Distribution and numbers of tigers in different countries. Who lives in the desert. Tigers The largest species of tigers
Do tigers live in Africa? and got the best answer
Answer from Zarem Aliyev[guru]
IN AFRICA, TIGERS ARE NOT FOUND IN NATURAL CONDITIONS. They are also found in zoos in Africa.
The tiger is an exclusively Asian species. It formed in northern China at the beginning of the Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago). About 10,000 years ago, tigers moved south through the Himalayas and eventually spread throughout almost all of India, the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. A few centuries ago, its habitat area was outlined by the following boundaries: 50 degrees N. w. (Kazakhstan), 50 degrees east. d. (Northern Iran), 140 degrees east. d. (mouth of the Amur), 8 degrees south. w. (Sunda Islands). Now, in most of this territory, tigers have been exterminated; the largest populations remain in India and Indochina. Within Russia, a small population of tigers is found only in the Far East, in the Primorsky Territory.
Tigers inhabit a variety of habitats, including mangrove swamps and bamboo thickets in the tropics, dense scrub forests in cooler areas, and bare rocky hills and taiga in the north. In the mountains they rise up to 3000 m above sea level. Depending on the habitat, abundance of prey and sex of the tiger, the individual range of an adult animal occupies from 30 to 3000 km².
Answer from Blood Angel[newbie]
Tigers live only in the jungle and in India. That's right, they exist in India too!!!
Answer from Yamilya Musina[guru]
Tigers don't live in Africa
They live. in India. in the Ussuri taiga and in zoos.
Answer from Natalia Golubintseva[guru]
There are three subspecies of tigers in the wild: the Ussuri tigers live in Siberia, the Bengal tigers live in Asia, and the Sumatran tigers live in Sumatra. There are no tigers in the wild in Africa.
Answer from User deleted[guru]
Maybe
Answer from Iuslan "Lucky" Mansurov[guru]
No! They live in India!
The answer to the question of which natural zone the tiger lives in can be found in this article. In addition, all subspecies of predators currently living on the planet that belong to this species of cat are considered here.
In which natural area does the tiger live?
An interesting fact is that this beautiful, strong animal lives exclusively in Asia. That is, there are no tigers in the wild neither in America, nor in Africa, nor in Australia. Even in Europe they are found exclusively in captivity.
But specifically, it is impossible to answer questions about where tigers live and what zone they live in. After all, their range of habitats relative to natural zones is quite wide. You can find this big cat in tropical rainforests and taiga in northern Siberia, in dry savannas and semi-deserts, in mangrove swamps, on bare rocky hills and in bamboo tropical thickets, in mountains at an altitude of three thousand meters above sea level and in the Primorsky Territory .
Amur tiger
To date, scientists have identified nine modern subspecies of the tiger. Unfortunately, three of them have already been destroyed by people. Only the Amur tiger now lives in Russia. Although previously in the former republics of the Soviet Union one could still meet the largest animal of this species. But the last Transcaucasian tiger, which weighed 240 kilograms, was shot in southeastern Turkey in 1970.
Speaking about the natural zone in which the Amur tiger lives, we should mention the taiga, Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories, tropical mountain areas (in North Korea) and the moderate-humid and semi-humid zone of coniferous forests (in the northeastern part of China). To date, about five hundred individuals of this largest living feline have been registered.
Bengal tiger
There are more than four thousand of these animals on earth, although this figure is arbitrary. Answering the question “in which natural zone does the Bengal tiger live,” zoologists list all biotopes, from tropical rain forests to dry savannas and mangroves. These are the countries of Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India. Most of the representatives of this subspecies are concentrated in India.
Indochinese tiger
These beauties live in Vietnam, Thailand, southern China, Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia. Today there are from 1200 to 1600 individuals. Chinese medicine poses a huge danger to the population. In this regard, almost three-quarters of the tigers inhabiting the country were destroyed in Vietnam. Today poaching has been reduced to a minimum, but it is already quite difficult to improve the situation.
Malayan tiger
This subspecies was identified relatively recently. Until 2004, it was classified as part of the Indochinese tiger population. They inhabit the south of the island of Malacca. There are about 800 individuals left, which puts them in third place in numbers among all subspecies.
Sumatran tiger
This is the smallest subspecies currently living in nature. When answering the question about what natural zone the Sumatran tiger is located in, one can jokingly give the following answer: in a protected area. Although, speaking seriously, it would be more correct to say that this subspecies inhabits the tropical forests of the island of Sumatra.
Chinese tiger
This subspecies is almost exterminated. According to scientists, all animals today live exclusively in captivity. There are only 59 individuals. Genetically, they are descendants of six Chinese tigers. The last wild member of this subspecies is believed to have been shot in 1994.
Source: fb.ru
Current
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Until the end of the 19th century. The tiger was found in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Northern Iran, Central Asia, in the southern half of Kazakhstan, from where it penetrated into its central regions, Western Siberia and Altai, Northern Afghanistan, Dzungaria, Eastern (Chinese) Turkestan or Kashgaria (modern Xinjiang -Uyghur Autonomous Region), in the northeastern, central and southern provinces of China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Zhehe, Hebei, Gansu, Yunnan, etc.), in Nepal, in most of India (except deserts), in Burma, in peninsulas of Malacca (Federation of Malaya) and Indo-China (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), on the Greater Sunda Islands: Sumatra, Java, Bali (?) (United States of Indonesia), but always apparently absent from the islands of Ceylon * and Borneo. Shrenk (1859) and N.M. Przhevalsky (1870) wrote that tigers come to Sakhalin Island in winter, and K.A. Satunin (1915) and later N.A. Bobrinsky (1944) reported that these animals live on the islands South China Sea Gainan (Hainan) and Formosa (Taiwan). However, the latest researchers do not confirm this information**. In the northeast of its range, the tiger was found in the Baikal region, in the Amur basin, from where it penetrated north to Yakutia, the Ussuri region and Korea.
* (Even Pliny, and later Wendt and others reported that hunting tigers and elephants was the most favorite pastime of the inhabitants of the island of Tarpoban (Ceylon). Knox (1689) listed the tiger in the list of animals of Ceylon and allegedly saw a black tiger at the court of the king. However, other explorers of the island are Ribeiro (1601). Schoutten, Davout (1821) and Hoffmeister did not name this predator in the list of mammals of Ceylon. Hoffmeister, as well as J. F. Brandt (1856), believed that in Ceylon tigers were destroyed during numerous hunts for them in ancient times. At present, the presence of the tiger in Ceylon, even in past eras, is denied.)
** (J. F. Brandt (1856), referring to Witte, wrote that on Fr. In Hainan, tigers are found along with rhinoceroses. If this report is true, then, obviously, tigers were later exterminated there.)
Thus, the area of distribution of this predator until relatively recently occupied most of the southern half of Asia, and in the east it penetrated further north (Fig. 12).
Currently, it is determined that there are 15 thousand tigers living all over the world (Perry, 1964). For individual countries they are distributed approximately as follows: USSR - 120 individuals, Iran - 80 - 100, India and Pakistan - 3000 - 4000, People's Republic of China - 2000, Democratic People's Republic of Korea - 40 - 50, Federation of Malaya - 3000. There are no data for other countries.
