The Amur Tiger: A Critically Endangered Species

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The Amur Tiger: A Critically Endangered Species

Abstract

The Amur tiger (Tigris altaicia) and the cougar (puma concolor) both belong to the Felidae family. While they belong to the same family, they have very different histories. The amur tiger is always on the brink of extinction and facing multiple threats to its population. While the cougar has only recently seen its population decrease. The amur tiger is the subject of many conservation projects while the cougar does not have any protection and is currently in a human-animal conflict.

Species Background

The amur tiger (Tigris altaicia)(family: Felidae) is one of the most endangered species in the world with population numbers fall and rise dramatically over the last century, falling as low as just 20-30 animals in the 1930â€™s. Native to primarily far east Russia and the northeast of China in the Boreal Forest ecosystem (Tian et al. 2011) the population in China is typically dependant on movement from the Russian population. The Tigris altaicia had its ICUN red list status changed to endangered in 2007 an improvement from 1996 when they were listed as critically endangered. The boreal forest allows a large forested area for the Tigris altaicia to hunt species like wild boar, red deer and sika deer (Kerley et al. 2015)

The Cougar (puma concolor) (family: Felidae) is native to the Americas, with its main habitat of choice being grasslands, shrublands, dessert and rainforest. The variety of habitat allows the puma concolor to be widespread across a vast number of countries. The Puma concolor is been listed as least concerned on the ICUNs red list, however their population is also decreasing particularly in mature individuals (Nielsen et al. 2015).

Population and Threats

ICUN red list has listed the tigers altaicia population as stable, with the population increasing over the last 5 years the Tigris altaicia has a wild population of 500. However, while the population numbers are increasing, due to the previously declining population and geographic fragmentation there is a concern over the genetic diversity of the remaining Tigris altaicia. A lack of genetic variability may soon emerge as an extinction threat due to the reduction of the gene flow. Although the population of 500 wild Tigris altaicia, genetically there is around 20-30 individuals. (Russello at al. 2004), this is the lowest of all species of wild tigers. ICUN red list has listed the tigers altaicia population as stable, with the population increasing over the last 5 years the Tigris altacia has a wild population of 500. However, while the population numbers are increasing, due to the previously declining population and geographic fragmentation there is a concern over the genetic diversity of the remaining Tigris altaicia. A lack of genetic variability may soon emerge as an extinction threat due to the reduction of the gene flow. Although the population of 500 wild Tigris altaicia, genetically there is around 20-30 individuals. (Russello at al. 2004) A lack of genetic variability means that the species may not be able to evolve changing environments, making them more susceptible to extinction. Deforestation, population fragmentation and poaching have been the main extinction threats to the Tigris alticaia. It is estimated that around 20-30 Tigris altaicia are killed each year, they are mainly killed for their coats as well as anatomical parts such as their bones. These are in high demand due to their use in Traditional Chinese medicine (Wildlife Conservation Society 2008).

Although the puma concolor population has not faced the dwindling numbers that the Tigris altaicia has, the population has in recent years begun to decline. The main area of decline is amongst mature individuals. The western US population is estimated to be around 10,000 and it is unclear how dense the population is within the Amazon Basin (Nielsen et al. 2015). The population has seen a decline in recent years, this is due to the many threats facing the puma concolor. A loss of habitat is the main extinction threat facing the puma concolor. Residential and commercial development encroaching onto the puma concolor habitats is resulting in more and more human interaction. The destruction of the puma concolor habitat requires them to travel into more urban areas looking for resources Urban areas destroying the habitats is also resulting in a lack of genetic diversity due to population fragmentation (Vickers et al. 2015) The introduction of highways is decreasing the density of the puma concolor in an area. There has been an increase in human caused death amongst puma concolor in recent years, this may be due to increased number of humans and puma concolor sharing the shame space. The largest cause of death from human contact is through hunting, which is legal in most countries, but recently there has been an increase in the amount of puma concolor killed by cars on highways. (Ernest et al. 2014)

Mitigation Strategies

Tigris altaicia is one of the most identifiable mammals in the world, as a result there has been a large conservation effort to counter the extinction threats that the Tigris altaicia may face. These include tougher poaching restrictions placed in Russia. These restrictions made it harder for poachers to hunt but also tougher to transport, trade or store any product relating to the Tigris altaicia along with tougher punishments.

Due to their high population there are no laws in place to protect the puma concolor from being hunted. However, there are many nature reserves that exist in order to preserve a habitat big enough for the local population of puma concolor to survive. Recent studies have highlighted the issue of urbanising the habitat of the puma concolor, it is hoped by conservationists that these studies and the increase of human-puma concolor contact, that there may be new protections for the habitats in the future. (Vickers et al. 2015)

Future viability

While there are many conservation efforts in place to protect the Tigris altaicia from extinction I believe it may be too late to protect them in the long run. The affects previous population declines have had on the genetic variability has left the Tigris altaicia constantly on the brink of extinction. As with the Tigris altaicia, I believe that the future viability of the puma concolor is not very promising. The continued spread of human environments may eventually destroy the habitat of the puma concolor, leading to more human related puma concolor deaths. This could be halted if mitigation strategies were put into place.

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