Biology Iswandi Essay

SB025 Biology 2

[IMPACT OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

TOWARD PANTHERA TIGRIS ]

Student s Name :MOHAMMAD ISWANDI BIN MOSTPHA

Matric Number :MS1825136300

I.C. Number :001021-13-1021

Session 2018/2019

Introduction

Felidae is cat biological famil yand its members are called felids. All felids are carnivores

in the Carnivora order. The most common felid sare ordinary cats and other members include

all wild cats including big cats (Baryshnikov ,2011 ).The Panthera is agenus in the Felidae

family (cat), which includes four known species, the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard.

This

genus covers half of the Pantherinae subfamily which is the big cat (Diedrich, 2011) .Tigers is

one of the species in Panthera genus and itis an animalia that belong to the phylum Chordata,

subfilum vertebrate, class of mammals, carnivores, felidae (cats), Panthera as genus, and

species belonging to tigris. The Panthera tigri sor also commonly known as tiger is one of the

most recognizable cat with alargest size and have adark vertical stripes pattern on orange fur

with alighter underside as in figure 1.

Figure 1.0 (photographed by Asa Satria Said -NatGeo, 2014)

Backgrounds of Tigris

In1758, Carl Linnaeus ,Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist gave Felis trigasas as

the scientific name .However, in 1929 Reginald Innes Pocock who is aBritish taxonomist has

declared that tiger is an animal from genus of Panthera. Started from that time, the tiger has

tagged with Panthera tigris as the scientific name (Maz ?k, 2010). Tiger is an animals that

behave solitary ,tend to live alone and territorial. The size of the tiger shelter coverage

depends on the number of the victim and the chance of mating. A female tiger can dominate

about 20 km 2area, while the male tigers are more widespread which approximately about

60-100 km 2.Territorial coverage of the male tiger often overlaps with some female tigers

(Maz ?k,2010).

In all carnivores, tigers are the largest carnivorous cat and the third largest carnivore after

polar bears and brown bears (Barrett et al.,2011) .There are six sub-species of tigers in the

genus Panthera that are still alive today from its original number which is nine sub-species.

The remaining three sub-species of P.tigris have been considered officially extinct

(Yamaguchi et al, 2013). Three out of the nine P.tigris subspecies have been declared extinct

are Panthera tigris balica (Bali tiger), Panthera tigris sondaica (Javan tiger) ,Panthera tigris

virgata (Caspian tiger) and six others are classified as endangered which are Panthera tigris

altaica (Siberian tiger), Panthera tigris amoyensis (South China tiger), Panthera tigris

corbetti (Indochinese tiger), Panthera tigris tigris (Bengal tiger), Panthera tigris sumatrae

(Sumatran tiger), Panthera tigris malayensis (Seimon ,2013).

Hunting and destruction of habitats caused the global P.tigris population to decline from

about 100,000 in the 1900s become less than 4,000 in the 1970s (Jackson ,1997) .Today four

of the remaining subspecies of the P.tigris are considered endangered by the International

Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN), while two further subspecies are considered to be

critically endangered. The total population of the remaining six tiger subspecies estimated

between 3,000 and 3,600 (Seidensticker ,2010) .

Extinction of Panthera tigris

Although there were once nine subspecies of tigers ,human developments have resulted in

the extinction of three of these subspecies which is Panthera tigris balica (Bali tiger),

Panthera tigris sondaica (Javan tiger) ,Panthera tigris virgata (Caspian tiger).

Panthera tigris virgata ;- once inhabited the area around the Caspian Sea, through Turkey,

Iran and Central Asia to the Chinese desert of Xinjiang .As the Russian began to colonize

Turkey in the late 1800s, they began to hunt the Caspian tiger and they also hunt the prey of

this species causing many of the species die because of starvation. It is believed that the last

Caspian tiger was killed in the 1990s (Driscoll et al, 2012).

Panthera tigris sondaica ;- is a tiger who lives in Java which has the largest body

compared to other subspecies. Adult males tiger can reach up to 250 cm long, height about 65

cm with weight of about 150 kg to 200 kg while female tigers are lighter which is between 75

kg to 115 kg. In 1950s it is estimated that there are still about 25 of this species 1972 it is

estimated that only 7remaining and in 1980s, the species are predicted to be extinct (Irawan,

2014) .

Panthera tigris balica ;- is the smallest tiger among the three extincted tiger subspecies

(Budaarsa ,2013). This species are said have been wandering around the rainforest area Bali

island, Indonesian (Sherly ,2017). This subspecies was declared extinct on 1937 due to habitat

loss and poaching (Budaarsa ,2013).

