The Sumatran Tiger is the smallest of the five remaining
subspecies of tiger. There used to be eight subspecies of tigers but three are
already extinct. It is estimated that only 400 Sumatran tigers exist today.
About half of those are in the wild and about half of them are in captivity
dispersed around the world.
The Sumatran tiger has few natural threats. The two threats
pushing this tiger to the very brink of extinction is poaching and habitat
loss. If something is not done and done fast it is expected that the Sumatran
Tiger will become extinct in ten years.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of the remaining five
subspecies of tiger. This smaller size helps it move quickly through dense
jungles where it lives in the wild.
This tiger is not only smaller than the others it is
also darker in color.
This tiger has very ling whiskers. These whiskers give
the Sumatran tiger improved senses.
The fur around the face of a Sumatran tiger is longer
and fuller than other kinds of tigers, especially in the males. It reminds me
of a miniature mane. We don’t really know why it has more fur around the face
than other tigers, but it has been guessed it is purposed as more protection
for traversing through the thick jungle.
The Sumatran tiger is the only tiger to have webbed
paws. This helps this tiger swim better. Sumatran tigers can swim very
swiftly. They will not hesitate to chase hoofed prey into the rivers. The
Sumatran tiger can often be seen swimming across rivers in search of prey.
They also like to hang out around waterfalls which are good places for cooling
of and for finding prey.
Sumatran male tigers average 8 feet in length (2.4
meters) from head to tail and weigh about 265 pounds (120 kilograms).
Females average 7 feet in length (2.2 meters) and weigh
about 200 pounds (90 kilograms).
The stripes of the Sumatran tigers are narrower than
those of other kinds of tigers. This is great for camouflage in their natural
habitat’s tall grass.
NATURAL LOCATION:
The Sumatran tiger is found only on the island of
Sumatra in Indonesia. Their habitat varies from lowland forest to sub
mountain and mountainous forest including some peat moss forests.
The island of Sumatra has experienced allot of increase
in agriculture. This has taken away much to the natural range of the tigers.
Their ranges have become very fragmented making it difficult for individual
tigers to find territories or for males to move around overlapping their
larger territories with the smaller territories of the females.
Many of the areas the Sumatran tigers live have been
taken over by humans when means the poaching has not only increased but the
tiger deaths because of coming in contact with humans. Actually it is the
humans encroaching on the tigers’ territory and not the other way around. But
it ends in the demise of the tiger nearly every time.
BEHAVIOR:
The Sumatran tiger as with other tigers is a solitary
animal, meaning it lives alone except during breeding times or while a mother
is raising cubs. Once in a great while, but not commonly, tigers will work
together for a short time.
A male will not tolerate other males staying in his
territory, but will permit other transient males to pass through his
territory.
A female’s territory is smaller than that of a male.
The territory of a male tiger overlaps that of several
females.
Tigers sleep during the day and come out around dusk to
begin hunting. During a night of hunting a tiger can travels twenty or more
miles.
The Sumatran tiger is a quite patient hunter and very
good at stalking.
The most common prey for the Sumatran tiger is deer and
pig, however they do prey on fish, crocodile, an occasional orangutan and
whatever else they find.
Like other exotic cats Sumatran tigers mark their
territories with their urine.
REPRODUCTION:
Breeding can occur any
time of the year, but usually it is in the winter months or during the spring.
Maturity occurs when
they are about 4 years old.
Gestation is about 102
days.
They usually have two or
three cubs.
Cubs are helpless and
have their eyes closed when they are born.
Cubs weigh about 3
pounds each.
Cub’s eyes open when
they are about 10 days old.
For the first two month
the only source of nutrition for the cubs is their mother's milk.
Cubs normally nurse
until they are about 6 months old during which time they remain completely
dependant on their mother
Sumatran tiger cubs stay
in the den for the first two months.
Tiger cubs begin
learning to hunt when they are about six months old.
By the time they are 18
months old they begin to hunt for themselves. They
By the time they are two
years old they strike out on their own to find their own territory.
In the wild their life
span is about is 15 years and it is about 20 years in captivity.
POPULATION DISPERSEMENT:
NOTE: We really must act quickly as a united global effort
to save the Sumatran Tiger. Their populations are so small and so fragmented
that soon they will begin having genetic problems. The entire captive
population is descended from 37 wild-caught founders.
Indonesia has 65 captive Sumatran tigers in zoos
European zoos have about 85
Australia has about 20 in zoos
North America has about 70 in zoos
Although it is illegal to hunt these great cats the
poaching continues on a very grand scale. The reason for the poaching is that
Asian and Chinese cultures often believe that tiger parts have medicinal
purposes. This even includes Asians and Chinese who live in the United States.
Can you believe that?!
The World Wildlife Fund has recently made progress working
with the Schools of Chinese Medicine in North America to change attitudes toward
the use tiger products. We must support their efforts with publicity and
funding.
When this century started there were about 100,000 tigers
in the wild covering central and south Asia. During the sixty years three of
the eight subspecies of tigers have gone completely extinct and the remaining
five are on the verge of extinction.
In this century we have gone from having 100,000 tigers to
a mere 6,000 when you combine the numbers of all five remaining subspecies.
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