The next section will be devoted to the distribution and number of tigers on the territory of the USSR, and in this chapter they are described for all other countries in which this animal was found or still lives.
Türkiye. In Transcaucasia, in the part that currently belongs to Turkey, several tigers were killed annually in the middle of the last century (Blyth, 1863). The described predator was found there later, until the 30s of our century, and entered the Georgian SSR, as well as Armenia, crossing the Arak River. In addition, there is a not entirely definite indication from Yu. K. Efremov (1956) that in historical times the tiger was destroyed in Asia Minor on the Asia Minor Plateau. At present, the tiger is apparently exterminated in Turkey, and if it is found, it is as a great rarity. The Turanian tiger lived in this country.
Iran. To date, only 80 - 100 tigers have survived in the north of this country - in Iranian Azerbaijan, along the eastern slope of Talysh and on the Caspian coast, from where they sometimes penetrate into the Soviet Union. The tiger also inhabited the Caspian provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan and Astrabad, located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. It went south only to the Elburz ridge. On the Iranian Plateau and further south - to the coasts of the Persian and Oman Gulfs of the Arabian Sea - the tiger is no longer found (Perry, 1964; our data).
In the 40s of the current century, according to survey information, the tiger was still encountered quite regularly in the Gorgan (Astrabad) and Mazandaran provinces (G. Dementyev, 1945). However, over the past two decades, tigers have been visiting Turkmenistan less and less, indicating a significant decline in their numbers in Iran and the possibility of rapid extinction there. F. Harper (1945) also writes about this.
The Turanian tiger lives in Iran.
Iraq. From the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, the tiger may have previously penetrated into Kurdistan, a significant part of which already lies in Iraq. J. F. Brandt (1856), for example, believed that through the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers this animal spread to the northern part of Arabia. He also cites data from Diodorus and Ritter about the existence in the recent past of Babylonian tigers in the part of Iraq bordering Syria. For the last region, in addition to the tiger, Diodorus also indicated the lion and leopard, therefore, he could not confuse the tiger with cats of other large species. Recent authors reported that tigers lived along the shores of two large lakes - Deria and Niris in the Persipolis valley.
If the information given above is confirmed, then the southwestern border of the tiger’s distribution can be drawn along the eastern edges of the Syrian Desert and the Great Nefud Desert. In the 20th century There were no tigers in Iraq.
Afghanistan. In this country, the tiger is now found only in the northern regions and is absent in the central - mountainous and southern - desert regions. Until the early 50s of the current century, the described predators were common in the tugai forests along the left - Afghan - bank of the Pyanj, from where they often entered Tajikistan. However, such visits have stopped in the last decade, possibly indicating the disappearance of the tiger in this area of Afghanistan.
The Turanian tiger lives in Afghanistan.
India and Pakistan. In India, within its old borders, at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The tiger was found in areas suitable for it from the foot of the Himalayas in the north to the southern tip of the Hindustan Peninsula - Cape Comorin. To the west, he lived there up to the Central Braguy ridge and the Suleiman Mountains, and possibly even further west - to the Kharan and Registan deserts. In the east, the tiger spread beyond the country - to Burma.
According to information collected by J. F. Brandt (1856), the described predator was very common in many regions of India at that time and terrified the local population.
Since the local population of India did not previously have firearms and, due to religious beliefs, they almost did not hunt tigers, they harmed livestock breeding and often attacked people. The colonial authorities began to intensively exterminate tigers, giving 10 rupees (25 English shillings) for each killed animal. For several years (until 1807), the English government spent up to 30 thousand pounds sterling on bonuses for killed tigers. During this period, tigers were killed in large numbers. Thus, by 1800, one judge in the Terai had shot 360 tigers. Between 1834 and 1862 Georg Palmer caught 1000 of these predators, and Gordon Huming only in two hot seasons in 1863 and 1864. shot 73 tigers in one area along the river. Narbade is north of Satpur. By 1868, Nightingale had killed 300 tigers, mainly in the Hyderabad region (Perry, 1964), and the English general Gerard at the end of the last century set a record by shooting 216 tigers (Gedin, 1899).
In the 19th century, according to R. Perry (1964), at least 100 thousand tigers were exterminated in India, and “possibly two to three times more.” The military killed especially many of them. And yet, at the end of the last century, this predator was still very common in India and, according to English statistics, from 1,400 to 2,200 of these animals were killed there annually at that time.
The slaughter of tigers in India has continued in the current century. In the first decades of the 20th century. only two maharajas killed a thousand tigers each, and in one reserve in Bhutan, 32 animals were shot in ten days (Perry, 1964). Apparently, it was precisely one of them, the Maharaja of Suruguya, the former prince of the Central Provinces, that I.K. Rai (oral communication) had in mind when he said that this hunter had already killed over 1,200 tigers. This maharajah continued to hunt tigers as early as 1959, killing several animals every year. An amazing record that shows how much harm even one person can cause to nature!
In Pakistan today, tigers are absent from densely populated areas in the Indus and lower Ganges valleys, as well as in the Kharan Desert. They are also found in the northwestern border province, in the north of Western Punjab, in the west of Sindh and allegedly in the Bahawalpur region in the valley of the river. Sutlej.
In India, the tiger is now most common in the forested areas of Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces), bordering on the north with Nepal, in Assam, in some forested areas of the Deccan, in Madhya Pradesh in the Central Provinces (Pocock, 1939; I. K. Rai, oral communication). The government of the Central Provinces and Berar pays bonuses for harvested tigers (Hindustan Times, July 7, 1949). In Assam, the tiger lives in the foothills of the Himalayas in peculiar thickets - the terai and is still common there. Near many villages of Assam, located near the jungle, one can still see platforms fortified between two palm trees, on which watchmen sit, warning the village population about the appearance of a tiger or wild elephant (Chechetkina, 1948).
Currently, there are less than 4,000 tigers living in India (Perry, 1964), and according to survey information collected by I.K. Rai, there are 3,000 - 4,000 animals. Of this number, about 400 animals (10%) are hunted annually, therefore, at the current rate of hunting for them, rapid extermination does not threaten them. Over the past 60 years, Van Ingens, a renowned taxidermist in India, has processed more than 150 tiger skins annually.
The Bengal tiger lives in India and Pakistan.
Nepal. In this country the tiger is now found in the foothills of the Himalayas in the Terai and is still numerous. Widespread forest concessions and hunting in Nepal could quickly deplete tiger numbers there too.
The local tiger belongs to the Bengal subspecies.
Union of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Federation of Malaya. In the last century in Burma, the tiger was found almost everywhere and in some places was quite common. So, in the very south of the country, in Tenasserim, this predator was considered numerous, but since there were still many wild ungulates living there, it did not attack people during the day and the local population was little afraid of it. In the Irrawaddy region, especially in the valley and delta of the river of the same name, there were so many tigers that villagers, in order to protect their homes from their attacks, had to light fires at night. They even stayed in the vicinity of large cities, for example Mian-ong (Myaung-mya - A.S.). Many travelers reported a large number of tigers in the southern region of Pegu and their attacks on people there. In the western region of Arakan, which lies along the right bank of the Bay of Bengal, the tiger is a common animal, and in the forests of Jittaguon and Silet, which lie north of Arakan, it was seen very often.
