BENGAL TIGER FACTS

Introduction

Bengal tiger fact - You're a Bengal tiger, your penis is worth $6,000, watch out.............

Of all the Bengal Tiger facts by far the most important is that this animal is highly endangered because of human activity. Once again we should ask ourselves why humankind kills the most beautiful animals. Why humankind destroys the most beautiful landscapes.

The truth is that if one writes about Bengal tiger facts and if we agree the most important fact is as mentioned above, we need to discuss some bigger issues; issues such as world population explosion and human behavior, as it is these issues that are at the root of the predicament into which we have placed the magnificent Bengal tiger. It is too easy to spew out the usual Bengal tiger facts. It is much harder to deal with the underlying causes of the most important fact of all, the gradual extinction of this fine creature that shares the world with us.


BENGAL TIGER FACTS - Bengal tigers - photo by ImageMD - creative commons


Bengal Tiger Facts - Highly Endangered Species - The Reasons

The Bengal tiger (Royal Bengal tiger) is found mainly in Bangladesh and India, and also in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma) and Tibet. To be brutally honest these are not the best of countries to be living in, particularly if you are a fantastic looking wild animal. They are all clustered together. Click on the link to see a Google map covering these countries. Humans like to exploit beautiful wild animals.

They are all near China and I am afraid to say China has an appalling animal rights record. I keep banging on about China and, yes, criticizing them, because I have to and I need to. I have no political axe to grind. I need not play political games. We really need to address the truth and actually do something if we are to save the Bengal tiger or any species of tiger for that matter.

China is the place where (in some parts of the country) they eat cat meat (there are other countries where this happens, the link takes you a list). The thing is they half kill the cat in a brutal manner before cooking it as it tastes better that way. I'm sorry but, shame on China and their cruelty to animals. This is the country where they capture and place wild bears into tiny cages and "tap" bile from their gall bladders for Chinese medicinal purpose. The bears live a life of pure hell and thankfully die young. Ancient Traditional Chinese medicine plays a major role in the decimation of the tiger as tiger body parts are used in this medicine. It is a medicine rooted in the superstitious past which is still with the Chinese to the present. I hope the Chinese government do something about this - please do.

Please note that I am a primarily talking about Chinese medicine as practiced in China. As I understand it, in the USA, for example, people, who practice this medicine there, are more enlightened (I hope so) and have found substitutes for tiger parts in their medicine. This information comes from Lixin Huang, MS, President of Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, President of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He says that this form of medicine is designed to promote harmony between people and wildlife. That I am afraid is laughable. You may have taken steps in America to rectify a wrong but in China it's the same old story. I also understand that in the UK substitutes are used but can you believe it? I doubt it.

The motivator behind the killing of tigers in Bangladesh is their value, their worth, and lets remind ourselves that Bangladesh is a poor country. The per capita income is less than $500 with 36% below the poverty line and 35% of the population unemployed (src: www.glocaleye.org). Wikipedia says the per capita income is $1,374 however.

V. Sudarshan who writes a diary for OutlookIndia.com says it better than me. I can't use his exact words as it would be a copyright violation but he says that an animal will become endangered when half the world (the Asian half) is prepared to spend a lot of money to eat that animal's penis. The tiger suffers this indignity. And why does the ignorant human think that eating a tiger's penis is good for him - to make him perform better in bed; pathetic really, isn't it. If it wasn't so sad it would be laughable.

At a fundamental level it is education will save the tiger because through education people will learn that a tiger's penis does not make you better at sex and that wantonly killing the tiger makes the world less good for us all. It is shocking to think that in many parts of the world there remains a high level of acute ignorance and cruelty. In the West we tend to forget this being so distanced from it. Animal cruelty is present in the West as well of course (click on the label in the margin for more on cat cruelty).



BENGAL TIGER FACTS - Tiger bone pills photo by Krista76. The box of tiger bone pills are at the top of the picture.


Bengal Tiger Facts - Tiger Parts

Tiger parts including Bengal tiger parts and their derivatives fetch these sorts of prices at the time of this post:

-----Tiger Penis (as at June 2007): £3,000 or about $6,000 (order well in advance due to scarcity.....) (src: news.softpedia.com)

-----Tiger Bone Wine (as at June 2008): $240 (£120) for 500 ml (a bottle of wine is usually 75ml) - min order 1500 ml (three bottles). Extraordinarily, this product is being sold at wildlife "sanctuaries" in China. One is the Qinhuangdao wildlife rescue center and animal park (a little cheaper at the park at $186 for 500ml bottle). The center's staff say the bone comes from dead tigers from the center who have fought each other. Believe that?

How many tigers are fighting each other? It must be more than two to keep up supplies. And if that is the case the center is negligent in not caring for their tigers properly. In addition it is almost certain that these tigers are inbred. They have to be as they are so scarce. Inbreeding can cause inbreeding depression (meaning ill health due to the inheritance of recessive genes that would otherwise remain dormant). This is what the human race has come down to. Killing all the wild tigers and mistreating the ones we care to keep alive (src: Daily Telegraph).



