FACTBOX - Tigers, the Largest of the World's Big Cats
Date: 06-Jan-06
Country: WORLD
Here are five facts about the tiger:
- The largest of all cats, the tiger is one of the most fearsome predators in the world. It can weigh up to 450 kg (1,000 lb) and measure around ten feet (three metres) from nose to the tip of the tail.
- Tiger numbers in the wild are thought to have plunged from 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to between 5,000 and 7,000 today. They now range in the forests of south Asia, southeast Asia, southeastern China and the Russian far east. Fewer than 1,000 tigers are in zoos worldwide.
- A century ago, there were some 40,000 tigers in India. Now, officials estimate there are about 3,700 although some environment groups put the number at less than 2,000.
- Three tiger subspecies - the Bali, Javan, and Caspian - have become extinct in the past 70 years. The five remaining subspecies - Amur, Bengal, Indochinese, South China, and Sumatran - live only in Asia, and all are threatened by poaching and habitat loss. The South China tiger is on the verge of extinction, with just 20-30 estimated remaining in the wild.
- All five tiger subspecies are listed by the World Conservation Union as endangered. Threats to their survival include loss of habitat, poaching and trade in tiger parts for traditional Asian medicine. Trade in tigers is illegal but a single animal can fetch up to $50,000 on the black market.
Sources: Reuters, World Wildlife Fund, Save The Tiger Fund.