The tiger also lived in the northern part of Burma - in the Kaindu region (Brandt, 1856).
Currently in Burma, according to the survey information we collected, tigers are still common in the eastern Shan region, bordering the Chinese province of Yunnan, Laos and Thailand. For other areas we do not have up-to-date information.
The abundance of tigers in Thailand (Siam) in past centuries has been reported by many authors (Brandt, 1856). Back in the middle of the 19th century. The tiger inhabited all the forests of Siam and often attacked livestock, and often people.
In the 1940s, the tiger was still quite common in most parts of Thailand (Harper, 1945). According to R. Perry (1964), in this country the tiger still lives in all the jungles, being especially numerous in the mountainous areas stretching along the Tanen-Taungji and Kun-Tan ridges.
In Laos and Cambodia in the last century, tigers remained in most areas and were numerous in some places. Their numbers there have now declined, but they still appear in a number of areas.
Previously, the described beast was very common throughout almost the entire territory of Vietnam, especially in its very south. Travelers who visited Cochin (Ambo) said that there were many tigers there, “which chase people right up to their homes” (Bissakhir, 1812). In the river valley Saigon (on which the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, is now located), tigers were encountered very often and were so daring that they even kidnapped people from their homes. R. Perry (1964) says that "if there are any countries more densely populated by tigers than India, it was the southern half of Indo-China, where Des Fosses, Malley and Maneotrol and others shot and captured many hundreds of tigers." In the middle of the current century, there were already fewer tigers in Vietnam; for example, in Cochin China there were only 200 - 300 individuals (Harper, 1945).
In the Federation of Malaya, located on the Malay Peninsula, tigers lived in most areas in the last century, especially in the Dyor region. In this country, the number of tigers increased greatly during the years of Japanese occupation and they are still found throughout the country, with the exception of Penang and Singapore. Lok made an approximate calculation of the number of tigers living in Malaya, considering that for every 10 sq. miles of jungle or 17 sq. miles of the entire country lives on average one tiger, and came to the conclusion that in the 50s of this century, at least about 3,000 of the described predators lived in this Federation. Currently, forests in the Federation of Malaya are being intensively cut down, and therefore the number of tigers there is rapidly falling.
Although it is not difficult for a tiger to swim across the strait separating the island of Singapore from the mainland, it appeared there relatively rarely even in the last century, and yet this predator became a scourge for Chinese coolies between 1843 and 1863 (Perry, 1964).
Indonesia. In this country, the tiger lives on the vast islands of Sumatra and Java. In addition, there was information that he previously lived on the relatively small island of Bali, located near Java, to the south of it.
Already the first travelers who visited Sumatra spoke about the large number of tigers there and about their daring attacks, “leading to the extermination of the inhabitants of entire villages.” Villagers unsuccessfully defended themselves against these predators with torches or burning logs. In the middle of the last century, tigers still kept the population of this island at bay (Brandt, 1856). Now there are much fewer of them on the island of Sumatra, but they are still common in some of its areas, and R. Perry (1964) considers them still “numerous and widespread.”
Europe learned about the tiger's habitat in Java a long time ago (Bontius, 1658). In the middle of the last century, in many provinces, tigers and leopards terrorized villagers, despite the penetration of civilization deep into the island. There were especially many tigers in the province of Grisse. Even the high bonuses offered by the government for the extermination of tigers did not help: the local population almost did not hunt them, as they believed that the more tigers were destroyed, the more intensively they multiplied.
By 1851, tigers in Java were still found in significant numbers over much of the area, especially on the western edge of that island. By the 1920s, a famous hunter had shot another hundred tigers there (Perry, 1964). Since the 1940s, the tiger in Java has become quite rare and requires protection (Harper, 1945).
Currently, tigers in Java have been almost completely exterminated. According to M. Simon (oral communication), only about 12 tigers now live there, nine of them are in the Udzhun-Kulon reserve. According to other sources, another 20 - 25 tigers survived on this island, of which 10 - 12 are in reserves and sanctuaries. R. Perry (1964) believes that by 1961 the described predators were no longer present in most of Java, and they survived only in the wildest places in the south, for example in the Ujun-Kulon reserve, where six tigers still remained. It is possible that these are the last tigers on the island.
On the island of Bali in 1909 - 1912. the tiger was considered quite common (Schwartz, 1913). In the 1930s, several tigers allegedly still lived in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the island; they were intensely pursued by hunters from Java. These animals will apparently disappear completely in the near future (Geinsinus-Viruli and Van Gern, 1936). The presence of tigers in Bali has been questioned by a number of researchers, for example Pocock (1939) indicated it for this island with a question mark. H. Meissner (1958), having visited Bali, found out that there were no tigers on it now, and he also did not see places there suitable for its habitat.
Meissner generally doubts that tigers could swim across the sea strait from Java to Bali. Thus, the question of the distribution of the tiger on this island needs new confirmation.
Tigers have never been found on the islands east of Bali, since the nearest island of Lombok is separated from it by a strait 20 miles wide - this is an insurmountable barrier for many land mammals.
Apparently, the Javan tiger lives on all the islands of Indonesia.
China. In this country, the tiger was previously distributed starting from its northwestern part - Kashgaria or East Turkestan (modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) - and further to the east. In the 70s - 90s of the last century, according to information collected by N. M. Przhevalsky (1878, 1888), S. N. Alferaki (1882), S. Gedin (1899), M. V. Pevtsov (1949) and others, tigers were quite common in the upper reaches of the Ili River and its tributaries (Tekes, Kunges, Kash) and on the Borohoro ridge. These predators were sometimes found north of the Tien Shan spur - the Iren-Khabarga ridge near the city of Shikho, in the Mukurtai swamps and other places, as well as in the Manasa River valley west of Urumqi. In addition, judging by later information, at that time they were supposed to stay near lakes Ebi-Nur and Ulyungur, as well as in the valley of the Urungu River, which flows into the second lake. “In general, in Dzungaria,” wrote N.M. Przhevalsky in 1888, “there are few tigers... In total, there are more tigers in the Tarim Basin, along the Tarim itself, then in Lob-Nor, as well as along the Khotan (Khotan) rivers, Yarkand (Yarkand) and Kashgar" (Kyzylsu ya Kashgar).
At the beginning of the current century, according to S. Miller, cited by D. Carruthers (1914), tigers still lived in dense bushes and reeds in the low places of Dzungaria, as well as in the spurs of the Tien Shan along the valleys of the Kasha, Kungesa, and Dzhingalanga rivers and Ili, where they climbed the mountains to 1200 - 1500 m above sea level. m. At that time, the skins of these predators were sold annually in the markets of Urumqi, Manas and Shikho. In Dzungaria, tigers were hunted using poisons, but they were rarely shot because they were afraid of them. A few years later, T. and C. Roosevelt (1926) reported that there were no tigers on Tekes and in the upper reaches of the Ili River, since local residents had killed them with poison. V. Morden (1927) also writes that tigers, which formerly lived in the upper reaches of the Ili on the northern slope of the Tien Shan, “now seem to have completely disappeared.” According to our data, tigers survived in the upper reaches of the Ili until the mid-30s of the current century, since before that time they often entered there from the southern Balkhash region. In addition, tigers previously entered South-Eastern Kazakhstan from Dzungaria.