Why Panthera tigris Endangered

Deforestation by human is the process that causes a natural habitat loses its ability to

accommodate existing species. In this process, organisms that have used the habitat site will

lose their habitat thereby reducing their biodiversity including tigers (Luskin et al., 2017).In

tropical region, the rate of deforestation are high which resulting great loss of biodiversity and

wild habitats including the P.tigris (Geist & Lambi n, 2002). The tropical deforestation also

one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) which accounting for almost 20 %

of the total anthropogenic GHG emission and amajor contributor to global warming (Baccini

et al., 2012 ). Global warming causes environment to be highly extremed, therefore it is not

habitable by the tiger (Houghton ,2012).

Human is doing an illegal hunting of tiger fortheir own sake. Among the 484 shops, a

quarter of the dealers had tiger for sale. Despite being protected by the law, the market of

selling the endangered species is still exist. The skin of tiger is believed able to posses a

magical powers which can protects the owners from black magic (Bhattacharya, 2010). On

the other hand, Chinese people also believed that some part of tiger body stored medical

properties, such as pain killer and aphrodisiac (Andrew, 2006). Aphrodisiac or also known as

love drug is a substance that increases libido (desire for sexual activity )when consumed

(Gauthaman et el,2006) .However, there is no scientific evidence supporting the claims (Still,

2003). While the bone of tiger is used in traditional medicines such as treatment for

rheumatism (Bhattacharya, 2010).

Consequences to Ecosystem

The disappearance of one species in their food chain will causing aside effect on other

species. Tiger is one of the main predator in its food chain (Sinclair et al,2010) .The loss of

the tiger can actually cau ses the amount of prey species increases. Therefore agreater threat

will presents due to high competition among the tiger sprey in order to survive .In this case,

tiger plays a vital role in keeping its ecosystem balance by maintaining between the

herbivores which is tiger sprey and the forest plant life (Mukul, 2017). Iftigers went extinct,

there wouldn tbe enough space to store and feed atoo great number of they herbivores .Tiger

is on the top of its food chain thus it has no natural predators. If the tiger were to disappear,

there would be consequences for all the links of this chain, with the effects even influencing

plants and also people life. (Dotson ,2018).

Conservation

The tiger’s hunting activities and the destruction of habitats have resulted in the number

of wild tigers plunging heavily every year. At the beginning of the 20th century, it is

estimated that there are over 100,000 tigers in the world, but now there are about 3000 wild

tigers (Seidensticker ,2010) .There are many conservation efforts have been carried out in

many countries.

Opening areserve forest is one of the significant project that has been done for the tiger

consevation. India is one of the country with largest population of P.tigris (Joshi, 2013) and

also known as the districts that identified as highest number of tiger scrime (Sharma ,2014).

They are running a massive integrated conservation effort called Project Tiger since 1973,

involving the opening of new reserve forests to restore the wild Bengal tigers (P.t.tigris)

(Badola ,2014). In addition, the Indian government transfers hundreds of villagers away from

tiger habitats to reduce the undesirable collision between humans and tiger and also to

eradicate the illegal tiger hunting activities (McGuigan ,2009). Other than that, in China, there

are one organization named The Save China’s Tigers who is working to introduce South

China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis )which is confined in South Africa into its original

habitat made into areserved forest, where the tiger is retrained to hone their hunting skills like

anormal wild animals and breeding naturally (Breitenmoser et al., 2006).

In terms of law enforcement, China sgovernment has banned the use of tiger sbody part

in the production of pharmaceutical drugs and establishing a legal offense concerning the

poaching of a tiger and the offenders can be punished (Challender & MacMillan, 2014).

Chinese also banned the trade of any tiger-related materials since 1993 because all trade

activities related to that materials are illegal under the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ,also known as the Washington

Convention (Abensperg-Traun, 2009) .

Conclusion

In this research, it is clearly shows that Panthera tigris is highly rated as an endangered

species that have the tendency to become extinct from this world as the three of its subspecies.

Therefore, all parties should giving asupport on the efforts that have been carried out to save

the tiger .For the first time in century ,the number of tigers on the world is on the rise.

Governments of the countries that are related to the tigers trying to increase the population of

the species by twice in the wild life in 2022 (Joshi et al, 2016) .According to the World

Wildlife Fund (WWF), the latest tiger data says there are about 3,890 tigers in the wild life

which is up from 3,200 in 2010 after acentury of decrease (Christina, 2016). This is agood

sign for the tiger species and this should be done continuously if we want the tiger species to

be eternal for the view of future generation. In conclusion, tiger should be conserved to ensure

the ecosystem is remain balanced.

REFERENCES

Abensperg-Traun, M. (2009). CITES, sustainable use of wild species and incentive-driven

conservation in developing countries, with an emphasis on southern Africa. Biological

Conservation ,142 (5), 948-963.

Badola, R., Hussain, S. A., Mishra, B. K., Konthoujam, B., Thapliyal, S., & Dhakate, P. M.

.An assessment of ecosystem services of Corbett Tiger Reserve,

India. The Environmentalist, 30(4), 320-329.

