The Tiger

There are two costs for tigers (a) the purchase price and (b) the maintenance cost. The second is much more than the first. Some tigers come free of charge because they have been rescued from some run down, backyard private zoo where they were starved, maltreated and malnourished. These are rescue tigers. A tiger cub might cost $2,500. Exotic cats generally range from around $900 for a bobcat to around $15k for an ocelot. It is about rarity. They get rarer as humans persecute them and destroy their habitat. The costs of maintaining a captive tiger are enormous. Big Cat Rescue (BCR) dramatically highlight this. Squeeze cage (for a vet to attend to a tiger for treatment: $2,000). Forklift truck to move tiger: Hire at $300 per day. Transport tiger to vet for vaccines etc..: Truck at $28,000. Captive habitat must comply with state rules. Some states demand 5 acres for a big cat. One acre might cost $75,000. Perimeter fence (under state legislation): $8,000. Cage: $7,5000. ...

At April 2016, they (the experts 1 ) say that there are an estimated 3,890 in the wild 3 on planet earth but note the word "estimated 2 " and note that the number will change from month to month and year to year. The change is usually downwards because the tiger is endangered due to human activities. They say the tiger population is bouncing back . I say there is a lot of political pressure to talk up tiger numbers. The pressure from human activities (poaching, loss of habitat etc.) is greater than the desire to talk up numbers. The long term prognosis is poor unless there is a radically different approach to humankind's relationship with all wild species. This change must come from the default desire for perpetual economic growth which invariable means diminishing tiger numbers. Business takes away tiger habitat - bye bye tiger. Business beats conservation. Economic growth = less wild life on the planet. There is no denying that simple formula. And we must not for...

The newspapers tell us that the tiger is starting to bounce back as nations fight the illegal trade in tiger body parts. They say that after more than a century of unrelenting bad news for tigers and the tiger population in the wild, the species is finally beginning to recover from the brink of extinction. Big words. Big ideas. The message is hopeful and optimistic but is it justified? The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) compiled tiger population numbers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data and recent tiger surveys by some countries. They are confident about their figures. However, they are estimates. Counting tigers is difficult. In the past there has been a lot of missed counts and poor estimates. Also, I don't rate the IUCN. For me, they are asleep on the job. The WWF are confident that the actual number of wild tigers has risen since 2010 but they are unable to say by how much. That is not going to give us confidence that they have ...

Do tigers purr like domestic cats? The short answer is No! They have a wide range of sounds, many of which travel long distances. The tiger does meow. There is an overlap there with the domestic cat! I have a page on the sounds a tiger makes . Sorry that this is so short but there is nothing more for me to say! Except... To mention an interesting little point: it is said that the tiger roar is not a true roar and that the tiger is not one of the roaring cats (Gustav Peters). Figure that one out! It sounds like a roar to me. Let's say the tiger roar is different from the roar of the lion, leopard and jaguar.

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.

Tigers, like all captive animals, can tend to pace back and forth as a way of coping with the stress of captivity. Due to stress, captive wild cats breed poorly, which is why it is hard to maintain population levels in zoos and also why zoos are bad because the cats are sometimes imported from the wild. The Born Free site says cats breed well in captivity. This is incorrect in my opinion. You'll see human prisoners in confinement in their cell for 23 hours in a day pacing in the same way. It is obviously therapeutic. I wonder if they copied it from captive animals in cages or whether it just happened naturally. Sometimes you'll see stand up comedians on stage walking back and forth. It seems to help delivery. Why does pacing ease stress? I am not sure. It probably distracts the mind as the mind has to work to a certain extent when pacing. Pacing may be a form of displacement behaviour much like nail biting in humans and nose licking in cats. It displaces anxiety and unce...