Currently in Dzungaria, according to Beijing Zoo employee Zhu Bo-pin (oral communication), tigers may still exist in the area of Lake Ebi-Nur, but this seems doubtful to us. If tigers still lived near Ebi-Nur, they would appear, as happened in the last century, in the Alakul Basin (USSR), freely passing through the Dzungarian Gate. However, in the Alakul Basin, no one has found either the animals themselves or traces of their presence for a long time. There are also reports that tigers have survived in the Manas River valley (Murzaev, 1956; Kalmykova, Ovdienko, 1957). These data are confirmed by survey information collected on site in 1959 by M. A. Mikulin (oral communication). If tigers still survive in some places in Dzungaria, then very soon they will completely disappear there.
In the northern half of Kitat, after a long break in spreading eastward, tigers again begin to be found in modern Gansu province. Thus, A. Sowerby (1923) reported that they live in Kansu, near the Tibetan border and in the Ala Shan region. To the east, these predators have been recorded in Inner Mongolia and other provinces. For example, N.M. Przhevalsky (1875) writes that tigers used to be found in the Muna-Ula mountains, which are the western extremity of the In-Shan ridge (40°45" N latitude and 110° E longitude). Later M. V. Pevtsov (1951), during his trip in 1878 - 1879, noted that “in the forests of In-Shan, leopards and roe deer live everywhere, there are many pheasants, and near the borders of Manchuria there are even tigers.” In the city of Dolun (Dolonnor ), lying south of Lake Dalai Nuur, a stuffed tiger was kept in the temple, killed on the streets of this city (Soverby, 1923).It is possible that the tiger is still found in Inner Mongolia at the present time (Shaw, Hsia Wu-ping, etc. , 1958).
North of In-Shan, on the vast territory of the Gobi Desert (Shamo), a significant part of which already lay within the Mongolian People's Republic, there were no tigers, but they reappeared in the very west of Manchuria - in Northern Barga (50° N latitude and 120 °E).
Chinese zoologists believe that there were no tigers on the Greater Khingan in the last decade, but in 1953 and 1954. Several tigers came to the borders of the Soviet Union, to the South-Eastern Transbaikalia, from beyond the Argun, which could only get there from Barga or from the Greater Khingan. Similar approaches were observed before - in the 19th - early 20th centuries.
Beyond the Greater Khingan, tigers were found throughout the northern half of Manchuria as far as the Ussuri River and Lake Khanka in the east. To the south they were distributed to the Changbai Mountain ridge and its southern spurs, running along the eastern shore of the Korean Isthmus, already outside the borders of China, as well as to the valley of the Yangtze River.
N.A. Baikov (1925) believes that at the beginning of the current century, the indigenous habitat of tigers within Manchuria was the province of Girin, where they were found in large numbers in many places, such as, for example, in the vast virgin forests of the upper reaches of the Sungari, Lilinghe and Ashihe, as well as in the areas of the Mudanjiang, Maihe, Muren and Suifun river basins. After the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, deforestation by Russians and then Japanese concessions and the settlement of the region, the tiger became rare in these areas and appeared only during transitions from one area to another.
In recent years, according to T. X. Shaw, Hsia Wu-ping et al. (1958), as well as Zhu Bo-pin (oral communication, 1958), in the former Manchuria tigers were found in the northern province of Heilongjiang and in southern - Girin. The most common predator described turned out to be in the Lesser Khingan mountains in the area bounded in the north by the city of Yichun, and in the south by the Songhua River. From Yichunxiang County (Yichun, Dailin) in Heilongjiang Province, the mentioned researchers received tigers. Tigers were also common in the mountains of the Zhangguangcailing ridge in the area lying from the city of Mudanjiang to the north to the city of Dunhua to the south and near Lake Jingbohu (Dunhuaxiang and Jianxiang counties, Jirin province), as well as on the Changbai Mountain plateau in Fusunxiang county (Girin province). Until 1955, the medicinal factory in Fusun purchased 20 to 30 tigers annually.
According to survey information we collected in China in 1958, in its northeastern part, in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Jirin, another 200 - 250 tigers lived, and before the ban on hunting, 50 - 60 animals were killed there annually. In the province of Girin, due to deforestation and the extermination of wild ungulates, tigers began to attack horses and cows.
As a result of intensive persecution of Amur tigers, their numbers sharply decreased in the 50s of this century, which prompted the government of the People's Republic of China to completely ban hunting on them and begin to organize reserves in the Lesser Khingan and in other areas lying near the Amur River and its tributaries, in order to protect this most valuable subspecies of the described predator.
South of the former Manchuria, the Amur tiger used to be found in other provinces of the northern half of China. Thus, N. M. Przhevalsky (1875) wrote that he lived in the forests stretching north of the Yellow River to the modern city of Chengde in the province of Zhehe. A. Sowerby (1923) reported that tigers were still found in Hebei Province in the area of Dongling and Weichang (Eastern Graves and Imperial Hunting Grounds), north and northeast of Beijing. For example, in the area of the Eastern Graves at the beginning of this century, three animals were seen at different times, one of them was killed in 1912. Currently, judging by the information we collected, there are no tigers there anymore. Previously, they were mined in the northern and southern counties of Shanxi Province. For example, one animal was killed in the south of this province in 1932 (Harper, 1945).
In the southern half of China, according to G. Allen (1938), tigers were relatively common in many places, for example in Hubei province, in its western part. They were very rare in western Sichuan, although they were sometimes found in the jungles of Washan. These predators are more common in the Chien-chan valley and south through the entire Yunnan province. The described predators were found in significant numbers in Fujian province, but were scarce to the north. One tiger, killed in Anhui province, was shown on the streets of Anqing. Two tigers were killed near Hankow in 1933.
According to T. H. Shaw (oral communication), in 1930, one tiger was killed in the Moganypan Mountains in Zhejiang Province, in addition, in the current century, these animals were killed in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian and Guangdong, and in the latter two more often than in others.
According to information we collected during a trip to China in 1958, tigers are still quite common in Yunnan Province. In this province, north of the city of Kunming, the described predators are found in Panxiang, Xinzhen and Kunguo counties, and in the latter they are rare. In the south of the province, the tiger is common in Simao and Pu'er counties. In Simao, the described predator lives in almost all counties. Until 1949, in the Simao Valley, due to its low population, near the city of the same name, bushes and weeds grew greatly, in which tigers and leopards often appeared. In 1948, one tiger entered the city of Simao and was killed right on the street. In the 50s of this century, in Simao County, judging by the purchases of the Local Products Campaign, from 30 to 40 tigers were killed annually (Yang Li-tsu, oral communication). Currently, there are approximately 500 to 600 tigers in southwest Yunnan Province, and up to 200 of these predators are hunted annually throughout the province. In recent years, 40 - 50 tiger skins passed annually through the base of the Yunnan Foreign Trade Bureau in Kunming, and in 1957 more than 100 of them passed through.
