By Supriya Sharma

Serious concerns have raised about decline in number of tigers and number will go down further if effective action will not be taken to curb illegal killing of earths' magnificent creature. At the turn of 20th century, India had estimated 40,000 tigers in the wild. In 2000,the number was 3,642 and in 2008 we are left with only 1,411 tigers.

The government has launched various programmes and projects in order to save the remaining population of tiger. The project tiger was launched in 1972 as an initiative drive in this regard.

World Wild Life Fund (WWF) is doing a commendable job with a clear mission to protect, restore and maintain the number of tigers as well as their losing habitat.

The tiger is not just an animal. It is a biologically very important animal, which plays a pivotal role in maintaining the overall health of an ecosystem. As occupy the topmost position of the food chain, tigers help in keeping the prey population under control.

Culturally, tiger is considered as a symbol of power, beauty and ferociousness. Tragically, the belief the tiger holds a great power, even in their bones, is leading to their decline.

In the past, tigers were poached primarily for furs. But now the tigers are killed mainly for their bones and their body parts, which are easy to smuggle, and used by Chinese in various medicinal products.

Poaching is difficult to control and stop. Poaching networks are well organized, and countries in which tigers live often does not have the resources to hire, equip and train law enforcement officers.

The habitats of tigers are declining due to conversion of forests and grasslands into agriculture and settlement, to meet the growing demands of rising population, due to intrusion of grazing livestock, wood for fuel and building material.

Wildlife Conservation Society was set up in 1895 with an aim to save wildlife and wild places across the globe. WCS created the Wildlife Crimes Unit in 2003. The unit provides data and technical advices to law enforcement agencies to support the investigation and prosecution of wildlife programs.

Our national animal is in a great trouble. Time has come to secure a safe future if you want to see the tigers in future. Endangered wildlife species can be recovered if we given them a chance. We find some smart ways that will be quite helpful to control poaching to some extent.

1. To grow awareness and sensitivity to the plight of tigers.

2. Minimizing the use of products obtained from the forest.

3. Tiger poachers should be punished strictly.

4. To increase the financial assistance for tiger conservation programmes and projects.

5. To reduce the conflict between tiger and man.

6. More funds will be raised to support conservation projects as well as captive breeding.

7. To take significant steps to stop the illegal trade of tiger parts.

8. Wildlife education programmes should be organized at schools and stressing the need and benefits of conservation.

9. To enhance the capabilities and equip the staff of forest department to control illegal killing of tiger and perform their duties more efficiently in the field to nullify the chances of tiger killing.

By Swati Nitin Gupta

Scared, lonely, sad and hungry, jumping at the smallest sound, waiting for his mommy to come back. But maybe she is not coming back. Save our tigers, there are just 1411 - is the tagline of the video being telecast on television all over India.

Looking at the young two months old cub waiting for his mommy in the cave was really touching as he looked lost, alone with no one to console him just like an orphan, who has no idea where to go, whom to go and how to survive. People involved in saving our tigers are urging to use social media to create awareness among each other. So here are ten steps to stop the dwindling population of tigers in India.

1. Create awareness

Anyone and everyone can help if they put their mind to it. So make posters, fliers, shout it out from the roof tops, spread a word; in other words create awareness about the importance of tigers on the planet. Organise birthday parties with tiger theme, parents can take the children to zoo for more information on tigers.

2. Educate the locals

People living near the forests need to be educated about the importance of tigers in terms of ecosystem. They need to be told that if there will be no tigers there will be no forests as all the grass eaters will devour the forests.

3. Stop poaching and don't encourage poachers

Sale of tiger skin and other body parts is banned. So if you find somebody hunting tigers, report them to your local police station or even the forest officials. They will take care of the poachers.

4. Support a cause

Join a cause for tigers. You can join save our tigers and support them by blogging, or by making posters, sending fliers among other things. You can also organise a tiger sale and donate the money to the cause.

5. Severe punishment for poachers

Ensure that the poachers are not allowed to go easily. Make sure that they receive severe punishment for their crime.

