Skip to main content

Sumatran Tiger

So to carry on with my unofficial theme of "cool animals I saw in California Zoos" we come to the Sumatran Tiger. This subspecies is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and is the smallest of all the extant tigers. For a quick size comparison- the Siberian, or Amur Tiger, the largest of the subspecies, can weigh as much as 475lbs. The Sumatran only reaches around 260lbs.

Once upon a time there were two other subspecies that were closely related to the Sumatran Tiger- the Bali and Javan Tigers. Both went extinct during the 20th century, and the Sumatran Tiger could very well meet that same fate. They are listed as critically endangered, and there could be as few as 400 left in the wild.

It is now illegal to hunt the tigers, but poaching continues to be a major problem (hunting was the major contributor to the extinction of the other Indonesian subspecies). Tiger bones and other body parts are frequently found in countries that no longer have Tiger populations, as their is a high demand for those parts within traditional medicine. Unfortunately as the Tiger population drops, the supply cannot meet the demand and the black market prices grow higher and higher. This only continues to motivate poaching.

Thankfully there are a number of Sumatran Tigers in zoos worldwide, and captive breeding has proven sucessful in a number of locations. The Los Angeles Zoo, for example, had three cubs born this past fall (one has sadly passed away). Those cubs marked the third litter born at the zoo to mother "Lulu."
IUCN Status : Critically Endangered
Location : Sumatra, Indonesia
Size : Length up to 8ft (2.5m), Weight up to 260lbs (118kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Carnivora
Family : Felidae -- Genus : Panthera -- Species : P. tigris -- Subspecies : P. t. sumatrae

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Tyler MahardJanuary 12, 2012 at 10:17 PM

    Great post. Hopefully Sumatra's national parks have good anti poaching patrols. I'd love to see the introduction of captive Sumatran tigers to the wild as long as adequate habitat can be secured. The demand for tiger parts in traditional Asian medicines needs to go away too.

    Unfortunately, it seems like human development is continuing to overtake important wildlife habitat in Sumatra-
    http://www.tigertrust.info/sumatran_tiger_newsdetails.asp?newsID=163

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more

Banggai Cardinalfish

Pterapogon kauderni The Banggai Cardinalfish is a small tropical fish that is becoming very rare in the wild, even though it has been successfully bred in captivity. You will only find these small, 3in long fish around the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. They are the only members of their genus, and you can tell them apart from other Cardinalfish by their three-striped bodies, tasseled first dorsal fin, long second dorsal, and their deep-forked tail fins. Banggai Cardinalfish are diurnal and live in small groups of about a dozen members. They are opportunistic feeders who dine on whatever smaller plants and animals they can find. Courtship and mating is pretty interesting for these guys-- females are the ones who initiate. They isolate a male and the pair will perform various courtship rituals before spawning. The Cardinalfish are mouthbrooders, which means that the males take the fertilized eggs (up to 90 of them) into their mouths and incubate them for up to 30 days. During t...
37 comments
Read more