After the war for the liberation of China, which ended in 1949, many military units remained in the country, in addition, in the south, the local population acquired large quantities of modern rifled weapons. Large roundups of tigers and leopards began, in which military units took part. The production of the described predators has increased sharply. According to T. X. Shaw (1958), throughout China in the 50s of the current century, up to a thousand tigers were killed in some years. If the extermination of the described beast continues at this rate, its numbers in the south of the country will quickly decrease and it will become as rare as in the northeastern provinces.
In the northeast of China, in the province of Heilongjiang, the Amur tiger lives, and in the provinces of Jilin, Zhehe and others south to the Yangtze River - the Korean or Ussuri tiger. Some authors consider the Amur and Korean tigers to be one form and call them the Manchurian tiger. In the south of the country there is a South China tiger, and in the southwestern part of Yunnan there is a Bengal tiger, and possibly a tiger of an as yet undescribed form. Thus, over the vast territory of China there live tigers of four or five forms.
Korea. In the second half of the last century, about 150 tiger skins were exported from this country annually to Japan and China (Perry, 1964). According to Won Hong Gu (oral communication), at the very end of the 19th century. tigers were hunted in the south of the country in Chomado and in the north - in Gengsondo, Unsan (Wansan? - A.S.) and Pyongyangdo. F. Barclay (1915) writes that at the beginning of the current century in this country there were more tigers in its northern regions than in the southern ones. At that time, the described predators were still located at the southwestern tip of Korea and on the island of Jindo, where F. Barclay successfully hunted them. In the early spring of 1914, a fresh corpse of a tiger was washed up by the sea in Japan on the island of Honshu (Hondo) near the city of Myatsue. The tiger's corpse could only have come to Japan from South Korea. Won Hong Gu reported that in 1911 tigers were hunted in Zenlanamdo Province, in 1918 in Gongwondo Province, in 1922 in Gyeongseonbugdo Province, and in 1930 in Pyongyangbugdo Province.
In the early 1920s, the described predators were still common in North Korea, and sportsmen there killed several animals every year (Soverby, 1923).
At present, tigers in South Korea have apparently already been exterminated, and the southern border of their modern range lies somewhat south of Pyongyang. In the northern half of this country, tigers remain in areas bordering the province of Jilin (South Manchuria) of the People's Republic of China. So, in 1935, 1952 and 1956. they were mined in Hamgyongbugdo, where they were especially common at the headwaters of the Suifun River. After 1953, in the province of Hamgyongbugdo in the regions of Musan, Yongso, Onseong, Helen, several tigers were captured alive every year, most of which were sold abroad. For example, in 1956, ten tigers were captured, only one of which was left in Korea. Two tigers were killed in the Musan region after 1945. The tigers still held out in Ryangando (Won Hong Gu, oral communication, 1957 and 1958). M. Simon (oral communication) believes that there are still 40 - 50 tigers left on the Korean Peninsula.
In 1958, the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea adopted a resolution banning hunting of the described animal.
The Korean or Ussuri tiger lives throughout the country.
A large predator with luxurious fur and cat-like habits is the tiger. Today this animal is listed in the Red Book, since the probability of its extinction from the face of the earth is too high. Where do tigers live? Where can you find these unique tabby cats today?
Do tigers live in Africa?
There have never been tigers in the African wild. It is believed that the ancestor of all existing species of this striped cat is the South China tiger. Consequently, the center of origin and distribution of the predator is China. From there the animals traveled north and south across the Himalayas. They began to populate Iran and Turkey, and spread across the islands of Bali, Sumatra, Java, and throughout India and the Malay Peninsula. But wild cats did not make it the long way to Africa. In addition, the climate and living conditions do not meet the natural needs of these animals.
The tiger is an Asian animal. The historical range occupies the territory of the Russian Far East, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and the countries of Southeast Asia. Today this range is strongly dissected into separate populations, some of which are significantly distant from each other.
The territory where predators lived began to form about two million years ago in northern China. Moving south through the Himalayas, they gradually occupied an area with the following borders: the Sunda Islands - from the south, the mouth of the Amur - from the west, Northern Iran - from the east and Kazakhstan - from the north. Today, tigers have been extirpated from most of this range.
Where do tabby cats live?
Researchers identify nine subspecies of the striped predator, three of which have already completely disappeared. Wild cats live in different landscapes. They like tropical rainforests, dry savannas, bamboo thickets, semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, and bare rocky hills. The name of all existing subspecies contains a territorial attribute.
Amur tiger
Other names are Siberian, North Chinese, Ussuri, Manchurian. Habitat: fourteen regions. The most significant populations are concentrated in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk regions of Russia, in northeastern China and North Korea.
As a result of the last two surveys, the largest undivided range of Amur cats in nature was discovered, about five hundred and twenty individuals. This fact makes this population the largest in the world.
Bengal raptor
It lives in Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. This subspecies inhabits mangroves, savannas, and rain forests. The majority of Bengalis occupy the Terai-Duar ecoregion.
Bengal cats are the most numerous, but they are also endangered. The main reasons: poaching and destruction of the natural environment. A large-scale conservation project launched in India at the end of the twentieth century stopped the process of extinction of striped predators. In the nineties, this program was recognized as one of the most successful.
Indochinese tiger
The habitat is limited to Cambodia, southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia. The approximate number of individuals is one thousand two hundred. This figure provided the subspecies with the second largest number among other striped cats. The largest number of Indochinese tigers is concentrated in Malaysia. Strict measures in this country do not allow poachers to run amok. But the population is threatened by inbreeding and habitat fragmentation.
Three quarters of Vietnamese animals were killed to sell organs for Chinese medicine. Today, killing or capturing animals is strictly prohibited.
Malayan predator
It was identified as a subspecies by researchers only in 2004. Previously, the population was classified as an Indochinese species. The Malays live exclusively on the island of Malacca, in its southern part. Today it is the third largest subspecies, with a population of six to eight hundred individuals.
Sumatran tiger
Place of residence: Indonesian island of Sumatra. There are four to five hundred cats of this subspecies found in the wild. Most of them are located in national parks and reserves. But here, too, animals are in danger: even in strictly protected areas of Sumatra, deforestation occurs.
Meanwhile, unique genetic markers were found in the genotype of this subspecies. This indicates that, on the basis of this species, a separate species of feline may develop over time. Unless the Sumatran predator goes extinct, of course. Indeed, today it is represented in the smallest quantity.
Chinese tiger
A subspecies that is on the verge of extinction. In the wild, the last predator was killed in 1994. Today, South China cats are kept only in captivity.
Extinct subspecies
A Balinese who previously lived on the island of Bali. The last individual of this breed was killed by hunters in 1937. And these cats have never been kept in captivity.
The Transcaucasian was found in Armenia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan. The animal was last seen in 1968 in southeastern Turkey.
Yavansky lived on the Indonesian island of Java until the eighties of the twentieth century. The extinction was due to the destruction of natural habitat and hunting.
Thus, the main habitat of tigers is Asia. Do you know where the skunk lives?
How long do tigers live?
How long do lions live? Oh, tigers. We're talking about them.
In the wild, tabby cats can live up to twenty-six years. The highest mortality rate is among tiger cubs under one and a half years old. About fifty percent die. Moreover, the more babies in the litter, the more often they die.
