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News:
Wildlife Institute of India has found Royal Bengal Tiger in the snow-capped regions of the Eastern Himalaya.
Facts:
- IUCN Red List status: Endangered
- Tiger only have one species in the world but it is divided into six subspecies: Bengal (Indian), Sumatran, Amur (Siberian), Malayan, Amoy (South China) and Indochinese.
- Bengal tiger habitats usually are tropical rainforests, marshes, and tall grasses however recently they have also been traced in the snow-capped region of Eastern Himalaya in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley
- A large part of the Dibang Valley is home to the Mishmi tribes who have found to co-exist with the animals.
- The mangroves of the Sundarbans shared between Bangladesh and India—are the only mangrove forests where tigers are found.
- Smaller populations are also found in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. It is the most numerous of all tiger subspecies.
Threats and Conservation
- The main threats are: poaching and conflicts with humans
- Since the 1970s India began to establish reserves through the Tiger Project that helped stabilize the Number of tigers. Also, the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 empowers the government to take conservation measures.
- The Wildlife Protection Society of India continues watching all allegations of tiger poaching
- Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and World Land Trust (WLT) are working together to secure safe passage for elephants, tigers and other threatened species away from humans.
Additional Facts:
- Namdapha National Park
o It is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range.
o Noa-Dihing River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra which flows westwards through the middle of Namdapha
o Country’s only reserve to have four big cat species — the tiger, leopard and the severely endangered clouded and snow leopards
o Namdapha was originally declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972, then a National Park in 1983 and became a Tiger Reserve under the Project Tiger scheme in the same year
o Chakma, Tangsa and Singpho and Lisu tribal settlement found around the park.
- Project Tiger:
o Tiger conservation programme was initiated in 1973 in the Corbett national park of Uttarakhand by the government of India with the help of World Wildlife Fund
o The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body of the Ministry, with an overarching supervisory / coordination role, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
o There are 50 tiger reserves in India which are governed by Project Tigers.
- In 2005, The Prime Minister of India set up the Tiger Task Force to strengthen the conservation of Tigers in the country.
- About World Wide Fund for Nature
o WWF is world’s largest international non-governmental organization for conservation founded in 1961
o The Living Planet Report is published every two years by WWF since 1998; it is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation.
o Currently, their work is organized around these six areas: food, climate, freshwater, wildlife, forests, and oceans
