Tag tiger

Wild tiger population in Nepal is increasing

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The wild tiger population in Nepal is increasing due to a program to prevent its extinction. There are now three times more wild tigers in Nepal than there were in 2009, according to the Nepalese government.

In 2009, the Nepal National Tiger and Prey Survey found that there were only 187 wild tigers in Nepal. This year’s 2022 survey found that there are now 355 wild tigers in the country, which is an increase of 190% since 2009.

The low numbers of wild tigers in Nepal in 2009 were due to poaching for the illegal animal trade and loss of habitat. At the St. Petersburg International summit on tiger conservation in 2010, governments of 10 countries with wild tigers set a goal to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president for wildlife conservation of the United States World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

In collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Nepalese government initiated a conservation program in 2010 to save the wild tigers.

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Similarities and Differences in Tiger Stripes: Amur, Bengal, and Sumatran Tigers

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What is the difference in tiger stripes between tiger sub-species: Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), and the Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)? They all belong to the Felidae family and Panthera genus.

As a form of camouflage, tigers have stripes – not to confuse their predators but to hide from their prey. Tigers like to sneak up close to their prey, hide in tall grass and trees, then pounce on their prey.

Their form of camouflage is called disruptive camouflage because the stripes are broken – short, irregular stripes. 

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How does a cat sharpen its claws?

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How does a cat sharpen its claws?

Human fingernails and cat claws are made from keratin and keep growing their whole life.

Human fingernails do not retract (go in and out) – they do not go back into the skin to make them invisible. 

Most cats and wild cats have claws that are exposed or protracted when they use them and are hidden, sheathed, or retracted when they don’t need them. 

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CREATURE FEATURE: Amur Tiger

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The Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris or Panthera tigris altaica) is also known as the Siberian Tiger, the Manchurian Tiger, or the Korean Tiger. It is a large wild cat, and a mammal.

The Amur Tiger is reddish-rusty brown with narrow black transverse stripes. It has short legs and a long tail. It has moderately thick, coarse fur. The winter coat is thicker, longer, softer, and silkier. It has whiskers and hair on the back of its head and the top of its neck is elongated.

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Tongue of a Tiger

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What does a tiger’s tongue look like?

Mammals have tongues. A tongue is a muscle. The left and right sides of the tongue are separated by a vertical section of fibrous tissue, called a lingual septum. A tongue has a tip and a blade (the part just behind the tip).

A tongue is used for chewing, tasting, licking, swallowing, washing, and making sounds. A tongue’s upper surface is covered with taste buds. The tongue has nerves and blood vessels, and is kept moist with saliva. It can be pink, reddish, or dark-coloured (like a giraffe’s tongue).

A human’s tongue is about 10 centimetres (4 inches) long. The Tiger (Panthera tigris) has a tongue that is about 18-23 centimetres (7-9 inches) long.

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Tasmanian Tiger

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The Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is an extinct Australian marsupial mammal. It was also called Tasmanian Wolf. It was not a tiger, nor a wolf, nor a dog (canid). It was a dog-like animal with stripes called a Thylacine. Extinct means that it is no longer living. The species has died out.

The Tasmanian Tiger was sandy-coloured with short soft hair and dark stripes on its back and its long tail. It had a pouch (similar to kangaroos and other marsupial mammals) to care for its young. Both male and female Tasmanian Tigers had a pouch, but only females had mammary glands in her pouch. It has a dog-like snout, round ears, and dark eyes. It had dog-like paws.

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Sumatran Tiger

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The Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) is native to Sumatra, an island of Indonesia.

The Sumatran Tiger has rich, shiny orange-brown fur with broad, dark, irregular, vertical stripes. It has a white ruff around its neck and long, white whiskers. Its paws are broad and sharply clawed.

It is unlike most other tigers, because it likes to swim. It has webbing between its toes to enable it to swim. On land, it can run quite fast, and pounce.

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CREATURE FEATURE: Bengal Tiger

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The Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is a carnivorous mammal and the largest of the cat family.

The Bengal Tiger can grow to 1.5-1.8 metres (5-6 feet) tall with a tail of half a metre to one metre (2-3 feet) long.

Bengal Tigers live in the Bengal area of Bangladesh and eastern India.

They are an endangered species because the number of Bengal Tigers is decreasing. In 2014 the estimated population of Bengal tigers was about 3,000 with 2,226 in India, 440 in Bangladesh, 163-243 in Nepal, and 103 in Bhutan.

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