Bengal tiger - photo by Chiceaux under creative commons


Bengal Tiger Facts - CITES

China is a member signed up to CITES (UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). This prevents the trade in tiger parts. China clearly isn't carrying out its obligations under this convention. Other CITES members who appear not to be pulling their weight in preventing the trade in tiger parts are:

----Bhutan

----India

----Bangladesh (the Bengal tiger is the national animal of this country)

----Myanmar (Burma)

----Nepal


In other words nearly all the countries from which tiger parts are allegedly being exported or in which the Bengal tiger lives are members of CITES. Extraordinary. These countries cannot be carrying out their obligations under the convention for various reasons probably (I allege) associated with corruption. Burma certainly has a appalling human rights record so God help wild animals.



Bengal tiger photo by Luke Robinson (creative commons)


Bengal Tiger Facts - Tiger population and Human population

One major element in the decline in the tiger including the Bengal tiger is the relentless rise in human population. This will inevitably put strain on land (space), food resources, water resources, and result in the depletion of habitat for wild animals that are the prey of the Bengal tiger. The tiger's habitat is so reduced he has to share it with humans in Bangladesh, which results in tigers killing humans (inevitably), which in turn leads humans to kill tigers. Who is at fault in this cycle of death? Ans: Humans as they failed to manage population growth.

Bangladesh has the highest human population density in the world (except for some "city states" which are not comparable). The current population of Bangladesh is about 150,000,000.

It is impossible to compare the populations of the Bengal tiger in the wild against human population growth because there is insufficient data on Bengal tiger population fluctuations over time. We do know that the current population is something in the order of 1,400 in the wild. Of course there are more in existence but they are in captivity and in my opinion exploited.


This video shows how we as humans exploit this proud and wonderful ceature. I can't see but it seems these tigers are chained up. They are probably broken in spirit (a beautiful wild spirit) and may even be drugged for all I know {I am not saying they are just speculating as this seems dangerous}

The human population growth in Bangladesh can be summarized in the chart below (src for human pop = http://www.populstat.info/Asia/bangladc.htm):-




What hope for wild animals in such limited habitat?



Bengal tiger photo by rexb under creative commons


Bengal Tiger Facts - The Tiger

These are the Bengal tiger facts in relation to the actual species, the animal (src: Wikipedia):

----Scientific name: Panthera tigris tigris or Panthera tigris bengalensis

----subspecies of tiger and the most common species of tiger

----Normally considered the second largest tiger after the Siberian Tiger (click on this link to read about and see the White Siberian tiger).

----Primarily found in India and Bangladesh (see above).

----Size, males: 400 - 594 lbs.

----heaviest recorded: 857 lbs and 11 feet long (debatable).

----prey: small and large such as wild boar, sambar, barasingha, chital, nilgai, gaur, water buffalo, young Asian Elephants, rhino calves (rarely), leopards, wolves, jackals, foxes, crocodiles and dholes (these latter animals are predators and it rarely preys on these animals).

----population: was millions tens of thousands of years ago or more (estimated 20 million) now about 1500 in the wild and 4,000 in total. Most are in captivity. (src: Wikipedia).

----White Bengal tiger: some Bengal tigers in captivity (Dudhwa National Park) are white due to genetic pollution from the importation of a Bengal tiger from the UK in 1976 that carried the recessive gene for a dilute coloration.

----Genetic impurity: Apparently many Bengal tigers in captivity throughout the world are not purebred. In 1997 there were a mere 210 guaranteed purebred Bengal tigers in captivity worldwide (per a studbook record).

---Accurate population measurement: It is difficult to find accurate data on tiger populations. India miscounted until recently when the Wildlife Institute of India used a more scientific approach (DNA profile and cameras). This reduced the population by half.

---Swimming: Tigers including the White Siberian tiger excellent swimmers both above and under water. They have webbing in between the toes. This is the same as the Asian Fishing cat.

Update 3rd-Nov. 2008: The Times Newspaper reports a substantial increase in the number of attacks by Bengal tigers on humans. Read about it here: Bengal tiger is a man eater.

Conclusion

The Bengal tiger finds her/himself in countries where there is a lack of commitment to preserve this species of big cat. Quite the converse is the case as this cat is still exploited. Captive tigers are inbred and they are often not purebred. Captive tigers parts are sold in consumer products in China. The situation for this once most common of tigers is dire. The current indications are that in the future we will be confined to seeing this most magnificent of wild animals in zoos and small reserves and even then, will the tiger you see be a true Bengal tiger.................?

---

Photo at top of page is by Indian Boy under a creative commons license. The reason why the credit is here at the base of this post is because Google describes the post using the first words it sees, usually.


BENGAL TIGER FACTS to Home page

Advert