Animals reach sexual maturity at the age of four to five years. Pregnancy lasts three and a half months. Most often, a tigress gives birth to two or three cubs, less often – one, four or five. Babies stay with their mother for two to three years. During this time, they almost acquire the size of an adult. A new litter is born only when the previous one begins an independent life.
The tigress does not leave her cubs alone for long. Only towards the end of the first year of their life does the mother begin to go far away. The ability to hunt is not an innate skill. The cubs learn all the methods and techniques from their mother.
For some time, while the cubs are very small, the tigress does not let their father get close to them. Only later, perhaps, will an adult tiger be allowed to visit its family.
Until the end of the 19th century. The tiger was found in Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Northern Iran, Central Asia, in the southern half of Kazakhstan, from where it penetrated into its central regions, Western Siberia and Altai, Northern Afghanistan, Dzungaria, Eastern (Chinese) Turkestan or Kashgaria (modern Xinjiang -Uyghur Autonomous Region), in the northeastern, central and southern provinces of China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Zhehe, Hebei, Gansu, Yunnan, etc.), in Nepal, in most of India (except deserts), in Burma, in peninsulas of Malacca (Federation of Malaya) and Indo-China (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), on the Greater Sunda Islands: Sumatra, Java, Bali (?) (United States of Indonesia), but always apparently absent from the islands of Ceylon * and Borneo. Shrenk (1859) and N.M. Przhevalsky (1870) wrote that tigers come to Sakhalin Island in winter, and K.A. Satunin (1915) and later N.A. Bobrinsky (1944) reported that these animals live on the islands South China Sea Gainan (Hainan) and Formosa (Taiwan). However, the latest researchers do not confirm this information**. In the northeast of its range, the tiger was found in the Baikal region, in the Amur basin, from where it penetrated north to Yakutia, the Ussuri region and Korea.
Although deserts are arid, we can find them all over the world. Although we usually think of the desert as a hot and dry area, it can also be very cold. Regardless of the region, all deserts tend to be cold at night and can even get a little rainy. However, they are also inhabited by several individuals who have adapted to live in these conditions.
There are several things that make up a desert ecosystem. The ecosystem depends on the type of desert: temperate deserts or hot or subtropical deserts. Hot deserts and cold deserts have different types of ecosystems. However, despite the fact that these two types of deserts have different similarities.
* (Even Pliny, and later Wendt and others reported that hunting tigers and elephants was the most favorite pastime of the inhabitants of the island of Tarpoban (Ceylon). Knox (1689) listed the tiger in the list of animals of Ceylon and allegedly saw a black tiger at the court of the king. However, other explorers of the island are Ribeiro (1601). Schoutten, Davout (1821) and Hoffmeister did not name this predator in the list of mammals of Ceylon. Hoffmeister, as well as J. F. Brandt (1856), believed that in Ceylon tigers were destroyed during numerous hunts for them in ancient times. At present, the presence of the tiger in Ceylon, even in past eras, is denied.)
Similarities between tropical and subtropical deserts
Both falls receive less than 10 inches of rain per year. Both biomes have dry air. Both have very harsh living conditions that affect the people and animals that inhabit them. The installations are adapted to water shortages and high temperatures. Animals have adapted so that they know how to maintain their strength, how to get food, and what time to go out and be active.
In general, deserts are composed of several abiotic components. It's basically everything that makes up an ecosystem, and it's not living. However, there are a large number of biotic components that affect deserts. It is everything that is living, like plants and animals.
** (J. F. Brandt (1856), referring to Witte, wrote that on Fr. In Hainan, tigers are found along with rhinoceroses. If this report is true, then, obviously, tigers were later exterminated there.)
Thus, the area of distribution of this predator until relatively recently occupied most of the southern half of Asia, and in the east it penetrated further north (Fig. 12).
Antarctica is an example of a temperate desert. In fact, temperatures are so low that they can kill a person. To survive, the animals inhabiting this type of desert had to adapt over the years. Some of their coping mechanisms include having more fat or needing less food and energy to survive.
These deserts are too hot for animals and plants. The animals that call these deserts home have little adaptation to water. Because they are very hot during the day, the animals have become nocturnal. This way they come out at night as they are cool and easier to maneuver without being exposed to such high temperatures. But since the nights are cold, they had to adapt to this sudden change in temperature. Plants have had to adapt to not have much water, so they are sparse and often grow at ground level.
Currently, it is determined that there are 15 thousand tigers living all over the world (Perry, 1964). For individual countries they are distributed approximately as follows: USSR - 120 individuals, Iran - 80 - 100, India and Pakistan - 3000 - 4000, People's Republic of China - 2000, Democratic People's Republic of Korea - 40 - 50, Federation of Malaya - 3000. There are no data for other countries.
There are two important factors in the creation of a desert: mountain rain shadows and good distribution of global winds. When water-filled air is pushed down the mountainsides, it cools and then pushes the water down to the other side of the mountain. In the case of large mountain ranges, very little water reaches the other side. Therefore, deserts are often found near mountainous areas, for example.
The Caucasus Range in Asia, where the Karakum and Kyzyl-Kum deserts are located. The Atacama Desert, which is partly created by the Andes Mountains in Chile. Parts of California where the Santa Cruz Mountains are located. The Sahara Desert, influenced by different mountain ranges. Global patterns, which are complex, play an important role in the location of deserts. The winds that circulate across the planet are the result of the difference between warm equatorial temperatures and cold polar temperatures. Once the air is heated at the equator, it moves upward.
The next section will be devoted to the distribution and number of tigers on the territory of the USSR, and in this chapter they are described for all other countries in which this animal was found or still lives.
Türkiye. In Transcaucasia, in the part that currently belongs to Turkey, several tigers were killed annually in the middle of the last century (Blyth, 1863). The described predator was found there later, until the 30s of our century, and entered the Georgian SSR, as well as Armenia, crossing the Arak River. In addition, there is a not entirely definite indication from Yu. K. Efremov (1956) that in historical times the tiger was destroyed in Asia Minor on the Asia Minor Plateau. At present, the tiger is apparently exterminated in Turkey, and if it is found, it is as a great rarity. The Turanian tiger lived in this country.
It then moves towards the North Pole and the South Pole. There it loses moisture, cools and falls before returning to the equator. This is why persistent wind patterns and changing global patterns can favor the location of deserts. Space-time has a significant influence on where and how deserts form, so their locations have changed over geological time. These changes are the result of the birth and disappearance of mountains and the movement of continents.
There are geologically very ancient deserts, such as the Sahara in North Africa, which is 65 million years old, or the Kalahari in central Africa. In North America, 3 of the 4 largest deserts are found in a geological region called the Cordillera and the province of Cuenca, which lies between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains and extends into the state of Sonora in Mexico.
Iran. To date, only 80 - 100 tigers have survived in the north of this country - in Iranian Azerbaijan, along the eastern slope of Talysh and on the Caspian coast, from where they sometimes penetrate into the Soviet Union. The tiger also inhabited the Caspian provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan and Astrabad, located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. It went south only to the Elburz ridge. On the Iranian Plateau and further south - to the coasts of the Persian and Oman Gulfs of the Arabian Sea - the tiger is no longer found (Perry, 1964; our data).
