India's prime minister has hailed progress in revitalizing the country's native tiger population after decades of decline. But the endangered species faces an uphill battle to survive amid growing demand for tiger parts.
The Indian government on Monday said its native wild tiger population has grown by more than 30% in four years thanks to bold conservation efforts.
The number of tigers in the wild rose to 2,967, up from 2,226 in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the increase as a "historic achievement."
"We reaffirm our commitment towards protecting the tiger," Modi said during the Global Tiger Day launch of a report on the native tiger population. "The result of the just-declared tiger census would make every Indian, every nature lover happy."
The government survey, which is conducted every four years, draws information about the tiger population from 26,000 camera traps.
For decades, the global tiger population has been decliningImage: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/A. Singh
Revitalizing the species
India, along with other countries home to tiger populations, has increased conservation efforts after the global population dropped to an all-time low of 3,200 in 2010.
"Nine years ago, it was decided in St Petersburg that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022," Modi said. "We, in India, completed this target four years early."
New Delhi has set aside 50 habitats exclusively for tigers spanning the Himalayan foothills to the Western Ghats. Authorities believe up to 40,000 tigers lived in the wild when India gained independence from British colonization in 1947.
Threatened by illegal poaching and habitat loss, fewer than 4,000 tigers remain in the wild. But among zoos and human homes, their numbers are on the rise.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/L. Jie
Admired, feared and on the brink of extinction
Tigers are secretive, solitary animals that need a lot of room to move. From lush jungles in Malaysia and Indonesia to high mountains in Bhutan and mangrove forests in India, the habitats tigers roam in search of food are being lost to deforestation and development. Much of what remains is fragmented into chunks of isolated forest surrounded by roads, farms, towns and cities.
Cages, backyards a far cry from Asian forests, savannas
With their sleek, stripey coats, piercing stare and adorable cubs, tigers are highly sought-after as exotic pets and zoo animals. This is especially true in the US — according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the total number of tigers in the country "likely exceeds the numbers found in the wild." It's estimated there could be from 2,000 to 5,000 tigers living in the state of Texas alone.
Only half of tiger cubs survive in the wild. Mothers may refuse to feed their offspring or abandon them for unknown reasons. In captivity, zoos have overcome this by getting female dogs to takeover the feeding of tiger cubs. The dogs don't seem to know the difference between their own offspring and the tiger cubs, which take around the same amount of time to wean.
Image: dapd
Three subspecies already lost to extinction
There are nine subspecies of tiger, of which six survive today. The differences are mostly a reflection of extreme climatic changes over thousands of years. The Siberian — or Amur — tiger (pictured), for example, is bigger and hairier than other subspecies. This means it can retain heat in the frosty Siberian wilderness, as it has a smaller surface area relative to its overall mass.
Image: picture-alliance/All Canada Photos/F. Pali
Tigers and lions live side-by-side, right? No!
While the six surviving tiger subspecies don’t have a lot of genetic variation, they are each uniquely adapted to their habitats — which are in Asia, not Africa. Some live in tropical forests, others in dry forests, some in marshes and wetlands and some at elevations of 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). That makes it more difficult to relocate them to different parts of the world to boost numbers.
Although far from being the only issue facing the great cat, climate change poses a major threat to their habitat. A recent study, published in Science of the Total Environment, predicted that sea level rise in the Sundarbans — a mangrove forest stretching across India and Bangladesh — will likely decimate the local Bengal tiger population, the only subspecies adapted to living in mangroves.