6. Ban the goods made of tiger skin

Please do not use goods made of tiger skin. Also please don't use the medicine made out of tiger's body parts. On an average one wild tiger is killed each day for profit killing.

7. Protect forests

In order to save tigers forests need to be protected. Apparently the species are becoming extinct because of the loss of their natural habitat.

8. Take an eco tour

An eco tour that focuses on tigers can be beneficial in making people understand the importance of tigers. Also the money made out of these tours can help in convincing government that tigers can be profitable.

9. Support accredited zoos and wildlife sanctuaries

You can also support various accredited zoos and wildlife sanctuaries in your area. They are active in research and conservation programmes with some of the zoos involved in captive breeding of tigers

10. Donate money to tiger conservation organisations

You can also donate some amount to tiger conservation organisations who are constantly striving to fund money for their research as well as educational programmes on tigers.

These are few of the ways that you can save the tigers from becoming extinct. There were eight species of tigers on the planet earth. However, three of them are already extinct save the rest five. The three species that are extinct now are Bali tigers, Javan tigers and Caspian tigers.

By Peter Dickinson

The arrival of 2010 found us sharing our planet with just six remaining sub-species of Tiger. These are the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), the Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni), the South China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), the Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), the Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and the Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica).

All of these are endangered with a real threat of extinction in the wild. In recent historical times we have already lost the Javan Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), the Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) and the Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata).

Conservative estimates suggest that less than 3,200 tigers remain. This is in spite of the money being spent on the protection of habitat and guarding the animals themselves. Poaching continues and numbers decline. The good zoos of the world recognise this problem and under the auspices of regional and international zoo bodies they keep and manage tigers for which officially recognised studbooks exist.

The studbooks for the various sub-species show a family tree for all of the included animals which can be traced back to known wild caught founders. Backed up by DNA analysis they help the studbook keeper and species coordinator to advise holders which animals should breed with which. Choices will usually be made to pair up animals of a similar age and which are as unrelated as possible.

Within the United Kingdom, zoo legislation requires that zoos which hold any species (and this incudes tigers) for which a studbook exists then they MUST subscribe to it and the associated breeding programme. Failure to do so would mean losing their zoo licence and so have to close to the public. Sadly such legislation is not International.

The breeding programmes are designed to breed and maintain long term healthy, genetically viable populations which, after training and health screening may be released into the wild at some future date. This is no magic fix and the programmes look towards a possible release a hundred years from now.

Earlier release of tigers is not a viable consideration whilst poaching and habitat destruction continues. Other species may be given consideration where such a move could be of positive benefit to a dwindling wild population. This was done at the end of 2009 with the Northern White Rhinoceros. Sometimes the opposite applies whereby the whole wild population is removed from the wild. This was done with the Californian Condor. Down to just 22 birds in 1987 it was bred protectively in captivity so that there is a population of over 300 today. Over half of these are in the wild. The removal of certain animals from the wild can serve to boost the genetic strength of the captive population.

One of the major problems with the managed population of captive tigers regardless of sub-species is the number of captive spaces. There is not enough. Breeding has to be controlled. Tigers are an easy species to breed but there has to be somewhere to accommodate the progeny. For this reason contraceptive implants are used as is breeding separation and the maintenance of same sex pairs and groups. Numbers in captivity must be controlled and the available genetic range maintained.

The long term survival of the Tiger is under direct and positive threat by those holders of tigers who keep and breed none studbook animals. Those who keep and breed non registered tigers are, without exception, Tiger Farmers. No reputable zoo is going to be interested in the progeny. These animals will, sooner or later, disappear into trade and ultimately end up supplying an illicit market in tiger parts.

These unmanaged tigers are selfishly bred without the remotest consideration to the long term survival to the various sub-species as a whole. Animals are crossed with a sub-specific hybrid brother bred to sister and mother with son. In fact this is deliberately done by collections which keep and breed White Tigers. White Tigers are NOT a species but are a mutation. Most are hybrid mutations. They are of no value to conservation at all.