Baryshnikov, G. F. (2011). Pleistocene Felidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Kudaro

paleolithic cave sites in the Caucasus. In Proc. Zool. Inst. RAS (Vol.315,No.3,p.1).

Maz ?k, J. H. (2010). Craniometric variation in the tiger (Panthera tigris): Implications for

patterns of diversity, taxonomy and conservation. Mammalian Biology-Zeitschrift

f?rS?ugetierkunde, 75(1), 45-68.

Budaarsa, K., Budiasa, K. M., & Hindu, U. (2013, October). Jenis Hewan Upakara dan Upaya

Pelestariannya. In Makalah disampaikan pada seminar hewan upakara Fakultas

Peternakan Universitas Udayana, Denpasar (Vol. 29).

Diedrich, C. G. (2011). Late Pleistocene steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810)

footprints and bone records from open air sites in northern Germany evidence of

hyena-lion antagonism and scavenging in Europe. Quaternary Science .

Reviews, 30(15-16), 1883-1906.

Driscoll, C. A., Chestin, I., Jungius, H., Pereladova, O., Dinerstein, E., Seidensticker, J., … &

Zhuravlev, Y. (2012). A postulate for tiger recovery: The case of the Caspian

Tiger. Journal of Threatened Taxa ,4(6), 2637.

Gauthaman, K., Adaikan, P. G., & Prasad, R. N. V. (2002). Aphrodisiac properties of

Tribulus Terrestris extract (Protodioscin) in normal and castrated rats. Life

sciences ,71 (12), 1385-1396.

Hunter, L., & Barrett, P. (2011). Carnivores of the world (p. 240). Princeton: Princeton

University Press.

Harihar, A., Chanchani, P., Pariwakam, M., Noon, B. R., & Goodrich, J. (2017). Defensible

inference: Questioning global trends in tiger populations. Conservation Letters ,10 (5),

502-505.

JACKSON, P. (1997). The status of cats in the wild. International Zoo Yearbook ,35 (1),

17-27.

Joshi, A.R. ,Vaidyanathan, S., Mondol, S., Edgaonkar, A., & Ramakrishnan, U. (2013).

Connectivity of tiger (Panthera tigris) populations in the human-influenced forest

mosaic of central India. PloS one, 8(11), e77980.

Joshi, A. R., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E., Anderson, M. L., Olson, D., Jones, B. S., …

& Davis, C. L. (2016). Tracking changes and preventing loss in critical tiger

habitat. Science advances ,2(4), e1501675.

Luskin, M. S., Albert, W. R., & Tobler, M. W. (2017). Sumatran tiger survival threatened by

deforestation despite increasing densities in parks. Nature communications ,8(1), 1783.

McGuigan, M. (2009). The Tiger and the Sun: Solar Power Plants and Wildlife

Sanctuaries. arXiv preprint arXiv:0902.4692.

Miquelle, D. G., Smirnov, E. N., Zaumyslova, O. Y., Soutyrina, S. V., & Johnson, D. H.

Population dynamics of Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) in

Sikhote ?Alin Biosphere Zapovednik: 1966 2012. Integrative zoology, 10(4),

315-328.

Mukul, S. A., Rashid, A. Z. M. M., & Khan, N. A. (2017). Forest protected area systems and

biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh. Protected Areas: Policies, Management and

Future Directions; Mukul, SA, Rashid, AZMM, Eds ,157-177.

Seimon, T. A., Miquelle, D. G., Chang, T. Y., Newton, A. L., Korotkova, I., Ivanchuk,

G., … & McAloose, D. (2013). Canine distemper virus: an emerging disease in

wild endangered Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica). MBio, 4(4), e00410-13.

Sharma, K., Wright, B., Joseph, T., & Desai, N. (2014). Tiger poaching and trafficking in

India: Estimating rates of occurrence and detection over four decades. Biological

Conservation, 179, 33-39.

Singh, R., Qureshi, Q., Sankar, K., Krausman, P. R., & Goyal, S. P. (2014). Reproductive

characteristics of female Bengal tigers, in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve,

India. European journal of wildlife research, 60(4), 579-587.

Still, J. (2003). Use of animal products in traditional Chinese medicine: environmental

impact and health hazards. Complementary therapies in medicine ,11 (2), 118-122.

Sn, M. (2017). HARIMAU DALAM KARYA RUGMAKING DENGAN TEKNIK

GIORDES DAN RENDA. Serupa The Journal of Art Education ,5(2).

Yamaguchi, N., Driscoll, C. A., Werdelin, L., Abramov, A. V., Csorba, G., Cuisin, J., … &

Itakura, H. (2013). Locating specimens of extinct tiger (Panthera tigris)

subspecies: Javan tiger (PT sondaica), Balinese tiger (PT balica), and Caspian

tiger (PT virgata), including previously unpublished specimens. Mammal