TIGERS
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"This image is amazing. Beautiful animal; Beautiful composition; Beautiful art;
I like everything about it."
Randy L. regarding White Tiger image
Endangered Tigers
There are 6 remaining species of tigers in the world: Bengal Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Sumatran Tiger, Malayan Tiger, Indochinese Tiger, and South China Tiger. Protecting them is very important both in the wild and in captivity. It isn’t enough for these animals to merely survive only in captivity. We need to make sure they are able to continue surviving in the wild also. My website features photographs of White Bengal Tigers and photos of Malayan Tigers.
Malayan Tigers
The Malayan Tiger is only found around the Malayan Peninsula. The Malayan Tiger was recognized as a subspecies in 2004, making it the newest species of tiger to be identified.
They are the smallest in size of all the tiger species. They are often confused with the Sumatran Tiger due to their coloring and small size. In fact, some people think that they are looking at photos of a young tiger instead of one that is a full grown adult.
The main food sources for these smaller tigers are deer and livestock. Obviously, the fact that they kill large numbers of livestock is not appreciated by humans. Humans want to destroy them so that they can’t continue to destroy their livestock. The Malayan Tiger is also known to kill humans but again that is likely due to a lack of prey to choose from and the fact that humans are moving into their natural habitat.
To help increase the number of Malayan Tigers out there, there is a huge breeding facility in Malaysia. In the past 10 years they have been successful with breeding more than 40 of these animals. Their cubs have been sent to various zoos around the world to help keep them safe. The number of Malayan Tigers that are being bred is still low however, due to the huge amount of testing that must be done. This is to ensure the genetic coding of the parents isn’t too similar. It is also done to help eliminate some physical deformities that are genetically linked as a result of inbreeding.
There are only about 800 Malayan Tigers left in the wild. Currently there is a huge debate over the naming of them. In Malaysia they are upset that they didn’t get the right to help name this new species of tigers. There are many who feel that they should have been named after the man that had a theory about their existence and then completed the genetic testing to prove it. They feel that it is important to recognize him for the work and for the information he produced.
In spite of the name, there is no doubt that Malaysia is extremely proud of this discovery. In fact, many businesses have it as part of their logo or their brand identity. The Coat of Arms has also been updated to add tigers to the design. People all over the world have a fascination for it as well.
The primary concern is that approximately 90% of wild Malayan Tigers reside in unprotected habitat. Therefore, effectively mapping out these areas and marking them as protected land is very important. Hefty fines and even jail sentences for the illegal killing of them is also something that needs to be actively pursued.
There are many campaigns out there to raise money for the further research and protection of the Malayan Tiger. This won’t be easy due declining protected habitat and low breeding populations. However, there are significant efforts already in place, so the hope is that one day their name will be removed from the Endangered Species list.