Those collections which do keep and breed pure bred species but are not a member of an official breeding programme perform no useful function at all. Inevitably the animals they produce will pass on into trade.

No one single collection can have a 'breeding programme'. Any collection can breed but a breeding progamme needs the cooperation and commitment of a number of collections and the more the better. It does not matter a hoot how 'rare and endangered' a tiger is. If it is not in an official breeding programme it is worthless. Zoos which keep and breed or simply keep non studbook animals are not clever they are actually doing harm, albeit indirectly, to the long term survival of the tiger.

By Omer Ashraf

Solitary cats, Bengal Tigers are territorial animals. They hunt at dusk and dawn and regularly mark their territory by scent to keep out other tigers from their hunting and breeding grounds. In some national parks where they are protected, tigers have been recorded to be active in daytime as well. Generally tigers prefer to stay in shade during daylight hours, particularly in the scorching summers of South Asia. Territories are smaller than those of Siberian Tigers owing to shrinking habitat of the tigers in India. Males roam over an area of twenty square miles and females hunt in a slightly smaller range of seventeen square miles. Often the territory of a single male overlaps those of several females, with whom he frequently mates. Tigers usually have more than one den in their range for them to choose as their haunt for a particular period of time.

Bengal Tigers are at the top of their ecosystem and play an active role in maintaining the delicate balance of India's threatened natural fauna and flora. They prey upon a variety of animals including wild boar, sambar, barasingha, nilgai, gaur and water buffalo though the spotted dear, also known as chital, forms the bulk of their diet. At times smaller animals including hares, peacocks, langurs and monkeys are also consumed. Tigers are not above scavenging and often eat putrefied carcasses. Extremely strong, Bengal Tigers are known to attack and kill the largest prey animals in India including the Asiatic Elephant and Rhinoceros. They are estimated to have the strength of twelve adult men and can carry a fully grown cow over a ten foot fence. Aggressive animals, these great cats often kill adult crocodiles over conflict. In reality, nothing is safe from a wild tiger in the jungles of India if it makes up its mind to hunt it.

The most untamed of India's tigers reside in the largest natural delta on earth - the Sunderban forest of Bengal where the sacred river Ganges opens into the Bay of Bengal. An estimated near three hundred and five hundred tigers reside on India and Bangladesh's side of this vast mangrove wetland. Landlocked through ever-changing tides from the hunting maharajahs and colonial British of the past centuries, these wild tigers have never learned to respect man. These tigers are expert swimmers and amongst the most notorious big cats when it comes to man-eating. Their victims are ever so often the honey collectors and fishermen of Sunderban (literally meaning beautiful forest). Even though Core Areas and Buffer Zones have been designated to separate the predator from man, the extremely poor villagers go deep into tiger territory to search for honey and fish.

The result is a number of deaths yearly that the locals have learnt to live with as the continual cycle of life and death in that part of the world. Still the conflict fares badly for the tiger which runs the risk of being poisoned and killed as in many other parts of the subcontinent where it is being victimized, by villagers for revenge, and poachers for profit. Despite its fearsome reputation the tiger is believed to be a large hearted gentleman that generally avoids human by most experts including the famed hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett who understood more about the big cat more than half a century ago than most do today. Most human kills by tigers according to him were the result of surprise, provocation, old age, injury, loss of prey or coincidence. Once tigers learn that humans are relatively easy and defenseless prey, some take to man-eating.

Recorded in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and parts of Tibet, the Bengal Tiger is essentially the pride of India and Bangladesh where it is given the status of national animal. Highest numbers are known to exist in scattered reserves in India where its numbers have shrunk from tens of thousands nearly a century ago to less than fifteen hundred today. Tigers survive in a variety of tropical habitats including marshlands, brush and grasslands.

