Different Species of Tigers With Pictures
Six different sub-species of tigers are left on our planet in current times, a group of scientists are amazed to see this dwindling figure of the big cats who are close to extinction with just 4,000 free-range remaining.
The six remaining species of tigers include:
1. Bengal tiger
2. Amur tiger
3. South China tiger
4. Sumatran tiger
5. Indochinese tiger
6. Malayan tiger
According to the research papers published in a science journal Current Biology, the Caspian, Javan and Bali tigers have already gone extinct.
"This study is the first to reveal the tiger's natural history from a whole-genomic perspective. It provides robust, genome-wide evidence for the origin and evolution of this charismatic megafauna species," said Shu-Jin Luo of Peking University in Beijing.
This map shows postulated dispersal routes and range expansions of modern tigers. (Photo courtesy: Liu et al. / Current Biology)
What are the reasons behind the extinction of big cats?
The reasons behind the loss of tigers' survival include:
- Habitat loss
- Poaching
- Effects of climate loss
- Genomic evidence shows Breeding has also reduced drastically among different tiger populations.
Fossil evidence shows that tigers go back two to three million years. But, the genomic evidence shows that all living tigers only trace back to a time about 110,000 years ago, when tigers suffered a historic population bottleneck, said the report.
"The lack of consensus over the number of tiger subspecies has partially hindered the global effort to recover the species from the brink of extinction," said study author Shu-Jin Luo of Peking University in Beijing. in
The groundbreaking research of tiger extinction
Researchers who've analyzed the complete genomes of 32 representative tiger specimens confirm that tigers fall into six genetically distinct groups.
The research helped scientists in coming to a conclusion that each subspecies has a unique evolutionary history.
The origin of the South China tiger remains unresolved since only one specimen from captivity was used in this study, the researchers note.
Big cats are indeed special
Also, tigers are distinct unlike big cats jaguars, which are found commonly across the world.
"Tigers are not all alike," Luo said, noting that key differences include body size and fur colour.
"Tigers from Russia are evolutionarily distinct from those from India. Even tigers from Malaysia and Indonesia are different."
The decline of tigers means "maximising the efforts to preserve the genetic diversity, evolutionary uniqueness, and potential of the species Panthera tigris," said the study.
The researchers plan to study old specimens with known origin from all over China to fill in the missing pieces of living tigers' evolutionary history.
In order to protect just one tiger, we have to conserve around 25,000 acres of forest.
Interesting facts about tigers:
Tigers may vary from as per their place of origin, the Asian big cats depend on sight and sound and not the smell for hunting.
A tiger can consume up to 88 pounds of meat at one time.
It is estimated that tigers give birth to two to four cubs every two years.
Tigers generally gain independence at two years of age and attain sexual maturity at age three or four for females and at four or five years for males.
Juvenile mortality is high however-about half of all cubs do not survive more than two years.
Tigers generally stay alive upto 20 years of age in the forest.
Males of the largest subspecies, the Amur (Siberian) tiger, may weigh up to 660 pounds. For males of the smallest subspecies-the Sumatran tiger-upper range is at around 310 pounds. Within each subspecies, males are heavier than females.
Tigers are mostly solitary, apart from associations between mother and offspring.
They can be traced from their urine, feces, rakes, scrapes and vocalizing.
Also read: International Tiger Day: Who is behind the success story of tigers in India?
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Different Species of Tigers With Pictures
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/only-6-sub-species-of-tigers-left-here-s-why-they-are-going-extinct-1375872-2018-10-26