelope, hogs and buffalo. They have also been seen consuming monkeys, birds, and other small prey when their main food selections become scarce.
In some areas there has been a problem with the Bengal Tiger eating livestock as well. Humans continue to try to live in these areas that used to be home to the tigers. Then they wonder why the animals they are raising become meals for them. Many of these ranchers engage in the illegal killing of tigers too so that they can protect their investment in such livestock.
There have also been reports of the Bengal Tiger killing and eating humans. However, most tigers avoid humans and this doesn’t happen regularly. They tend to consume up to 60 pounds of food at one time.

It is estimated that less than 2,500 of the Bengal tigers remain at this time. This is less than half of what the population was just 10 years ago. As a result there is a very aggressive protection plan in place for them. The efforts are working to an extent but poaching of these tigers is still a huge concern.
The Wildlife Protection Society of India continues to strive to look into all allegations of tiger poaching. They have confiscated large amounts of tiger parts and pelts but it is often hard for them to get to the source of who is actually responsible for killing and for shipping them. Even though they detain those caught with them there are more people involved in the process than they are able to uncover.

TIGER WITH CUBS

To get away with poaching though many of these hunters have resorted to poisoning the tigers. Then they are found already dead and they can’t be held responsible for killing them. This is also the same practices that many of the ranchers engage in as well.

Characteristics

The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black rings. The white tiger is a recessive mutant of the Bengal tiger, which is reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially from the former State of Rewa. However, it is not to be mistaken as an occurrence of albinism. In fact, there is only one fully authenticated case of a true albino tiger, and none of black tigers, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846.
Male Bengal tigers have an average total length of 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in) including the tail, while females measure 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in) on average The tail is typically 85 to 110 cm (33 to 43 in) long, and on average, tigers are 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in) in height at the shoulders.^[13The weight of males ranges from 180 to 258 kg (397 to 569 lb), while that of the females ranges from 100 to 160 kg (220 to 350 lb)^] The smallest recorded weights for Bengal tigers are from the Bangladesh Sundarbans, where adult females are 75 to 80 kg (165 to 176 lb). Bengal tigers have exceptionally stout teeth, and the canines are the longest among all living felids; measuring from 7.5 to 10 cm (3.0 to 3.9 in) in length.

History

The first ecological study of tigers in the wild, conducted in the mid-1960s, shocked those already suspicious about the tiger’s endangered conditions with numbers that pushed the tiger to the brink of extinction.

In 1969, the General Assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) proposed a resolution calling for international efforts to save the tiger. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) responded in 1972 with Operation Tiger, a global program to fund conservation efforts for the tiger in the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, and Indonesia.

During the 1970s, with the pressure and financial support of WWF’s Operation Tiger campaign, many countries, including Indonesia, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Thailand, established stronger wildlife protection laws (including laws banning the hunting of tigers) and created new protection areas.

India responded most rapidly with the formation of Tiger Task Force followed in 1973 by Project Tiger, which established India’s first tiger reserves and financial support from the Indian government for habitat conservation and tiger protection. The governments of all tiger-range countries have established protected areas or national reserves. Commitments to adequately fund and protect these wildlife reserves vary greatly from country to country.

Since the 1980s, the success of the wildlife reserves has been increasingly and drastically undermined by conflicts between “protected” tigers and both individual poachers and the needs of surrounding communities. Responding to the renewed need for intensive tiger conservation efforts beyond the national level, in 1993 members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cat Specialist Group and other world tiger experts endorsed a declaration that led to the formation of the Global Tiger Forum of Range States.

The forum works to bring together representatives from the 14 remaining tiger range-countries to develop regional strategies to save the tiger. In 1994, representatives from all the tiger-range countries attended the forum, except Lao PDR, China, and North Korea. Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam met and developed their regional conservation strategy in 1995.

Today, international conservation groups are working hard to save the tiger from extinction, but the prospect of losing the last of the world’s wild tigers within the next five years continues to loom. Combined with vital efforts to reduce the demand for tiger parts and strengthen protected-area laws, wildlife conservation and protection remains at the heart of the strategy to save the tiger in the wild