Mating season for Bengal Tigers is between winter and spring. Females are receptive for three days to a week. Pregnancy lasts for around three months after which three cubs are born on average. The young are particularly vulnerable to adult male tigers in the vicinity who will frequently kill the cubs they haven't fathered to bring the female into estrus and establish the perpetuity of their own genetic line. At eleven months of age, the cubs are able to hunt for themselves. They stay with their mother for up to two to three years of age after which they move off to fend for themselves and take up a range of their own. Lifespan in the wild is fifteen years, and in captivity seventeen years on average.

By Madan G Singh

The Tiger is recognized as one of the big 5 cats. The list is headed by the Lion which is closely followed by the Tiger. Generally male tigers are about 9' in length and could have an average weight of 400 lbs. The measurement of length is from the nose to the tail. Female tigers are slightly smaller in size and weight. Till about 100 years back the tiger was in abundance all over the world and thousands roamed the areas of Asia, India and Africa. However indiscriminate hunting and destruction of its natural habitat has reduced the tiger population to a pittance and has become an endangered species. In case this species is not looked after there is a good chance that the tiger will remain only in photographs.

India holds pride of place as far as tigers are concerned. The Cat Specialist Group has estimated that nearly two thirds of all the worlds' tigers are concentrated in India. India has been home to the tiger for as long as Indian history. The Indus valley civilization which thrived nearly 4500 years back has clear reference to the Indian Tiger. A seal with a tigers head is proof enough that the tiger as a wild cat flourished at that time. Even earlier about 5000 years back the rock paintings of the Warli tribes in Thane show the existence of the tiger.

The Indian Tiger also referred to as the Bengal Tiger has pride of place in the list of tigers. Panthera Tigris Tigris is the name given to the Indian tiger by zoologists. The Bengal tiger is also referred to as the Royal Bengal tiger because of its majestic appearance. The Bengal tiger is a carnivorous animal. But sometimes it can turn into a man eater. Tigers generally are not man eaters, but an injury or a provocation can lead a tiger to become a man eater. The tiger in India is a protected species, but the sad part is that as per the last tiger census conducted by the Indian Government ,only 3846 tigers were counted. But experts have questioned the method of conducting census of the tigers by the Indians which they feel is not scientific. Indian censuses of wild tigers are carried out by identification of footprints also referred to as pugmarks of individual tigers. For this identification an expert tiger tracker is a must. However experts feel this method is not accurate.

With the Tiger population dwindling the government and wild life enthusiasts launched 'Project Tiger' to help the species from becoming extinct. But the launch of 'Operation Tiger' for the conservation of the tiger is at least 3 decades late. Prior to this the Maharajas carried out extensive shootings of the tiger to satisfy their ego. Big tiger shoots were organized to please the British rulers as India was a colony at that time. The Bengal tiger has been part of folklore in the tales written by Jim Corbett. He shot hundreds of tigers but regretted it in later life and became a tiger conservationist. The Corbett national park is named in his memory in Western Utter Pradesh.

One of the most famous reserves for the Tiger in India is the Smlipal reserve in the state of Orissa. Here the thick jungles give ample cover to the tiger. The melanistic or black tiger is a rare color variant of the tiger and is also supposed to be alive in this reserve albeit in very scanty number. The white tiger also a rarity is only found in India in Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. As things stand the tiger is an endangered species and it is incumbent on all wild life enthusiasts to help save the tiger and its habitat. This magnificent animal cannot be relegated to the dustbins of natural history.

By Aditya V Kumar

Unnatural deaths of tigers are increasing alarmingly and it has forced them to the verge of extinction. A research by the WWF has shown that there are just 1411 wild tigers left in the India, 50 in China and less than 3,200 in the US. Like all other animals and human-beings tigers do have the right to survive. Tigers who are classified as wild-cats are important for our survival too. Being at the top of the ecosysytem' s food pyramid their well being ensures the entire system is in order. The three main reasons why tigers are dying today are Poaching, Man-Animal Conflicts and Loss of their Habitat. The only way by which we can stop poaching is by ensuring that the poor who kill tigers and sell their skin to make a living are able to make it by other means. Once poaching stops, illegal trade of tiger-skin, their bones and other parts will become impossible.

