The Tiger

NEWS AND COMMENT-Sathyamangalam, Tamil Naidu, India: Sathyamangalam is a town and municipality in Erode district in the Indian state of Tamil Naidu. It is near the Western Ghats. There are rolling landscapes covered with dense forests. They have some beautiful tiger reserves. The Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is located there with 80 tigers. The reserve is contiguous with other reserves. Clearly, tiger conservation is important in the area and a major part of the lives of the citizens. Tamil Naidu has five tiger reserves and 15 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. Picture in public domain. However, the Communist Party of India (CPI) spokesperson in a meeting to discuss measures to protect the livelihood of tribal people and other forest dwellers stated that tiger conservation should not undermine the livelihoods of the hill people. This was a reference to an order passed by the Madras High Court that banned vehicle movement during night hours on Dhimbam...

It is reported that Bengal tigers killed more than 100 people in India in three years. In fact, 108 died between 2019 and last year according to junior environment minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey in Parliament. The human conflict with the Bengal tiger is an ongoing problem. It is brought about because of a lack of space. India is a highly populated country. Tigers require very large amounts of territory in order to behave naturally. The tiger reserves in India are arguably too small. At least some of them are. And you will get settlements on the outskirts of tiger reserves and you will even see people living inside the reserves. To an outsider that seems strange. A tiger walks past a vehicle carrying tourists at Ranthambore National Park, India. Photo in public domain. You will get farmers being attacked by tigers. In the Sundarbans which straddle the border with Bangladesh, there appears to be more human-tiger conflict than in other tiger reserves. This is probably because there are mo...

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is more than about a white tiger in a Ukrainian zoo but it comes down to the same thing; the utterly uncivilised manner in which humankind is behaving at the moment at the expense of vulnerable animals. I'm referring of course to Putin's invasion of Ukraine which has proved to be far more barbaric than anybody envisaged and which is causing the mass destruction of many animals.  I have recently written about the starving to death of 300 dogs in an animal shelter in Russian occupied Ukraine because they failed to care for those dogs while they were caged . Alexander Feldman the zoo's owner. Picture as per the credit in the image. The owner of a zoo in Kharkiv, Alexander Feldman, is telling the world that he is set to euthanise the animals that remain. This includes a white tiger, as mentioned, and lions and bears. Some of the animals have been evacuated such as kangaroos but some kangaroos have been killed. Some of the deer escaped to surrounding fores...

Female Siberian tigers in Sikhote-Alin are estimated to have a range of 200-400 km². Male Siberian tigers have a range size between 800-1000 km². These range sizes have been estimated based on radio tracking data. The range of each male tiger overlaps with 1-3 females "but male ranges overlap almost completely". However, males do not use the same area at the same time. Between females, there appear to be no overlaps or little overlap between the ranges of neighbouring adult females. Siberian tiger in the snow with cub. Photo: Pixabay. The range sizes of Siberian tigers are considerably larger than those of the Bengal tiger. The differences are due at least in part to differences in prey density and because the prey is migratory in Siberia. Male and female tigers communicate through a combination of scent marks, visual signals and vocalisations. In the area mentioned, in Siberia, Sikhote-Alin, Siberian tigers live in a mixed coniferous and broad-leaved deciduous forest. The la...