Outlook Web Desk
July 29 every year is celebrated as International Tiger Day to highlight the importance of tiger conservation across the globe. The declaration to celebrate this day was made on July 29, 2010, in St. Petersburg
International Tiger Day was announced with an aim to unite all tiger range countries in a concerted effort to enhance tiger conservation and management worldwide
As per the 5th cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2022 (usually done in cycles of four years) summary report, India has a minimum of 3,167 tigers and is now home to more than 70% of the world's wild tiger population
By the mid-20th century, India's tiger population was in a rapid decline due to hunting, habitat loss, and other human activities. Following independence in 1947, this decline became even more pronounced, with the tiger population reaching alarmingly low numbers
Indian Board for Wild Life (IBWL) on April 1, 1973, officially launched Project Tiger at the Corbett Tiger Reserve in response to the rapid decline in tiger population
As large predators, tigers plays a key role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. These ecosystems supply both nature and people with fresh water, food, and health. Securing tiger landscapes could help protect at least nine major watersheds, which regulate and provide freshwater for over millions in Asia
As per WWF, there are two recognised subspecies of tigers: the continental (Panthera tigris tigris) and the Sunda (Panthera tigris sondaica). Tigers, the largest of all the Asian big cats, rely primarily on sight and sound rather than smell for hunting
On average, tigers give birth to two to four cubs every two years. If all the cubs in one litter die, a second litter may be produced within five months, according to World Wild Life (WWF).
Tigers are mostly solitary, apart from associations between mother and offspring. Individual tigers have a large territory, the size of which is determined mostly by the availability of prey. Tigers mark their domain with urine, feces, rakes, scrapes, and vocalising
Poaching is the biggest threat to wild tigers, with every part of the wild cat - from whisker to tail - having been found in illegal wildlife markets, sold for for modern health tonics, folk remedies, and as status symbols among some Asian cultures