Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
- Extract from The Tyger, William Blake
In the February 2008 edition of Natural History Magazine (article not available online), you can learn where tigers still live in the wild. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 100,000 tigers living in the wild. Today, there are only 5000 in the wild. Tigers now inhabit only 7% of their original territory, which has shrunk by 41% in the past 10 years. Those relatively few tigers that remain in the wild hunt wild cattle, deer and pigs in isolated pockets of forested land in India, Sumatra, Eastern Russia in southern China. Tigers are hunted illegally for pelts and for tiger parts that are used in medicines (such as tiger penis soups).
Bengal Tiger - Panthera tigris, tigris
Bengal tigers measure three metres, on average, from head to tail, with the males bigger than the females. A male Bengal tiger can weight 220kg, or 34 stone, and have a territory of up to 100 square km.
Bengal tigers are the subspecies that produce the famous white tigers (brown stripes on a white background) beloved of zoos everywhere. It is important to note that these are not albino tigers, but actually a version of the Bengal tiger with different colour genes - just as some humans have blue eyes, so some Bengal tigers have white coats. They are rare in nature, since their coat not only provides poor camouflage, but also makes them a more sought-after prize for poachers.
The majority of Bengal tigers are found in India, although some prefer neighbouring countries such as Nepal. They are extremely adaptable as to their habitats, which range from the hot jungles of North India to the icy forests of the Himalayas, which is probably the main reason for their status as the commonest type of tiger. Sadly, this is a relative measurement, as even their numbers are low - estimates vary from 3000 to 4500 (at the time of writing) with around 300 in captivity - and they are still on the decline.
Bengal tigers are the subspecies that produce the famous white tigers (brown stripes on a white background) beloved of zoos everywhere. It is important to note that these are not albino tigers, but actually a version of the Bengal tiger with different colour genes - just as some humans have blue eyes, so some Bengal tigers have white coats. They are rare in nature, since their coat not only provides poor camouflage, but also makes them a more sought-after prize for poachers.
The majority of Bengal tigers are found in India, although some prefer neighbouring countries such as Nepal. They are extremely adaptable as to their habitats, which range from the hot jungles of North India to the icy forests of the Himalayas, which is probably the main reason for their status as the commonest type of tiger. Sadly, this is a relative measurement, as even their numbers are low - estimates vary from 3000 to 4500 (at the time of writing) with around 300 in captivity - and they are still on the decline.
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