Showing posts with label tiger conservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tiger conservation. Show all posts

Tuesday 23 April 2024

4 iconic wild cat species' numbers slashed over past 50 years (Infographic)

Most of us who read about the wild cat species and conservation understand that there has been a dramatic drop in numbers across the board. Here is an infographic showing the drop in population numbers of the lion, tiger, cheetah and leopard over the past 50 years with some additional information.

The the most important thing to note is (1) even the best experts sometimes don't know population numbers of wild cat species and when they do know (an estimate) the data is about 10 years old. Conservation is in a pretty poor state in my view and (2) there are some wonderful individual conservationists and groups concerned with conservation but the leaders of countries and the politicians are not truly committed to wildlife conservation and in this instance the conservation of the wild cat species.

That is why there's been a consistent decline over the past 50 years. The decline has been dramatic and shocking. It will continue for most of the species until the only individuals remaining on the planet will be those behind bars in zoos. Shame for the generations of kids to be born in the future.

The future of the wild cats from the smallest namely the rusty-spotted cat to the largest namely the Siberian tiger is pretty dire actually. I am very pessimistic but I could be wrong. I just don't see a great future for these species including the great iconic species.


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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Sunday 19 December 2021

Dams are damaging the conservation of the tiger

It is ironic that hydroelectric power through the building of dams is seen as ecologically friendly as they ostensibly help prevent global warming but at the same time they are ecologically damaging. This is because huge areas of tiger habitat are flooded. This removes habitat from the tiger. Habitat loss is the biggest problem in the conservation of the tiger. 

Dam on the Narmada River in India. Photo in public domain. You can see the tiger habitat around it.
Dam on the Narmada River in India. Photo in public domain. You can see the tiger habitat around it.

There is constant pressure on tiger habitat which is being gradually destroyed. It is all about increased human activity including deforestation, the building of settlements, mining, the removal of forests to build plantations to create products to sell on the international market. The building of dams adds to that problem.

A study found that 164 dams affect the habitat of the jaguar and 421 dams have eroded tiger habitats. They say that one in five tigers are affected by dams. Tiger numbers are already precariously low at around 3500 total in the world, in the wild.

And as dams destroy forest, they are contributing to global warming because forests remove carbon dioxide from the air, a global warming gas. There are other issues. 

RELATED: 5 reasons why the tiger is endangered

Rivers pass through many countries. If the country at the top of the river, at the source, builds a dam countries further down don't get their water. And as human settlements increase there is more demand for water. Industrialisation creates an increased demand for water. 

There is a big problem building up along the Nile. There is a long-running dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over a massive hydroelectric dam which is at the heart of Ethiopia's manufacturing and industrial dreams.

RELATED: Indian Bengal Tiger Reserves


Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Tigers and jaguars need large areas in which to live. Their home ranges are enormous. Adult males in India can have home ranges 15 times larger than those of females. An female home ranges can be up to around 50 km². Arguably, India's reserves are already too small and they're being gradually eroded because of a continually increasing human population in India.

As human population grows there is a commensurate need for more energy, more power which puts pressure on governments to build more dams which in turn destroys tiger habitat at least potentially. It's a vicious cycle. It starts with human population growth. That is the root cause of pretty well all conservation problems.

Conservationists are going to have to try and compensate tigers for the loss of their habitat by providing additional protected areas. This is highly unlikely. Dams are contributing to the gradual and almost inevitable extinction of the tiger in the wild.

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