Today, tigers are loosing their habitat because people are destroying the forests by felling trees for timber to large-scale destruction for industries and roads in the name of development. But we also have to think about the villagers whose living depend on the forests. To save our forests, we must help the villagers in earning a decent income for their living. By preventing deforestation we will not only help the tigers but ourselves as forests are the source of our rivers, streams and play an essential role in attracting rainfall and preventing soil-erosion. Tigers are territorial animals and they need their own unique space to live. So if we destroy their habitat they will move out to create their own territories. we have to protect our forests for the safety of tigers else they will take to straying into villages and cities and get killed due to fear.

All this sounds difficult but it is not. The population density in Asian countries has always been very high as compared to the West. Especially in countries like India people have traditionally shared space with many different kinds of species especially wild-carnivores which are almost extinct in the West. Tigers still have a great chance to live if we live up to that tradition. So we all must try to protect this endangered species from extinction.

By Greg Davisson

Tigers are an endangered species and all over the world the tiger hunting has been banned. In fact the population is dwindling very fast and if no end is made to end this poaching then the chances of the tiger population surviving the next century are very bleak.

The tiger's species which are surviving now are the white tigers which are primarily found in Siberia. The Siberian tigers are the most endangered species of all the tiger species. The estimated population remaining today of these Siberian Tigers is only about 350.

The reason why the Siberian Tigers are killed because of the fact that these have bones which are used in the making of the medicines as well as their skin is used for making of good fur clothes for winter use. Poachers all over the world keep track of the tigers and infiltrate the habitat of the tigers to kill them and then sell for thousand of dollars.

The other major species that is there which is known for the threat to its existence is the Royal Bengal Tiger. This tiger is found in the South Asian countries but mainly in India. Again they are killed for their skin as well as for their bones which are used in medicines.

Indian government initiated a major project called the Project Tiger to make sure that the Tiger reserves were created in all parts of India. This was done to ensure that the Bengal Tiger has a habitat to live and it was safe from the rampant poaching that happened.

Jim Corbett in India did a lot to show the plight of tigers in India and there is a national park in the name of Jim Corbett. The other major place where the tigers are known to be present is the Sunderbans area in Bengal and that area is considered to be the best for habitat of the tigers.

Apart from these two main types of tigers there are other tigers like the Indochinese tigers as well as the Sumatran tigers which are struggling for their survival. Sumatran Tigers are found in the area of the Sumatra in Indonesia and their population is now considered to be in the range of about 1000 or so.

Tiger hunting is banned in almost all the countries. This has been done to ensure that the tigers do not become extinct. In fact a lot of governments have set up special parks and reserves with special protection in place to ensure that no poaching of tigers takes place.

By Navodita Maurice

They are the symbols of royalty, strength and beauty and are the national animals of India. We are definitely talking about the tigers. Presently they come under the category of endangered animals as they have been hunted by the humans on large scale for their amazing skin which fetches higher sum of money and their claws and teeth are the items of decoration. Mass killing of their beautiful animal has declined its population to that extent that they are on the verge of extinction. Many wild life reserves, national parks are there all over the world to save this elegant animal from extinction.

The scientific name of tiger is Pantera tigris and it belongs to the phylum Chordata and class Mammalia. The order Carnivora and the family Felidae form the complete address of tiger. Tiger is the native of southern and eastern Asia and is an apex predator and obligate carnivorous animal. The average body size of an adult tiger is 3.3 m and its body weight may be 300 kg. Tigers can be easily identified by the presence of dark vertical stripes over the orange white fur and lighter under parts. The subspecies that comprises the largest population of the tiger is the Bengal tiger and the largest subspecies of tiger is the Siberian tiger. They are very well adapted to their habitats and can be found easily available in the Siberian taiga, open grasslands and the mangrove swamps. They make their own territories and love to live solitary and hunt on a large variety of animals for getting their food. When their prey becomes scarce they do not hesitate to attack humans also. Out of the nine subspecies of the modern tigers three are completely extinct and the remaining six share the category of endangered animals. Hunting and fragmentation are the major causes of their population reduction. Tigers form the worlds most popular and charismatic mega fauna.

