felids

The magnificent tiger is the largest of all the felines. All tiger subspecies are endangered and are listed as such, because of outrageous over-hunting during the last century, and changing land use in all of their native habitats. Worried farmers living in tiger country would poison the big cats or drive them out, fearful that their livestock would become easy prey for the tigers.

Above: Siberian Tiger, also known as the Amur Tiger.

The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is the largest of all tigers, weighing up to 320 kg. It is equipped with a very thick and long coat to cope with cold temperatures. It used to live in the wild throughout Manchuria, Northeast Mongolia and well into Siberia, but it is now restricted to a few scattered places in the old Soviet Union, Northeast China, and the northernmost part of Korea. The total number of these tigers in the wild is estimated to be only 400.

Above: Sumatran Tiger

The Sumatran tiger (P. t. sumatrae) is one of the smallest tigers. It is closely related to the Javan and Balinese tiger varieties. There are only 600 to 800 Sumatran tigers living in the wild today.

Above: Chinese Tiger

The Chinese tiger (P. t. amoyensis) has a fairly short coat. The Chinese tiger, as it's name suggests, was once common throughout eastern China, but is now exceedingly rare and nowadays a few only exist in southern Szechwan and along the Yangtze River.

Above: Caspian Tiger

The Caspian tiger (P. t. virgata) was once found throughout Turkey and western China, but is now sadly extinct.

Above: Javan Tiger

The Javan tiger (P. t. sondaica) is one of the smallest tigers. In the 1920's one walked of it's own acccord right into the 'Raffles' Hotel in Singapore (formerly part of Malaysia), where it was eventually shot as it hid underneath a billiard table in the Games Room !

Above: Bali Tiger

The Balinese tiger (P. t. balica) is now sadly extinct.

The Indo-Chinese Tiger (P. t. corbetti) was once common throughout southern China, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. It now much more scarce, and has a population of about 2000, larger than the other tigers but still tiny compared to other animals.

The Indian Tiger or Bengal Tiger has the largest population of animals in the wild - probably up to 3000 tigers. They live in widely scattered groups in northern Burma, southern Nepal and much of India. Most of what is now known about tigers in the wild has been gleaned from studying Indian tigers.

In 1958 a team of climbers travelled to the Himalayas, and one of the group was my father. During one night camping in a remote village, roars could be heard in the valley far below. In the morning, the sherpas (Nepalese guides to the Himalayas) noticed tiger tracks around the tents. Luckily no-one had been injured, or even been aware that a tiger had been prowling around the campsite while they slept !

Below: White Bengal Tiger.

Above: Siberian Tigers in their element;

White Tigers

Above: A Siberian White Tiger in a Zoo.

White Tigers are simply a paler form of the 'yellow' types of tiger, ('yellow' Siberian tigers pictured below, left). White tigers are born with hardly any pigment in their bodies.

White Tigers occur very, extremely rarely in the wild, but the colour is specifically bred for in some Zoos, as the white variety is even more popular with the public than the normal-coloured type of tiger.

Unfortunately, though they may look very beautiful, the breeding of and for White Tigers does nothing to ensure the conservation of good strong tiger genes as a whole.

This is because the white gene is recessive, and therefore a certain amount of inbreeding has to be carried out to ensure the white colouration will display in the next generations.

Inbreeding of any animal carries the risk of defects in the offspring, such as: birth defects, behavioural problems, lowered fertility, lack of parenting skills, shortened life, and susceptibility to disease.

I do not think that Zoos should purposely damage the Tiger Genepool by diluting it with too many inbred white genes.

The white colouring is recessive in the wild, and nature must have a valid reason for this, otherwise nature would produce the same number of white tigers as it does yellow.

White tigers only exist because we choose to allow them to. A tiger in a Zoo costs $1600 per year to feed (Cherfas, 1984). Is it worth spending that kind of money on white freaks when it could be spent on saving and conserving the true Wild Tiger ?

The Jaguar looks very similar to the Leopard, but they are different. The Jaguar is larger than the Leopard, and is the strongest member of the cat family - even stronger than the Lion. It can grow to 2 metres long, and weigh 113 kg.

The Jaguar is the only Big Cat to inhabit the Americas, and lives mostly in Latin America. It is adaptable to habitat, but generally prefers a jungle environment.

Because the Jaguar is such a strong and powerful animal, it can and will kill animals much larger than itself. It is also adept at fishing, and it is said that it pokes its' tail into the water as a lure for the fish.

Like the Leopard, the Jaguar also appears as a black variety. However, the melanistic trait of the Jaguar is dominant, whereas in the Leopard it is recessive. Therefore, in some areas of Latin America, the Black Jaguar is more numerous. The Black Jaguar is also more aggressive and fierce than the spotted Jaguar.

LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)

The leopard is one of the most dangerous animals which Zoos try to keep -it is much more aggressive and vicious than a lion or tiger, even when still a 'kitten'.

The leopard is a mysterious creature, being extremely elusive and it's effective make it most difficult to spot, even when it is lying only a few feet away. In Indian legends the leopard is believed to have the magical power to make itself totally invisible. For this reason, the leopard is very difficult to study.

It lives mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, and to a lesser extent in China and north Africa. Because the leopard is so adept at concealing itself, it survives in areas much closer to human population than the other Big Cats would care to be.

In Africa, Leopards are most commonlt seen reclining in trees, where they are safe and have a good view of the surrounding area. For some reason, African leopards are particularly keen on catching and killing dogs - the domestic cat would be extremely pleased to hear this information ! There are many African legends which try to explain this phenomena.

Unfortunately, the leopard's beautiful coat make it target for poachers. There are laws to prevent the trading of illegal furs - the U.S.A banned the importation of fur products in 1972 - but secret trading still goes on in some places.

Size and Weight: The adult leopard can grow to 2 metres long, and weighs up to 68 kg.

The Black Panther is simply a leopard which has been born with too much dark pigment - a melanistic leopard. A leopard with too little pigment would be a White Leopard, but these are not thought to exist. Like the White tigers described above, the melanistic gene causing the black Panther is recessive.

For some unknown reason there are more Black Panthers in Asian forests than in Africa. In some parts of Asia the melanistic leopard is reckoned to be more common than the spotted leopard !

Black leopards are said to be much more aggressive than spotted leopards - maybe this is because their camouflage is ineffective, and therefore they are more easily seen by their prey and would need to make more effort in hunting behaviour in order to catch anything to eat.

The Snow Leopard is just as elusive and mysterious as the Leopard, but it lives up mountains at altitudes of over 1500 feet. Snow Leopards inhabit the highlands of northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, southwest China, the former Soviet Union and the Siberian border. These areas are mostly very remote and inaccessible - however, Snow Leopard skins are still being illegally sold. Because of these two factors, it is impossible to estimate how many of these lovely cats exist in the wild.

The Snow Leopard is a beautiful grey colour, and has long and thick fur to protect it from the severe cold mountain conditions. It mostly hunts mountain sheep, deer and goats.