Tag: Tiger

aaa Shark watching, Bahamas

Shark watching in the Bahamas

One of the few places in the world, where sharks are not being hunted to eradication, the Bahamas is a fantastic place to head to see wild sharks. There are thought to be quite a few sharks that live in the area year-round, but there are also many more which visits.

Tiger sharks, Caribbean reef shark, Great hammerhead shark, Bull shark, Lemon shark, Nurse shark, Oceanic white-tip shark and Silky sharks are all considered to be resident, however over 40 species have been spotted suggesting many other species visit at different times of the year. This includes several great white sharks which are tagged and have been tracked within these waters in the last few months.

Jaguar

Jaguars are the only big cat not found on the supercontinent. Dominating much of South America, and before the arrival of humans much of Southern North America

photo credit MarcusObal

Jaguar

Jaguars are the only big cat that is found in the Americas. Superficially looking like a Leopard, it is actually no more closely related to a Leopard, than a Lion or Tiger.

Once (as late as the year 1900) ranging from Southern Argentina- north through the rest of South America, and throughout Mexico and the Southern United states (some 19 million square km) its current range is greatly reduced, see the map below.

A map of Jaguar range. Red is the current range, pink is the range back in 1900. As you can see, it only leaves the Jaguar as the king of the Amazon

Wonderful swimmers, fantastic hunters and strong cats, they were undisputed as the apex or one of the apex predators in every environment in which they lived.

They are known to regularly take livestock where it is possible. Possibly as a result of having only millennia rather than the eons that native animals have, they have not learnt to fear humans and keep their distance as healthy populations of lion leopard and tiger do.

However, there is also a huge draw to see this animal in its native habitat. The easiest way to see Jaguar, is usually from a boat on a river.

As with other species on this site, I hope to add many destinations over the next few years. Below these links will be a list of all articles on Jaguars,  and we  will add all the destinations and links we have, as we make them below the news section.

From the great Pantanal – Brazil’s area of wetland, to a number of reserves across the amazon rainforest (it is estimated that 57,000 Jaguars still survive in the fragments of the Amazon rainforest that still stand.  On top of this, there is still significant jaguar habitat in Mexico and central America. One of these was set up by the late great Alan Rabinowitz, who fought right up to hist death for protecting places like Cookscomb basin reserve in Belize.

As with many other wildlife around the world, travel to see these animals is essential, if we are to give a financial incentive to those who live and work in the country. Get in touch if you work in conservation of this incredible animal, or tourism. Link is at the top of the main page (or click here)

 

 

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India now home to over 3000 tigers (though this does not equate to 75% as some have claimed)

The tiger population of India continues to grow. It has recently passed 3000 animals which is a fantastic success, as the tiger population of India fell as low as 2000 back in the 1970s and was as low as 1500 just 17 years ago.. To put this number in context, going back 200 years estimates vary from over 100,000 to 58,000.

Image credit: Sascha Kohlmann
Continue reading “India now home to over 3000 tigers (though this does not equate to 75% as some have claimed)”
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Bringing back the Amur tiger to the western part of its range! (The Caspian tiger)

Across the world many species have huge ranges – look at the leopard, found across Africa and much of Asia. It is not a surprise that these animals have a great deal of genetic variability.

The Caspian tiger went extinct in 1970, many pictures are far older

However, until recently, far to much of the decisions about subspecies status went on the look of the animal.

Continue reading “Bringing back the Amur tiger to the western part of its range! (The Caspian tiger)”
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As global warming continues, Tigers and Leopards are extending their range higher into the Himalayas: how will snow leopards cope?

Nepal has significant populations of Tigers Leopards and Snow Leopards. Historical knowledge would state that tigers rule on the countries southern plains, Leopards rule in the mid country hill region and Snow leopards in the Himalayas.

This photo of a tiger high in the Himalayas was taken by a BBC crew for a documentary a few years ago
Continue reading “As global warming continues, Tigers and Leopards are extending their range higher into the Himalayas: how will snow leopards cope?”
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Biden expected to sign into law new big cat ownership rules, which will curb or end private ownership

It is thought that there is currently about 10,000 big cats in private ownership, often in poor conditions and of no conservation benefit. While as much as 5000 are tigers (more than the 3900 estimated to remain in the wild across all subspecies, and some estimates put the number of tigers as high as 8000) there are also lions jaguars and leopards amongst other species.

This is not the right way to treat an animal like a tiger.

Importantly, however well-meaning the owners are, the very existence of this pet trade means that any big cat within easy reach of humans becomes a target. This week the bill: big cat public safety act, passed through the house of representatives. Currently 30 states allow tiger ownership, and a license is just $30. Also, as breeders in the USA have generally mixed up all the subspecies, these tigers do not create a back-stop for the wild population, as these hybrid tigers are unlikely to still have the genetic ability to cope in the extreme heat/cold/desert/flooded area that they used to call home.

Continue reading “Biden expected to sign into law new big cat ownership rules, which will curb or end private ownership”
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Soliga tribe has been allowed to live inside tiger in a reserved area – and the tiger population doubles!

Around much of the world, as the various European countries expanded their empires, one of the first things that Europeans did, was to create reserves to protect the wildlife, and required the local people to move out.

Many tribes have incredibly small footprints on the ground, ad look after their environment far better than many conservationists would succeed

In many of these places, the local tribes were forcefully thrown of their land, and begrudgingly given small areas often with little value compared to where they lived before.

Now there is a difficult issue: those people who are living their lives in the same way that they have lived for thousands of years, are often fantastic for the reserve. However, in many places these people will turn to harvesting the wildlife in a totally different way, leading to many local extinctions.

India has a range of tiger reserves across the country. Few of them have more than a few hundred tigers, and many just have a few, yet, if this could be replicated, the Indian tiger population might have the ability to double once again
Continue reading “Soliga tribe has been allowed to live inside tiger in a reserved area – and the tiger population doubles!”
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Back on the 10th I wrote about the Tiger recovery, here is more details about the Kazakhstan reintroduction: by 2026?

The Caspian tiger once lived in 12 countries, from the west in Turkey, to the east in central Asia. Seemingly, across this range, they did not have consistent populations but the tigers lived on the shores of lakes in the region, with 15-20 valleys being their strongholds.

The Kazakhstan delta is mostly ready for a return of the Tiger, with just the missing prey base needing addressing, this is well in hand

On the whole, the Caspian tiger lived in relative harmony with humans up until the Russian invasion. The Russians brought with them, the custom of keeping livestock, which brought the humans into direct competition with the tigers. As a result, Russia started paying a bounty for every tiger killed. This was incredibly successful, such that by the 1940 they were exterminated. The hunting was banned in the 1940s but too late to save these tigers.

After this, the tigers former home was taken over and converted into farmland, so the few that survived the hunting, soon lost what home was left.

In the 1990s as Russia fell, WWF started working to help the ecosystem recover. As a result in the late 2000s a satellite analysis was carried out on the area, and one area stood out – a delta of the Lli river in Kazakhstan. It was found that if the prey base was first helped to recover (animals such as boar and deer) then this area could easily support tigers.

Now, it is true that the Caspian tiger went extinct 70 years ago. However, recent genetic analysis has shown that the Caspian and Amur tigers are not distinct enough to be classed separately – they are essentially one subspecies, with a large range. It is true that Caspian tigers tend to have had shorter fur, but tigers are able to adjust in this way, so tigers that are moved to warmer climates will grow less fur and be able to thrive.

Given Kazakhstan being the most advanced of the countries in the area, with relatively high living standards, they should be able to carry out the plan. The delay until 2026 is to allow time for the prey base to build up to sensible levels.

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