The word tiger has been originated from the Greek word tigris which means arrow and it refers to the speed of this animal. Tigers were distributed in the Asia from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and Indonesia in the past. During the 19th century these animals became extinct from the western Asia and became confined to small pocket of the adjoining areas. Presently the only island that is providing shelter to the largest number of tigers is Sumatra. The population of tigers is also present in India, China and the Southeast Asia. Borneo is famous for housing the fossils of tigers only. Tigers prefer to live in those areas where enough green cover, plenty of prey and water resources are available. Bengal tigers have a wide habitat range. They dwell in wet, evergreen, semi evergreen forests of Assam, mangrove forests of Ganges Delta, deciduous forests of Nepal and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats. They are good swimmers and enjoy playing with cold water and can swim up to 4 miles continuously.

Tigers are believed to have evolved from a tiger like cat Panthera palaeosinensis whose remains have been found in China and Java. It is believed that these cats were present two million years ago in the Pleistocene and were smaller than the modern tigers. The earliest fossils of true tigers are believed to be 1.6 and 1.8 million years old. The tigers are most beautiful among all the members of the cat family. They have rusty-reddish to brown-rusty fur coats with a white ventral area and a tinge of white that encircles the face and stripes of black or dark brown over the rusty reddish coat. The number of stripes differs according to the subspecies but every tiger on an average has about hundred stripes. The pattern of the stripe is characteristic of each tiger subspecies and it is used for identification of the subspecies. The striped body acts as a weapon of camouflage and helps the tiger to remain unseen in the vicinity of the prey and helps in getting the prey easily with less effort. The tigers bear a white spot at the back of their ears called ocelli which acts as a social symbol and is found in all the big cats. The other demarcated characters of tigers include strongly built legs and shoulders just like that of the lions which help them to grab and pull the preys heavier and bigger than their own bodies. The body size and the body weight differ according to the species. The tigresses are always smaller than the males and the males are generally 1.7 times larger in size as compared to the females. This distinction is fund in every subspecies of the tigers. The skull of the tiger resembles closely with that of the lion with certain differences which includes longer postorbital region.

At present there are nine subspecies of tigers which are recognized out which three are totally extinct. These include the Bengal or the Royal tiger, Indochinese tiger, Malayan tiger, Sumatran tiger, Siberian tiger, South China tiger. These are the species of tigers which are present today and are searching means to increase in numbers equivalent to the one that occurred in the past. In 1977 the government of China passed a law to ban the mass killing of this royal animal but it was too late and few subspecies had already faced extinction. The extinct subspecies of tigers include the Bali tiger, Javan tiger and the Caspian tiger. The hybridization of tigers was started in the 19th century when the lions and tigers were crossed and the resulting offsprings were given the names ligers and tigons. This practice was first tried in the zoos and is under strict control of the government of China. Liger is the result of cross between male lion and the tigress and tigon is the result of cross between male tiger and female lioness.

White tiger is the result of well known gene mutation termed as chinchilla albinistic. The white tigers are actually rare in the wild and are bred in the zoos because of their popularity. Breeding of the white tigers may also be responsible for inbreeding. The white tiger is actually not a subspecies but a result of colour variation particularly in the Bengal tigers and only one white tiger occurs in every 10,000 live births. The gene carrying such type of mutation is a recessive gene and is carried either by any of the two parents. Another type of recessive gene mutation is responsible for the birth of golden tabby tigers which have light golden fur, pale yellow legs and very faint orange stripes. The population of the golden tabby tigers is only 30.