For millions of years, the forces of erosion have shaped desert landscapes during rainfall. Rocky mountainsides and hillsides trap and drag rain, which is filled with sediment, sand and rocks. As gravity causes the water to sink, all of this waste also moves into the pool. At the base of the mountain, the water spreads over a wide area where the mouths of the canyons widen.
The temperature of each desert varies depending on its geographical location. However, a feature of all deserts is dryness. Heat is reflected into water vapor, which is found in the form of clouds or moisture, resulting in a cooling effect. Due to reactions and characteristics, deserts experience extreme temperatures, whether warm or cold.
In the 40s of the current century, according to survey information, the tiger was still encountered quite regularly in the Gorgan (Astrabad) and Mazandaran provinces (G. Dementyev, 1945). However, over the past two decades, tigers have been visiting Turkmenistan less and less, indicating a significant decline in their numbers in Iran and the possibility of rapid extinction there. F. Harper (1945) also writes about this.
Temperature fluctuations may lead to other effects. Cold air intakes and hot air rise, so rapid temperature changes cause air to move quickly from one place to another. This makes deserts windy, and these conditions promote evaporation. About 90% of available sunlight is transmitted through dry air, compared to a typical humid climate with only 40% sunlight available. Extra sunlight produces ultraviolet radiation, which can cause great damage to plants, animals and people.
The Turanian tiger lives in Iran.
Iraq. From the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, the tiger may have previously penetrated into Kurdistan, a significant part of which already lies in Iraq. J. F. Brandt (1856), for example, believed that through the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers this animal spread to the northern part of Arabia. He also cites data from Diodorus and Ritter about the existence in the recent past of Babylonian tigers in the part of Iraq bordering Syria. For the last region, in addition to the tiger, Diodorus also indicated the lion and leopard, therefore, he could not confuse the tiger with cats of other large species. Recent authors reported that tigers lived along the shores of two large lakes - Deria and Niris in the Persipolis valley.
Desert environments have unpredictable and uneven rainfall patterns, although they are usually minimal. The amount of precipitation may vary depending on the year. Some years it may seem like the desert has had more rainfall than normal, but most years there is very little rainfall. In fact, there can be entire years when the desert does not see a single drop of rain.
Water is important everywhere and for every living thing. And this, of course, is the original one in the desert. Due to the lack of water, plants made important adaptations. Annual plant seeds remain dormant until there is sufficient rainfall for the young plant.
If the information given above is confirmed, then the southwestern border of the tiger’s distribution can be drawn along the eastern edges of the Syrian Desert and the Great Nefud Desert. In the 20th century There were no tigers in Iraq.
Afghanistan. In this country, the tiger is now found only in the northern regions and is absent in the central - mountainous and southern - desert regions. Until the early 50s of the current century, the described predators were common in the tugai forests along the left - Afghan - bank of the Pyanj, from where they often entered Tajikistan. However, such visits have stopped in the last decade, possibly indicating the disappearance of the tiger in this area of Afghanistan.
Cacti and other succulent plants store water in their spines, which are the remains of leaves. The rod, where photosynthesis occurs, and its folds can expand rapidly when rain falls. Evergreen trees have cuticles and stomata that help retain water and prevent escape. For example, the leaves of the Holly plant are kept at 70-degree angles so that the sun simply hits the sides. When the sun sets in the sky, the entire leaf is exposed. The leaves have a thin coating of salt that helps reflect so that the plant does not burn.
More than a fifth of the Earth consists of deserts. Lack of water can create a survival problem for living people, animals, plants or organisms. In addition to low precipitation levels, deserts experience large amounts of water loss through soil evaporation and plant transpiration. Evapotranspiration occurs from a combination of evaporation and transpiration. Potential evapotranspiration is the amount that would be lost through sweat and evaporation, if possible. Scientists measure this amount under controlled conditions using a large pot of water.
The Turanian tiger lives in Afghanistan.
India and Pakistan. In India, within its old borders, at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The tiger was found in areas suitable for it from the foot of the Himalayas in the north to the southern tip of the Hindustan Peninsula - Cape Comorin. To the west, he lived there up to the Central Braguy ridge and the Suleiman Mountains, and possibly even further west - to the Kharan and Registan deserts. In the east, the tiger spread beyond the country - to Burma.
It is known that the soil in the desert is thick, so the little moisture that is in it quickly crosses it, which is why plants cannot reach it easily. Salts accumulate as a result of high evaporation rates. The soil becomes alkaline and limits plant growth, also known as primary productivity.
Because of all the necessary process of maintaining life in the desert, the size of animals is limited, as well as the size of animal populations. Extremes of heat and dryness make deserts one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. Visitors to the desert should also take appropriate precautions to protect themselves, as the environment is very different from any other place.
According to information collected by J. F. Brandt (1856), the described predator was very common in many regions of India at that time and terrified the local population.
Since the local population of India did not previously have firearms and, due to religious beliefs, they almost did not hunt tigers, they harmed livestock breeding and often attacked people. The colonial authorities began to intensively exterminate tigers, giving 10 rupees (25 English shillings) for each killed animal. For several years (until 1807), the English government spent up to 30 thousand pounds sterling on bonuses for killed tigers. During this period, tigers were killed in large numbers. Thus, by 1800, one judge in the Terai had shot 360 tigers. Between 1834 and 1862 Georg Palmer caught 1000 of these predators, and Gordon Huming only in two hot seasons in 1863 and 1864. shot 73 tigers in one area along the river. Narbade is north of Satpur. By 1868, Nightingale had killed 300 tigers, mainly in the Hyderabad region (Perry, 1964), and the English general Gerard at the end of the last century set a record by shooting 216 tigers (Gedin, 1899).
Despite the general belief that nothing can live in the desert, several creatures have learned to survive from the peculiar plant life and in difficult conditions. Large mammals such as camels make the desert their home, being able to travel for long periods without water. Lions live in the deserts of Africa, although they are in danger due to changes in weather conditions and the presence of people.
The small rodents find a home in the desert, with variations from the gerbil to the hedgehog. Large hyenas and jackals are also common in deserts. Lizards and snakes are especially suited to dry, warm desert climates, as well as amphibious creatures such as toads and salamanders.
In the 19th century, according to R. Perry (1964), at least 100 thousand tigers were exterminated in India, and “possibly two to three times more.” The military killed especially many of them. And yet, at the end of the last century, this predator was still very common in India and, according to English statistics, from 1,400 to 2,200 of these animals were killed there annually at that time.
The slaughter of tigers in India has continued in the current century. In the first decades of the 20th century. only two maharajas killed a thousand tigers each, and in one reserve in Bhutan, 32 animals were shot in ten days (Perry, 1964). Apparently, it was precisely one of them, the Maharaja of Suruguya, the former prince of the Central Provinces, that I.K. Rai (oral communication) had in mind when he said that this hunter had already killed over 1,200 tigers. This maharajah continued to hunt tigers as early as 1959, killing several animals every year. An amazing record that shows how much harm even one person can cause to nature!
Share these about the desert! Find more interesting information in our articles! Any sterile region that supports multiple forms of desert life can be called. Thus, they are deserts, such as Antarctica and Greenland.
