The Tiger

Firstly, tigers are not necessarily becoming extinct and by 'extinct' we mean in the wild because there will probably always be captive 'generic' tigers. A recent camera trap survey of Bengal tiger numbers in India indicated increased numbers . The Bengal tiger in India and Bangladesh is high endangered and may become extinct in the wild due to (a) poaching in the reserves in India to supply the tiger body part business in China. Wealthy Chinese like to eat tiger body parts. Ask them why! Also (b) the Bengal tiger reserves are arguably too small. The population sizes in the reserves are consequently too small and they are island populations which can result in inbreeding and infertility. Essentially, the tiger does not have enough space due to constantly increasing human population size in India and Bangladesh. It could be said that the reserves were poorly created. The tiger reserves are not that well managed if we are honest. Some are and some are not. Four tiger

Why don’t tigers live in Africa? The reason is because during the evolution of the tiger in Asia from where it migrated over a large area and as far as the Caspian Sea there was a water mass between Asia and the African continent which prevented the migration of the tiger as far as Africa. That is my theory. If you have a better one, please tell me. Please click on the link above to read more and see a map. The only weakness in this theory is that I am unable to find a word map for about 3-5 million years ago (3-5 MYA) which is the time we believe that the tiger first appeared on the planet. The map I used is for the world 35 MYA. The water mass between Asia and Africa narrowed but as we know it still exists and in addition the habitat west of Northern India is unsuitable for the tiger which also prevents migration.