Tigers are actually solitary animals but have well marked territories. The range of their territories depends upon the availability of prey and access on females. The territory of the tigress may range up to 20 square kilometers but males have larger territories which may extend up to 60-100 square kilometers. When a young tigress makes her territory it prefers an area close to her mother's territory while young males prefer to make their territories in areas devoid of any other male. The males are very violent and often fight for females. Terrible violent fights occur between the males especially when the female is in estrous and the death of the weaker opponent may also result in such fight. Tigers mark their territories by spraying of urine, secretion of anal gland, scat also. They also roar to defend their territories. Tigers generally prey on large and medium sized animals which include the chital, gaur, sambar, deer, wild boar and buffalo. Sometimes they also hunt leopards, pythons for getting their food. The old or the wounded tigers which are unable to hunt often prey on humans like the tigers of Sunderbans in India are man eaters. Tigers also feed on vegetation for getting their dietary fiber and the fiber of Slow Match tree is highly favoured. Tigers prefer to hunt at night either alone or in groups and run at a speed of 49-65 kilometers per hour. Out of twenty hunts only one result in killing of the prey. When hunting on larger animals they tend to grab the throat with the help of fore-limbs and the prey dies because of strangulation. While preying on smaller animals they bite at the nape, break the spinal cord or often pierce the spinal cord.

Mating in tigers can occur throughout the tear but the most preferred months are November and April. The females are receptive only for short duration and within this duration the mating must take place. A mating pair copulates very frequently and noisily like other cats and gestation period is of 16 weeks. The number of offsprings produced may be 3-4 and each weighing 1 kg, blind and helpless. The tigress takes part in caring of the young ones and the father takes no part in parental care. After five months the tigress will again give birth to another set of litters if the previous ones will be lost. The young ones after 8 weeks come out of the den and are ready to follow their mother. There is a single dominant cub of either sex in the litter. The cubs remain with their mother until they are two and a half years old. The females reach maturity at the age of 3-4 years and the males at the age of 4-5 years. During her complete life span the female gives birth to equal number of male and female cubs.

The mass killing of tigers for fur and destruction of their natural habitat are responsible for the decline of the population of tigers. According to report that at the beginning of 20th century the total 100,000 population of tigers got reduced to only 2,000 in the wild. India is believed to house world's largest population of tigers. According to a report of World Wildlife Fund out of 3,500 tigers in the world 1,400 are found in India. A major project entitled Project Tiger was started in 1973 with the efforts of Indira Gandhi to save this royal animal and is running successfully till present. Many national parks have already been established in India for conservation of tigers. Not only in India but all over the world measures are being taken to save this beautiful animal from extinction.

Tigers are the symbol of strength and are the source of terror. Yet they look dangerous but make our jungles beautiful. Come, let's save our tigers from extinction.

By Madan G Singh

India is the home to the tiger. It has the largest concentration of Tiger population in the world. For centuries this beast has been part of folk lore. Presently this species has dwindled and a hundred thousand tigers of yester years have been reduced to a few thousand now. Waking up, the wild life foundation and the Indian government have declared it a protected species and created tiger reserves for the tiger to be able to live and thrive in its natural habitat. Next to the Lion the tiger out of the big cats inspires awe and respect. It's a carnivorous beast which thrives on wild buck, deer and wild hog for its prey. A fully grown tiger is a menacing beast and if confronted or antagonized can be a formidable opponent.

Jim Corbett the famous hunter made the tiger a part of literature with his book "Man Eating Tiger of Rudraprayag".This is a true story and the tiger in this case had killed over a hundred human beings. After reading it one may well be tempted to ask whether the tiger is by nature a man eater. Does he relish human flesh?

Tigers as a species generally avoid human beings. There are no instances of a tiger living of human flesh from childhood. But again in India it is recorded that thousands of people have been killed and eaten by tigers. Some put the figures as close to 300,000. But this is best an estimate. However there is no doubt that vast numbers of Indian villagers have fallen prey to the tiger.

A tiger will resort to human being as prey only if he is incapacitated in any way. There are instances of tigers that have become aged or injured resorting to attacking and killing humans. Once a tiger is unable to catch his natural prey then Darwin's theory comes into play. The tiger to survive becomes a man eater and preys on humans. In such a scenario the tiger always attacks single human beings and generally avoids a group moving together. Weighing 400 to 500 lbs the tiger can easily over power a human. His modus operandi is usually to jump on the man from the back and catch his neck. If necessary, he will track the man for some time and attack only at the opportune time. That shows that man eaters are cunning animals. Man eating tigers after they have been killed have been found to be generally incapacitated.

