INDIA {a shrinking tiger kingdom}

Tigers are the largest existing members of the cat family, after the liger (only lives in captivity.) Tigers live only in Asia, in which they once roamed all across, from the islands of Java, Bali, Sumatra, to the freezing taigas of Siberia. Tigers are famous for their thick, orange-tawny coats, gleaming amber-gold eyes, black to rich brown stripes, and long, whip-like tail. These cats have the longest canine teeth of any land mammal, sometimes three to four inches long,. Like most cats, with the exception of the cheetah, tigers have retractable claws, keeping them extremely sharp for battle and gripping, having the ability to sheath and unsheathe them when need be. A tiger has an orange-brown coat with stripes, except for the genetic mutated white tigers and golden tabby tigers, now only existing in captivity, with only around 200 white tigers, and only 30 golden tabbies. Tigers, depending on the subspecies and gender, can be from seven feet long to thirteen feet long from nose to tail tip, the tail being sometimes more than four feet long, and anywhere from three hundred to eight hundred pounds, males generally more massive and longer than females (the largest recorded tiger was a male Amur weighing 1025 pounds.) The tail of a tiger is used in communication. A tiger with a held up, wagging tail is happy, a tail at body height wagging means a tiger is excited. When a tiger twitches its tail between its legs-watch your step! Tigers have golden-amber eyes (white ones are either ice-blue, green, and sometimes amber) with a type of third eyelid, and, while color blind, have night vision six times better than a humans, sensitive and acute hearing, and an OK sense of smell. The ears have white bull’s eyes on the back of them, so a mother with cubs can see her cubs, and so the cubs see her. Tigers use their orange-tawny hides and stripes to blend in with their surroundings, as they can run 35 m/p/h, but have quick stamina's.

In 1900, there were over 100,000 tigers in Asia, and nine subspecies. Now, thee are extinct, and there are only 4000-7000 in the wild land.

Amur (Siberian) Tiger-These tigers live in the Russia Far East, with around 450 survivors, these are the largest non mutated living cats on earth, males weighing 800 pounds, and have thick, pale coats to keep them warm.

Caspain Tiger- The second largest tiger, and very aggressive, often used in fights in Ancient Rome, these beautiful creatures became extinct in the 1950’s.

Bengal Tiger- The most numerous tiger in existence, but yet with a small number of 3000-5000, these cats mainly live in India, where they hunt wild deer and boar, or anything else they can lay their paws on. All white tigers in captivity come from a wild caught white Bengal named Mohan.

Indochinese Tiger- With around 1000-2000, these tigers live in southern-east Asia. Little is known about them, as heir lands are mostly restricted to the public.

Malayan Tiger- Discovered in 2004, around 2000 exist.

South China Tiger- These felines were only given protection in 1977, they are almost extinct, maybe even already gone, with an estimated 20-30 in China and only 60 in zoos, all in their birth land. None have been seen in the wild for ten years.

Javan Tiger- Small, highly aggressive tigers, as with the Caspain, used in the Roman era, these tigers went extinct in the 1970’s. Only one known photo exists of a breathing Javan specimen.

Bali Tigers- Little is known about these 150 pound tigers, and were shot by trophy hunters to banishment in the 1930’s. No none photo is known to be around of a living Bali Tiger.

A tiger uses camouflage to hunt, hiding in tall grasses or snow for cover. The main prey of tigers are wild pig, deer, birds, monkeys, wild cattle, peacocks, or anything else they can capture. Cows are sacred in India, and with their population of over 1 million, cattle is often taken down. Tigers hunt by sneaking up on prey, often young, weak, old, or injured, but are capable of taking out the strong. Within fifty feet or closer distance, they’ll start to run, and ambush the prey. With small game, a bite to the throat is used, while larger animals are leapt upon, and bitten at the base of the neck, breaking the spinal cord. Either the rump or internal organs are eaten first, but tigers may sometimes take the prey of smaller leopards, sometimes killing their smaller cousins if they argue against the taking of their kill. A single adult tiger can eat over 100 pounds of meat and one sitting, and when finished its full, will cover the carcass with logs and leaves. They will keep coming back for more for several days until they need a fresh meat supply.

INDIA [home to the big cat]

ONLY 1411 LEFT........................................................................................................................



WILL THEY EXIST ????????????????????????????

"GLOBAL WARMING" {THE HEAT IS ON}

The first photographs made for World View of Global Warming, ten years ago, were of glaciers in Antarctica and Peru. This page shows a selection of the locations where we have documented glacier and ice cap retreat -- a small set of images illustrating the overwhelming evidence from hundreds of glaciers and ice caps on every continent that global warming is severely affecting the water and glacial cycles of the planet. This is a profound change that unlike natural cycles like the Little Ice Age of the 16th and 17th centuries is proceeding very rapidly and appears tied to no natural cycles. The best correlation for this change to all but a handful of the 160,000 land glaciers and parts of the great ice caps is to rising atmospheric temperatures tied to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases.

The largest implication of this loss of glaciers is not the change in scenery, but the fact that the seasonal meltwater from glaciers, especially in Asia and South America, is the life support for billions of people. Large cities like Lima get much of their water from glaciers. In other parts of the world, glacier water keeps streams cool and full for salmon and other important wildlife. And as more and more water reaches the ocean, it is increasing sea level at a faster rate --- which threatens every coastal city and shoreline. New scientific projections show at least a three foot (one meter) rise in ocean levels by the end of this century, part of which is also due to the expansion of warming sea water. This will inundate rice fields and estuaries that feed billions, and push into the heart of the worlds largest cities --- and make each storm a threat of more devastating waves and surges.

LET'S BE TOGETHER TO STOP IT.