Given that we have lost around 90 per cent of the world’s tiger population in the past two centuries, things are looking grim for our largest and arguably most impressive feline. Tigers once thrived across Asia and now cling on in a tiny seven per cent of that range. Creating sufficient secure habitats free of human intrusions is their only hope for survival in a human-dominated world.

At a glance
The Indian tiger, panthera tigris tigris, is listed by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) as endangered. If hunting and loss of natural habitat continues, the tiger will be extinct in the wild within 20 years.  

What is the threat?
Key threats are loss of habitat due to development and excessive rural uses; unsustainable hunting of the tiger’s prey species; poaching for the illegal trade in body parts for traditional medicines and for its skin - a single skin can fetch up to $16,000; and from conflict with humans.

‘In 1900, there were 40,000 Indian tigers, now there are only 2,500-5,000. A recent survey by the Wildlife Institute of India suggests that numbers are as low as 1,300.’

What are charities doing to help?
Tigers Forever, a Panthera Project in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York launched in 2006, and hopes to reverse the tiger’s decline in key sites across Asia. Innovative conservation projects, implemented with Indian conservation partners, will give fresh hope to both the tiger and the local people living alongside this majestic predator.

More about Tigers Forever
The projects aim to reduce pressure on tigers, arrest fragmentation of the tiger’s habitats and increase tiger numbers across key sites by 50 per cent over the next ten years. In the Malenad-Mysore tiger landscape in the Western Ghats forests of southern India, Tigers Forever will work with governments and local conservation partners to ensure fair, humane and voluntary relocation of poor families marooned in tiger forests, thus reducing human-tiger conflicts, improving human livelihoods and creating win-win situations for both.

‘There are more tigers in zoos today than there are left in the wild.’

What can I do?
Never buy products, including medicines that use ingredients made from endangered species. You can donate funds at http://www.bbc.co.uk/savingplanetearth.

Did you know?
When driven to hunger, the tiger will eat anything, such as frogs, fowl, crocodiles, and sometimes humans - confrontation usually occurs when people stray into reserved areas to collect firewood or food and old or injured tigers unable to compete for normal prey sources may attack.

• Indian tigers are strong and frequent swimmers, often ambushing drinking or swimming prey, or chasing prey that has retreated into water.
• There are more tigers in zoos today than there are left in the wild.
• Three of the eight tiger sub-species have already become extinct.
• A tiger’s stripes are unique, like a human’s fingerprints.
• As pure carnivores, the tiger hunts larger animals such as wild pig, deer, gaur (a kind of ox), water buffalo and even young elephants and rhinos. Mostly a nocturnal hunter, a tiger will kill its prey usually by biting the throat or neck. As with many cats, the tiger will cache its food supply, hiding it and returning to feed on the carcass over several days.
• The maximum lifespan of a wild tiger is about 10-15 years, but only a few individuals ever reach this age. Tigers have high mortality rates in the wild, but they can live up to 30 years in the safety of captivity.