A CGM Group 5 Presentation

Why the Tiger

Wild fact #1 – Conservation Value

Wild Fact #2 – All Tigers Man-Eaters?

Wild Fact #3 – White Tiger: Gorgeous or grotesque

Wild Fact #4 – Do tigers smile? – Flehman Response

Wild Fact #5 – How many we have?

Wild Fact #6 – Tiger signs in the Wild

Conclusion – the Era of tiger has just begun!

National Animal of India

Charismatic Animal

Brand India

Increase awareness - details of Tigers

Apex Predator

Top of the Food chain

Covers large area vis a vis Asiatic Lion

Checks the population of herbivores

Helps maintain the green cover and health of ecosystem

IIFM Study: Valuation of Periyar tiger reserves estimated to be 1760 crore per annum

Benefits include- tourism and its associated employment, ecosystem services.

Over the past 100 years, tigers have lost 93% of their historic range.

Presently found in only 14 countries

A tigerless future – rights of future generations?

Accidental attacks – Defensive

Tigress with cubs

With a kill

Mistaken identity

Who is a man-eater?

At least 2 “deliberate” attacks on humans

Why deliberate attacks?

Tiger past its prime

Injured

“Occasionally, a tiger will object to too close an approach to its cubs or to a kill that it is guarding. The objection invariably takes the form of growling, and if this does not prove effective itis followed by short rushes accompanied by terrifying roars. If these warnings are disregarded, the blame for any injury inflicted rests entirely with the intruder”

- Jim Corbett

Albino - Defective, recessive gene

Blue eyes

Disadvantage – Less camouflage

Found in areas of dense vegetation

White Tigers have incredible hearing and sight.

Generally hunt at night.

White Tigers have an average lifespan of 12 years.

Nandankanan zoo

Delhi Zoo

Mysore Zoo

Hyderabad Zoo

Chennai Zoo

Trivandrum zoo

Flehman response not a smile or grimace.

Flehmen response: It comes from the Upper Saxon German flemmen, "to look spiteful.

Exhibited when animal investigates a place / taste/ odour of interest.

Helps in intraspecific communication- it helps animal gather chemical messages.

Tiger Reserves - 50

Indian Numbers – 2226 (as per 2014 census)

World tigers population - 3891(2016)

Top 10 tiger reserves in India: Corbett Tiger Reserve – 208

Bandipur National Parks – 109

Kaziranga Tiger Reserve – 104

Nagarahole National Parks – 93

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve – 88

Sunderban Tiger Reserve – 80

Ranthambore Tiger Reserve – 60

Kanha National Park – 60

Bandhavgarh National Park – 49

Rajaji Tiger Reserve – 34

Most popular technique

Photographs or plaster casts made/analysed

Study of pug marks can provide the following information reliably if analyzed skillfully:

• Presence of different species in the area of study.

• Identification of individual animals.

• Sex ratio and age (young or adult) of large cats

Cameras with motion sensors installed in the forest to capture the tigers.

Cameras could be left in dense forests for several days

No certainty that the tiger would walk into a camera’s range.

New method adopted by Wildlife Institute of India in Tiger Census 2015.

Forest department staff collect evidences of tiger presence such as pugmarks, scat, scratches on trees or other such unmistakable signs of tiger presence.

The next stage involved camera trapping – based on ground surveys.

Each tiger - unique stripe pattern