ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[TheHyenid76]

@peter @tigerluver @Apex Titan @sanjay @Roflcopters @Pckts @anand3690 @parvez @GrizzlyClaws  Guys incredible info! Bangladesh MAY have tigers outside of the Sundarbans


Historically, tigers were found throughout the entirety of Bangladesh. Now the only breeding population of tigers in Bangladesh is only found in the Bangladesh parts of Sundarbans.

From "A preliminary wildlife survey in Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh"

"We confirmed the presence of tiger in the SRF. This confirmation is based on a 14 cm pug mark that we have recorded from one of our study sites in February, 2016. We still do not have any data to show whether a resident population occurs within the CHT or if the pugmarks belong to transient individuals. In several villages, especially in the southern part of the SRF, the locals have mentioned during the interviews that they often see tigers in the area. There have been at least six different sightings of tigers in the area in the last two years. We were also told that Burmese hunters poached two tigers from the area in 2013, and at least two locals have seen mating tigers in the last two years."

Images of tiger pugmarks.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

"We also recorded the presence of key tiger prey species such as Sambar, wild boar, and barking deer. These species are found in both primary forest and degraded habitat. The locals mentioned that they have seen wild boar herds of over 200 individuals. Sambars are relatively rare, but do occur throughout the SRF. Barking deer and wild boar appeared to be very common in the SRF and throughout the Sangu-Matamuhuri Valley"

Information by Dr M.H. Monirul Khan (Bangladesh's greatest contemporary zoologist who has conducted so much research on the Sundarbans tiger). Info from his book "Tigers in the Mangroves: Research and Conservation of the Tiger in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh". 

"Tigers are still occasionally sighted in mixed evergreen forests in the Sangu-Matamuhuri and Kassalong-Sajek areas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Figure 1.3) where the status of tigers is still unknown (Sanderson et al. 2006)."

[Figure 1.2 Tiger conservation, restoration and survey landscapes in and around Bangladesh (Sanderson et al. 2006)]

*This image is copyright of its original author

[Tiger habitats in Bangladesh other than the Sundarbans : Kassalong Reserved Forest, Rangamati (top left) and Kassalong Reserved Forest, Rangamati (right), in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; and Patharia Hill Reserved Forest (Lathitila forest), Moulvibazar (bottom left) – a local hunter showing the location where he saw a tiger in the monsoon of 2008]

*This image is copyright of its original author

Information from another book of Dr Monirul Khan. From "Photographic Guide To The Wildlife Of Bangladesh"

"National animal of Bangladesh. Endangered globally, Critically Endangered nationally. Rare. Occurs mainly in SW (Sundarbans) in mangrove forest; rarely in SE (Chittagong Hill Tracts, particularly Kassalong RF and Sangu WS) and NE (vagrants in Lathitila forest) in mixed evergreen forests."

From "Of Hill Tracts, expeditions, tigers and wondrous wildlife: A Monirul Khan masterpiece". This article is written by Muntasir Akash a Bangladeshi zoologist at the University of Dhaka. His article is on the book "পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামে প্রাণবৈচিত্র্যের সন্ধানে" (the book is available in only Bangla) which is on the biodiversity of Chittagong Hill Tracts. Link

"Skull of a Tiger photographed in 2009 which was hunted in the eastern fronteir of Bandarban a few years earlier. Photo: Monirul Khan"

*This image is copyright of its original author

Guys what do you all think!? There has been plans to reintroduce tigers to the CHT and vagrants many enter from India and Myanmar. Reply