Feb 1

Feb 1 The Year Of The Tiger

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, also known as the Chinese New Year, and this year, it is the year of the tiger!
And what magnificent creatures they are, the largest cat species alive today!!

But sadly, these magnificent big cats are endangered, totally due to human interference, with their population in the wild in 2015 estimated to be less than 4,000 individuals. Solitary but social animals, they need large areas in which to live and hunt, but their habitat has been destroyed and fragmented by human settlement and agriculture. They have been hunted and poached, and their body parts are prized in some parts of Asia in traditional medicine, although there is no scientific basis for this.

Their preferred prey is deer and wild boar, although they can tackle water buffalo which are up to six times their size. They will also hunt smaller mammals such as hares and monkeys. They usually kill by grasping the neck of their prey and strangling them, but they have been known to kill smaller prey with a swipe of their paw, which can smash the skulls of domestic cattle.
Tiger cubs will stay with their mother for the first two years of their life before leaving her territory to establish their own.

Although normally orange with black stripes, there are three equally beautiful other colours of tiger coat colour due to genetic variations. Golden ones, which have reddish-brown stripes, white ones, which have dark grey stripes, and a few nearly stripe-less, snow-white ones, although the last ones are only really seen in captivity now.

So as we enter this year of the tiger, let’s hope that these wonderful big cats will be around in the wild, where they belong and have every right to be, for future generations to admire.