India has a wide range of natural habitats which are home to endangered animals and wildlife. There are close to 400 wildlife sanctuaries in India, and also 80 national parks, sheltering a wide number of wild and endangered animals. Extinct animals in India include the Aurochs, the Cheetah, and the Pink-headed duck. As per the quantitative evaluation done by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) there are 47 endangered species of animals in India. Some of them include Bengal Tiger, Snow Leopard, Blackbuck, Red Panda, One Horned Rhinoceros, Nilgiri Tahr, Kashmir Red Stag and Lion Tailed Macaque. In general, there is a paucity of information for the general public on the status, biology, and major threats to the endangered species of our country.

BIG CATS ON THE DECREASE!!

It is quite unfortunate that three big cats can be found in the list of endangered animals of India: the Bengal Tiger, the Asiatic Lion, and the Snow Leopard.

There are currently close to 2500 (as of 2016) Royal Bengal Tigers in India. The Asiatic or Great Indian lion is only living in the Gir national Park in Gujarat. Moreover, the Snow Leopard is found only in the Himalayan regions. Its counterpart, the Clouded Leopard, is also veering on extinction.

THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGER

The Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) is termed as the National Animal in India.

Physical Trait: Royal Bengal Tigers are one of the most handsome and regal animals found in India. They have a coat of short hair, reddish brown to golden orange in color with vertical black stripes and a white underbelly. The eye color is yellow or amber with black pupils. Royal Bengal Tigers can also have a white coat with brown or black stripes and blue eye color. The white color of the coat is due to a mutation in the gene producing pigment pheomelanin and not due to albinism. The pattern of stripes on the coat is distinctive for each Tiger and helps in their identification. Royal Bengal Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful fore limbs. They have large heads with a dense growth of fur around the lower jaw and long white whiskers. They have long canines measuring up to 10 cm and large retractable claws. They have padded paws, excellent vision, keen sense of smell and hearing.  The males grow up to 3 meters in length from nose to tail and weigh somewhere in between 180 to 300 kg. The females of the species may weigh between 100-160 kg and attain a length of upto 2.6 m. The largest Royal Bengal Tiger till date has weighed around 390 kg.

Can be spotted at: Tadoba National Park, Ranthambore National Park, Sundarbans National Park, Sariska Tiger Reserve, Jim Corbett National Park and Bandhavgarh National Park.

However, the Bengal Tiger is an endangered species. Although it is protected by wildlife laws, its numbers keep decreasing.

How does climate change affect Bengal Tigers?

As climate change and global warming threaten their natural habitat, Bengal Tigers are facing a severe threat. With the rise in ocean levels, Tigers are losing habitat due to coastal erosion in areas such as Sundarbans. Rising sea levels claim more of their habitat, and sea water enters rivers causing freshwater to become saline. These are the reasons the Tiger is moving northward and facing a shrinking natural habitat.

How do humans harm Bengal Tigers?

Animal and human interests often clash, bringing conflict. Humans have made the Bengal Tigers' habitat shrink, encroaching on their population and displacing them from their natural homes. Bengal Tigers are also seen as a threat by human herders for their livestock and thus, hunted.

Why are Bengal Tigers poached?

Bengal Tigers also face other human threats such as poachers and hunters, who kill them for their valuable pelt. There is a booming underground (black) market trade for this sort of items, with Bengal Tiger body parts being used in traditional Asian medicine.

Moreover, Bengal Tigers are perceived to be among the most dangerous animals in India, and they have therefore been hunted as a trophy for big game hunters.

How does industrialization affect Bengal Tigers?

Rampant population growth in India has reduced the range the Bengal Tiger critically needs for its survival. Construction of roadways and crop cultivation has not only fragmented the Bengal Tiger's territory, it has also reduced the availability of prey.

Today, the Tigers' habitat range is 20 times smaller than what it was at the start of the 20th century. Between the forties and the eighties, 3 of the 8 Tiger subspecies had already disappeared – the Caspian, Bali and Java Tiger did not survive hunting, poaching, and deforestation.

How has the Bengal Tiger population declined?

Between 1900 and 1972, the Bengal Tiger population fell dramatically. The Bengal Tiger is still the most numerous of the subspecies, accounting for roughly half of the world's Tigers. However, Bengal Tigers have been associated with status symbols, decorative items, and folk cures. A new poaching crisis threatens this predator with the indiscriminate felling of trees and rapid urbanization.

At the turn of the century, the estimated Tiger population in India was placed at 40,000 but the first ever all India Tiger census in 1972 shockingly revealed the existence of only 1827 Tigers. Before that a ban on Tiger hunting was imposed in the year 1970 and in 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act came into force after the Royal Bengal Tiger was declared the National Animal which enables government agencies to take strict measures to ensure the conservation of the Bengal Tigers.

Project Tiger was launched in 1973 with an aim to preserve viability of the Royal Bengal Tigers in India and increase their numbers. Currently, there are 48 dedicated Tiger reserves in India, several of whom has been successful in increasing the number of Tigers in the respective area due to careful monitoring of individual Tigers using GIS methods. Strict anti-poaching rules and dedicated task force have been set up to eradicate the threat of poaching from these reserves. Ranthambore National Park is a glorious example in this regard.

PROJECT TIGER

Project Tiger is a Tiger conservation programme launched in 1973 by the Government of India. The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal Tigers in their natural habitats and also to protect them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage to forever represent, as close as possible, the diversity of ecosystems across the Tiger's distribution in the country.

Initially, the Project started with 9 Tiger reserves based on core buffer strategies, covering an area of 16,339 sq.km. with a population of 268 Tigers.

Project Tiger's main aim was to:

?         Limit factors that leads to reduction of Tiger habitats and to mitigate them by suitable management. The damages done to the habitat were to be rectified so as to facilitate the recovery of the ecosystem to the maximum possible extent.

?         To ensure a viable population of Tigers for economic, scientific, cultural, aesthetic and ecological values.

Project Tiger basically translates into the conservation of the entire eco-system, as apart from Tigers all other wild animal populations have also increased in the project areas.

 References:

http://envfor.nic.in/downloads/public-information/critically_endangered_booklet.pdf

http://www.unodc.org/southasia//frontpage/2012/june/our-endangered-wildlife-a-cause-for-concern.html

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/1970/thesaurus/endangered-species/

https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/a-better-road-ahead-for-wild-tigers