The Tiger

The question in the title has been prompted by a report in The Sun newspaper today in which they state that the world's oldest Bengal tiger, Raja, has just died at the extraordinary age of 25. And for the last 14 years of his life, he lived with three legs because one of them was ripped off in a crocodile attack. Raja. Photo: JAM PRESS/NEWSLIONS So captive tigers can live to a relatively advanced age. My research indicates that captive tigers have lived for as long as 26 years, and 20 years is not uncommon. There is even a report of a female giving birth in captivity to a single cub at the Rotterdam Zoo at 17 years of age. Note: If you want a reference for this information, please ask in a comment. In the wild, as you might expect, tiger lifespan is much shorter and a female is undoubtedly doing well if she reaches 14 or 15 years of age. The Internet tells me that tigers in the wild might live to about the age of 10. However, there are different opinions on this. Some say that tig...

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...

We have some information about how tigers died in Maharashtra, India from January to July 2021. The Chief Minister of that Indian state, Uddhav Thackeray, was answering a question about tiger deaths in the first six months of this year. He stated that 86 tigers had died across the country in the first six months of the year and 23 tigers had died in Maharashtra for a variety of reasons according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NCTA). Bengal tiger. Image in public domain. The causes of the deaths, I think, are quite revealing. Natural causes accounted for 15 tiger deaths. One tiger was killed in a railway accident. Four tigers were poisoned and one died of electrocution. That makes 21 deaths and therefore the remaining three were due to poaching to the best of my knowledge. 15 of the 23 tigers were adults and eight were cubs. He said that the government of the state had taken the required steps to prevent electrocution, poisoning and poaching in accordance with the NCTA...

COMMENT AND REPORT ON TIGER NEWS: This is a tragic story because the Amur tiger is rare. There are desperate measures being taken to protect and conserve this iconic animal. They live in the Far East of Russia, in that icy wilderness of birch trees and snowy landscapes. They are large animals. They've evolved that way to keep warm in the cold climate. It is believed that there are 500 left in the world. This puts pressure on zoos to try and breed them successfully.  Artificial insemination of a captive Amur tiger killed it. Photo: Cheyenne Mountain Zoom. Tigers usually breed well in zoos but in this instance, at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, they tried artificial insemination of a female, Savelii, because their resident male wouldn't mate with her to produce offspring naturally. The operation went badly wrong and it killed her. A spokesperson for the zoo, Bob Chastain, said that: "She passed due to complications during recovery from this impo...

Tigers will kill any animal that puts itself in a vulnerable position and there are few animals which the tiger avoids and does not try and kill. Elephants and rhinoceroses are rarely killed. But tigers have a tendency to attack and kill animals which are considerably larger than themselves. In fact they need large prey items in order to consume enough flesh to survive in relative comfort. Massive Indian bison can kill a tiger and you can see why. Photo in public domain. However, large prey animal such as water buffalo and Indian bison (gaur) can be very formidable, dangerous and there are records of tigers being killed by these animals often after a gruesome and deadly struggle. Scientists have recorded these events and I can repeat a couple of their accounts here. A scientist called Anderson reported a long battle in which an Indian bison repeatedly gored and trampled to death a tiger. The undergrowth where the battle happened was trodden down and flattened. "The undergrowth ...