International Tiger Day

The International Tiger Day is observed every year on July 29 across the world in order to raise awareness for tiger conservation.

Founded in 2010, at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia after it was registered that 97 percent of tigers had disappeared, the day promotes a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers. The International Tiger Day is observed by several international organizations including – the World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Smithsonian Institution.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, India is home to over half of the world’s wild tigers – 2,226. It reported that while Malaysia’s tigers are critically endangered with as few as 250 remaining, Indonesia’s wild tigers are now found solely on the island of Sumatra. The organization has also called for urgent action to protect the tigers.

Cat of the Month ~ July 2022

White Tiger

Photograph Source: a-panache.com

 

Globally, the day is celebrated by holding conferences, seminars, and discussions on saving the tigers.

Meanwhile, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, there were 1,059 tiger deaths in India since 2012 with Madhya Pradesh recording the highest number of deaths.

Congress on its official Twitter handle on Friday has urged people to come together and “enhance efforts for conservation of the endangered species.”

Article Source: extract written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre of the Hindustani Times Newspaper.


Did you know that this year is ‘The Chinese year of the Water Tiger’ and that it began on February 1st and will last until January 21st of 2023 when the Year of the Black Rabbit will begin. ‘Tiger’ is the third of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, and its corresponding European Horoscope Zodiac sign is Aquarius.


 

White tiger cubs born in the Ukraine

A white tigeress named named Tigrulya gave birth to four tiger cubs in a Yalta zoo on the seventh of May. The newborns are in good health and are being taken care of by staff at the Skazka Zoo in southern Ukraine.

Tigress Tigrulya showing off one of her cubs
Photograph: AP

The name of the mother tiger, Tigrulya, was chosen to honour the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. A contest is now being held to name the four newborn cubs.

four tiger cubs

Four beautiful cubs, snug in a wooden basket
Photograph: AP

It is very rare that four white tigers are born in a single litter and what is more one of the cubs is an albino with no striped markings on his body at all.

Previously (on the 4th August 2010) a litter of rare white tiger cubs were born at a zoo in northern Germany. These events are extremely important as fewer than 250 white tigers exist worldwide, most of them in captivity. It is said that less than one hundred white tigers exist in the wild.

White Tiger

Cat of the Month ~ January 2012

white tiger image

The White Tiger, rarely seen in the wild.
Photograph: animal-wildlife.blogspot.com

White tigers are basically a colour variant of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris bengalensis), and are rarely found in the wild. It is though, reported as having been seen in the wild from time to time in the Assam, Bengal, and Bihar regions of India and especially from the former State of Rewa (in fact home to the very first white tiger). It is believed that all white tigers in captivity in the world today are the descendants of this single white tiger, caught (and named ‘Mohan’) by the Maharajah of Rewa in the year 1951.

The White Tiger is almost identical to the now famous Royal Bengal Tiger except for a genetic mutation that causes a change in the colour of the fur and eyes. The origin of the Bengal Tiger is believed to be from the region we know today as Siberia. From there, these Siberian Big Cats (Panthera tigris altaica) migrated south over the course of thousands of years (and as the climate of their native territory became colder). Today Asia, India and Malaysia all are home to tigers (some of which are white due to genetic mutation), although their numbers are dwindling.

White tigers are only born when two tigers that both carry the unusual gene for white colouring, mate. Unfortunately there are many forced breeding programs currently in progress which are detrimental to those tigers bred in captivity. This is indeed often a sad tale which is outlined in the following very serious and informative article [White Tigers – Conserving Misery]. (Not for the very young or easily upset, Ed)

Where present, white (and other) Bengal tigers will be found regions of dense undergrowth and forested areas where they can camouflage themselves and ambush their prey.

Though, today white tigers are mostly confined in zoos (for example the Nandan Kanan Zoo in Orissa, India) they are also found in many National parks, such as those in India and the Far East.