EP Zoo tigers part of threatened species

EP Zoo tigers part of threatened species
Special to the Times
Article Launched: 01/07/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

The Malayan tiger is also known as the Indo-Chinese tiger. Wild tigers can be found in Asia, across countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Russia.

Today, the tiger is an endangered species, and the World Wildlife Fund estimates that only 5,000 to 7,000 tigers remain in the wild. One reason tigers are endangered is that their habitat has been encroached on by human population, farming and construction.

Tigers are also being illegally hunted for their bones, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Another threat to tigers is "tiger farming."

According to a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, many zoos, wildlife parks and tiger farms in China breed and keep hundreds of tigers, often in abhorrent conditions.

Although both international and domestic trade in tiger bone is banned, some facilities openly market products containing tiger.

Many of the facilities stockpile tiger carcasses in the hope that legalized tiger trade one day will be reopened.

The El Paso Zoo has two Malayan tigers -- one male and one female. The zoo's male tiger has been in El Paso for 10 years and came from a zoo in Cincinnati. The zoo's female tiger traveled from Singapore to San Diego to Cincinnati, and has been at the zoo for about four years.

Tiger facts
The tiger is a power hunter and the largest member of the cat family. The tiger's closest relative is the lion. Without the fur, it is difficult to distinguish a tiger from a lion.
Tigers' ears are black on the backside, with a white spot. Biologists guess that the white spots helps cubs follow their mothers at night.
The tiger hunts alone, mainly between dusk and dawn, traveling six to 20 miles a night in search of prey. A tiger eats 33 ti 40 pounds of meat in an average night. Catching a meal is not easy; a tiger is successful only once in 10 to 20 hunts.
Tiger females weigh between 242 and 352 pounds, and males weigh between 310 and 570 pounds. Their length ranges from 7 to 12 feet.
Except for mothers and their cubs, tigers live and hunt alone. Tigers can live to 20 years of age in zoos, but only to 15 years in the wild. Only half of all cubs survive to independence from their mother at about 2 years of age.



Tigers online
Learn more about tigers and conservation efforts:
El Paso Zoo: www.elpasozoo.org.
World Wildlife Fund: www.worldwildlife.org/tigers
Save the Tiger Fund: www.5tigers.org