by Judith Willson

Created on: February 12, 2010   Last Updated: February 13, 2010

Beautiful, iconic and impressive but thanks to us tigers are one of the most endangered animals on the planet.  There are estimated to be less than three and a half thousand left in the wild altogether.  If you divide them into subspecies the figures become even starker.  For example the South China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) only numbers about 20.  

Tigers in China.

The South China tiger has a different appearance to other tigers, having fewer stripes and being on average small for a tiger.  There is very good chance this subspecies will become extinct within the next few years.  In fact most scientists describe its status already as ‘functionally extinct’, meaning there are not enough individuals out there to maintain a population.  Also, possibly, present in South East China is the Indochinese subspecies  (Panthera tigris corbetti), although none have been seen in the wild since 2007.  A third subspecies with a better chance is the larger Amur or Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), and new conservation efforts are concentrating on these animals.

Threats

Deforestation.  The environment of all tigers is being eroded by economic development, ranging from logging to frog farms.  Population growth in China also inevitably eats into the forests.

Routes blocked.  Along with their territories becoming smaller the migration routes of tigers are being blocked.  Tigers need to move over large distances to find mates and breed, this is often stopped by roads, railways and other developments.

Hunting.  In the past tigers were considered at least a pest and at worst dangerous.  This was not without foundation, when populations were higher they would kill livestock and not infrequently people.  This means that they were heavily hunted, although the government banned it in 1977 this did not mean it stopped.

Poaching.   The main reason tigers are killed now is not defense of people or livestock, it is money. Tiger parts are used in Chinese medicine and commend a very high price.  This means that although illegal the killing of a tiger is extremely profitable and the few tigers left are in tremendous danger of being killed.

 Conservation measures in China

One thing tigers have in their favour is charisma.  As with pandas it is relatively easy to get people concerned about protecting them, and looks good in the foreign relations department. 

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