Amazing Facts About The National Animal Of India: Bengal Tiger
The Sundarbans, the world’s largest river delta, is a mystic land in the real sense. There are many theories regarding the origin of the name Sundarbans, but none can be definitive. Still, the theory which seems to be most appropriate is that it is named after the most primitive and ancient trees “ Sundry” that thrive here. In these forests of Sundarbans, a fierce hunter has been ruling for years, they are none other than the national animal of India: Bengal tiger.
The Sundarbans are the only mangroves in the entire universe where tigers are found. The tiger which is the largest member of the cat family is famous for its strength and royalty. The Royal Bengal tiger is one of the six dwelling subspecies of the tiger which are Siberian tiger, Sumatran tiger, South China tiger, Caspian tiger, Indochinese tiger Malayan tiger.
Considering its beauty and strength, the title of the national animal of India has been awarded to the Royal Bengal Tiger. Panthera Tigris, called the king of the jungle, is the pride of India. This tiger subspecies is found primarily in India with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar.
The Sundarbans forest of Bengal is its natural habitat, but today its existence is in crisis due to deforestation and poaching. According to the World Wildlife Fund and Global Tiger Forum, 70 per cent of the world’s tigers still live in India.
Physical Characteristics
The National Animal of India: Royal Bengal tiger is one of the most beautiful and regal animals found in the country. They have a short hair layer on their body, which is golden brown, with vertical white and black stripes. Their eyes are yellow in colour. A mutated species of the Royal Bengal Tigers also have a white coat with brown or black lines and blue eye colour. Their white colour gene mutation is caused by mutations in pheomelanin.
Like human fingerprints, each tiger’s stripes have a distinct pattern, which helps in their identification. Unlike lions, bodies of the Royal Bengal Tigers are made up of muscles due to which they are mighty. These world’s largest cats have a large head with dense growth and long white moustache around the lower jaw. Its canines are up to 10 cm, which is much larger than lions. They have a padded rhythm, excellent vision, smell, and a keen sense of hearing.
Males Bengal Tiger grow up to 3 meters from nose to tail and weigh between 180 and 300 kg. Females of these species can weigh between 100–160 kg and achieve lengths up to 2.6 m. The largest Royal Bengal tiger found so far is about 390 kg.
The Royal Bengal tiger is found in various Asian subcontinent including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar. In India, it is seen in most parts of the country except the north-eastern regions. Their maximum population is found in the forests of West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Odisha.
India accounts for about 70% of the total tiger population in the world. Humid and dry deciduous forests, grasslands and dry shrubs, tropical and subtropical rainforests as well as mangroves (Sundarbans) are considered natural habitats of the Royal Bengal Tigers.
The national animal of India: Royal Bengal tiger is generally calm in nature and prefers to live in solitude. They are territorial animals and expand their area according to the availability and abundance of prey. They usually mark their area with urine, anal gland secretions, and claw marks.
The female tiger lives with the cubs until they reach adulthood. Royal Bengal tigers are nocturnal animals, they protect their territory during the day and like to hunt at night. They are an excellent swimmer, and despite their heavy body climbs trees very quickly.
The national animal of India: Royal Bengal tiger is a predator that relies entirely on the flesh of other animals. They like to hunt grass-fed animals like Chital, Sambar, Gaur, Bara Singha, Buffalo, and Nilgai. In medium-sized prey species, they often kill wild boar and sometimes hog deer and grey langurs. In rare cases, these world’s largest cats have also been seen hunting mammals such as young Asian elephants and rhino calves. Due to the encroachment of humans into tiger habitats, tigers of Bengal have also started hunting domestic animals.
These tigers use stealth attacks for hunting. They wait for their prey until the prey comes close to them. They break the spinal cord of the victim with their powerful attack and kills them by cutting their throat through his sharp teeth. Royal Bengal tigers can eat up to 30 Kgs of meat at a time and can also go hungry for three weeks in case of unavailability of prey.
The national animal of India: Bengal tiger, which has been considered a symbol of power in India for centuries, its sensation in the forests still creates panic. All the biodiversity of India is centred around the shadow of its king tiger. But this symbol of power is fighting the battle of its existence today.
It is believed that there used to be one lakh tigers in India in the 19th century. As the population increased, humans started the destruction of the forests. The Tigers continued to be hunted indiscriminately, due to which only around 3000 tigers are left in the jungles of India today.
The initial phase of tiger hunting has been considered the time of Mughals, which had become a royal sport in the British era. This was the time that became the main reason for the falling tiger population. The king of that time used to hunt tigers in the forests jointly with the British, witnessing the extinct number of tigers today. And for this reason, till the time of independence, the number of tigers in India was only 40,000.
Conservation Projects
Even after independence, poaching of tigers continued. When the then Prime Minister Indra Gandhi came to know about the extinction of tigers, he took active steps for tiger conservation and established the “ Wildlife Protection Act “ in 1972. Under this, poaching was banned, and at the same time, India’s first tiger census was done. The figures were shocking, and only 2000 tigers were found in India.
The Government of India then started a national program to protect tigers in 1973, “ Project Tiger,” under which several tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries were established. Because of this, in the 20th century, the number of tigers had increased to around 4000.
But the decade of 1990 to 2000 did not prove to be suitable for tigers. In 2005, Project Tiger was amended to Wildlife Act and converted into National Tiger Conservative Authority (NTCA). Then, a revolutionary program for tiger conservation started, and all the areas where tigers were found were preserved and converted into tiger reserves.
In Sarika and Panna Tiger Reserve, the number of tigers begun to decrease again due to poaching, then the Tiger Relocation Program was started for the first time. As a result of these national and international efforts, the number of tigers in the tiger census of 2016 in India increased to 2226. Officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) estimate that there are currently more than 3000 tigers in the country.
Originally published at https://www.secretwildlife.online on July 10, 2020.
