DO YOU KNOW .. ?

Tiger fact file

• There are five different kinds or subspecies of tiger which are still alive today. They are called Siberian, Indochinese, South China, Bengal, and Sumatran.
  
  
• Tigers are an endangered species, only about 4,870 to 7,300 tigers are left in the wild. Three tiger subspecies are now extinct: the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers.
  
  
• All-wild tigers avoid people. Only 3 or 4 out of every 1000 tigers eat people and most of these are sick or wounded animals who can no longer hunt large prey.
  
  
• Wild tigers are found mostly in India. Until the 1800�s many lived throughout most of the southern half of the continent.
  
  
• In India, the tiger is found almost throughout the country, from Himalayas to Cape Comorin, except in Punjab, Kutch and the deserts of Rajasthan. In the northeast, its range extends into Burma.
  
  
• Usually tigers mate and produce cubs throughout the year in India, but peak breeding activity is in winter and early summer. This lasts about 20 to 30 days, males and females communicate with each other 8 different loud and distinct calls that have been documented.
  
  
• Project Tiger was launched in India in 1973, with the goal of saving the tiger and its habitat in India.
  
  
• Initial list of Tiger Reserves were 9, this Project went on to cover 28 Tiger Reserves across the country.
  
  
• India had 1827 tigers when Project Tiger was set 35 years ago.
  
  
• The number as per the census figures in 2008 is 1411.
  
  
• 2008 Tiger Census records 45 tigers in Orissa. Simlipal Reserve in the state has only 25 of the big cats.
  
  
• Project has not been able to keep pace with the rapid changes in tiger landscape and increased human pressures. In 2006, it was replaced by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
  
  
• Despite Project Tiger over 50 per cent of the tiger population has dwindled in less than 7 years.