Apart from being a cunning animal, the tiger also seems to have a sixth sense that warns him when an armed human being is approaching. In that case he will slink away deeper into the forest or a cave and bide his time. This characteristic of the tiger is well documented in the old British movie 'Harry Black and the Tiger' with IS Johar the Indian actor as the tiger tracker.

Another reason for the tiger to turn into a man eater is the pressure on his natural habitat. With India's ever growing population and scarcity of land the villagers have been encroaching on the natural habitat of the tiger. This results in shortage of game for the tiger and perforce a healthy tiger could target a human being for his survival. Once the tiger finds it easy to kill a human being, he is likely to go on a man eating spree. In that case he becomes a dangerous animal as he is fit and can give any hunter a run for his money. While hunting a human being as prey the tiger follows all the principles of war. Thus decoy, stealth, surprise, speed are all essential ingredients of a tigers action.

There are instances even of the tiger decoying the hunter and attacking him. There are many instances of tigers thriving for years as man eaters. Out of all the tigers in India the ones that inhabit the Sunder bans in Bengal are unique. This area is muddy and has knee deep water at many places, yet the tiger survives in such surroundings.

There are instances of these tigers moving stealthily and making away with humans even if they are in a boat.

Jim Corbett has the distinction of killing the maximum number of man eating tigers.

Once a tiger is confirmed as a man eater the District magistrate will issue a notification and ask hunters to shoot the tiger. The tiger can be tracked from his pug marks and for this a tiger tracker is a must. The number of man eaters has now dwindled. This is natural as the population of tigers has declined dramatically.

By Steve Challis

The Sundarbans
Most Tiger habitats are dry land. Tigers are good swimmers, and the Sumatran Tiger is especially adept at this. However, there is one important Bengal Tiger Habitat that has large amounts of water. It is designated as a wetland of international importance.

The Sundarbans is an area of mangrove swamps by the mouths of the Rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra. Behind the Mangrove area are brackish water swamps.

Mangroves
The Mangrove area of the Sundarbans of about 20,000 square kilometres is probably the largest single mangrove area in the world.

The mangrove area is dominated by the Sundari (Heritiera fomes) trees, and in terms of large plants, it has less variety than most plant communities, but it is an extremely productive area and has a very large number of different species of animal.

Tigers of the Sundarbans
Tigers are at the top of the food chain, and will eat any animal living in the area, either on land or in the water. There are probably about 500 Tigers in the area, making it one of the most important populations of Tigers anywhere in the world.

In this area, the Bengal Tiger seems to regard Humans as a normal part of its prey. The Tigers are protected animals here and in the rest of India and Bangladesh; a range of measures have been put into place to stop man eating. They have greatly reduced the problem.

Poaching
Although Tigers are protected animals, they are killed illegally. The market for tiger products is not generally India, but China.

The Governments of India and Bangladesh have tried to stop the poaching, but in the area of the Sundarbans, their efforts are greatly aided by the man eating habits of the Tigers.

Rising Sea Levels
The rise in sea level of about 20 centimetres (8 inches) in the last 100 years has combined with the subsidence of the area to put some pressure on this habitat. If the sea level continues to rise, the Sundarbans is under threat.

Human Threat
A more immediate threat to this habitat is Human activity. People have been clearing is so they have somewhere to live. The Human population density of the area is enormous.

Other Animals of the Sundarbans
Apart from the Tigers, there are around 30,000 spotted deer, and several other types of deer like the Barking Deer. Crocodiles of two species and one gavial share the water with Ganges Dolphins and Sharks together with huge numbers of different types of fish.

Macaques live in the trees with Langurs and a huge variety of birds.

Other Cats
Leopards, jungle cats, fishing cats and leopard cats also live in the area.