They typically receive less than 130mm of rain per year, rain that, apart from being small amounts, falls irregularly. Approximately 20% of the Earth's continental surface is desaratic, demonstrating the importance of these conditions. They are present on all continents except Europe.
In Pakistan today, tigers are absent from densely populated areas in the Indus and lower Ganges valleys, as well as in the Kharan Desert. They are also found in the northwestern border province, in the north of Western Punjab, in the west of Sindh and allegedly in the Bahawalpur region in the valley of the river. Sutlej.
In India, the tiger is now most common in the forested areas of Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces), bordering on the north with Nepal, in Assam, in some forested areas of the Deccan, in Madhya Pradesh in the Central Provinces (Pocock, 1939; I. K. Rai, oral communication). The government of the Central Provinces and Berar pays bonuses for harvested tigers (Hindustan Times, July 7, 1949). In Assam, the tiger lives in the foothills of the Himalayas in peculiar thickets - the terai and is still common there. Near many villages of Assam, located near the jungle, one can still see platforms fortified between two palm trees, on which watchmen sit, warning the village population about the appearance of a tiger or wild elephant (Chechetkina, 1948).
Hot desert climates are characterized by wide variations in temperature throughout the day, especially in deserts near the equator. 
However, deserts located far from the equator can get cold in winter. Although they are usually dry, with a relative humidity of 5% to 15%, some have a high degree of moisture. For example, in Namibia it ranges from 60% to 100%.
Deserts located far from the coast are often windy, forcing travelers to constantly battle the sand that the wind raises and gets into the ears, throat and eyes. It's even worse when there are sandstorms that can completely cover the sky. Figure 2 shows a satellite image of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, the largest hot desert in the world.
Currently, there are less than 4,000 tigers living in India (Perry, 1964), and according to survey information collected by I.K. Rai, there are 3,000 - 4,000 animals. Of this number, about 400 animals (10%) are hunted annually, therefore, at the current rate of hunting for them, rapid extermination does not threaten them. Over the past 60 years, Van Ingens, a renowned taxidermist in India, has processed more than 150 tiger skins annually.
The Bengal tiger lives in India and Pakistan.
Nepal. In this country the tiger is now found in the foothills of the Himalayas in the Terai and is still numerous. Widespread forest concessions and hunting in Nepal could quickly deplete tiger numbers there too.
The local tiger belongs to the Bengal subspecies.
Union of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Federation of Malaya. In the last century in Burma, the tiger was found almost everywhere and in some places was quite common. So, in the very south of the country, in Tenasserim, this predator was considered numerous, but since there were still many wild ungulates living there, it did not attack people during the day and the local population was little afraid of it. In the Irrawaddy region, especially in the valley and delta of the river of the same name, there were so many tigers that villagers, in order to protect their homes from their attacks, had to light fires at night. They even stayed in the vicinity of large cities, for example Mian-ong (Myaung-mya - A.S.). Many travelers reported a large number of tigers in the southern region of Pegu and their attacks on people there. In the western region of Arakan, which lies along the right bank of the Bay of Bengal, the tiger is a common animal, and in the forests of Jittaguon and Silet, which lie north of Arakan, it was seen very often.
The tiger also lived in the northern part of Burma - in the Kaindu region (Brandt, 1856).
Currently in Burma, according to the survey information we collected, tigers are still common in the eastern Shan region, bordering the Chinese province of Yunnan, Laos and Thailand. For other areas we do not have up-to-date information.
The abundance of tigers in Thailand (Siam) in past centuries has been reported by many authors (Brandt, 1856). Back in the middle of the 19th century. The tiger inhabited all the forests of Siam and often attacked livestock, and often people.
In the 1940s, the tiger was still quite common in most parts of Thailand (Harper, 1945). According to R. Perry (1964), in this country the tiger still lives in all the jungles, being especially numerous in the mountainous areas stretching along the Tanen-Taungji and Kun-Tan ridges.
In Laos and Cambodia in the last century, tigers remained in most areas and were numerous in some places. Their numbers there have now declined, but they still appear in a number of areas.
Previously, the described beast was very common throughout almost the entire territory of Vietnam, especially in its very south. Travelers who visited Cochin (Ambo) said that there were many tigers there, “which chase people right up to their homes” (Bissakhir, 1812). In the river valley Saigon (on which the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, is now located), tigers were encountered very often and were so daring that they even kidnapped people from their homes. R. Perry (1964) says that "if there are any countries more densely populated by tigers than India, it was the southern half of Indo-China, where Des Fosses, Malley and Maneotrol and others shot and captured many hundreds of tigers." In the middle of the current century, there were already fewer tigers in Vietnam; for example, in Cochin China there were only 200 - 300 individuals (Harper, 1945).
In the Federation of Malaya, located on the Malay Peninsula, tigers lived in most areas in the last century, especially in the Dyor region. In this country, the number of tigers increased greatly during the years of Japanese occupation and they are still found throughout the country, with the exception of Penang and Singapore. Lok made an approximate calculation of the number of tigers living in Malaya, considering that for every 10 sq. miles of jungle or 17 sq. miles of the entire country lives on average one tiger, and came to the conclusion that in the 50s of this century, at least about 3,000 of the described predators lived in this Federation. Currently, forests in the Federation of Malaya are being intensively cut down, and therefore the number of tigers there is rapidly falling.
Although it is not difficult for a tiger to swim across the strait separating the island of Singapore from the mainland, it appeared there relatively rarely even in the last century, and yet this predator became a scourge for Chinese coolies between 1843 and 1863 (Perry, 1964).
Indonesia. In this country, the tiger lives on the vast islands of Sumatra and Java. In addition, there was information that he previously lived on the relatively small island of Bali, located near Java, to the south of it.
Already the first travelers who visited Sumatra spoke about the large number of tigers there and about their daring attacks, “leading to the extermination of the inhabitants of entire villages.” Villagers unsuccessfully defended themselves against these predators with torches or burning logs. In the middle of the last century, tigers still kept the population of this island at bay (Brandt, 1856). Now there are much fewer of them on the island of Sumatra, but they are still common in some of its areas, and R. Perry (1964) considers them still “numerous and widespread.”
Europe learned about the tiger's habitat in Java a long time ago (Bontius, 1658). In the middle of the last century, in many provinces, tigers and leopards terrorized villagers, despite the penetration of civilization deep into the island. There were especially many tigers in the province of Grisse. Even the high bonuses offered by the government for the extermination of tigers did not help: the local population almost did not hunt them, as they believed that the more tigers were destroyed, the more intensively they multiplied.
By 1851, tigers in Java were still found in significant numbers over much of the area, especially on the western edge of that island. By the 1920s, a famous hunter had shot another hundred tigers there (Perry, 1964). Since the 1940s, the tiger in Java has become quite rare and requires protection (Harper, 1945).
Currently, tigers in Java have been almost completely exterminated. According to M. Simon (oral communication), only about 12 tigers now live there, nine of them are in the Udzhun-Kulon reserve. According to other sources, another 20 - 25 tigers survived on this island, of which 10 - 12 are in reserves and sanctuaries. R. Perry (1964) believes that by 1961 the described predators were no longer present in most of Java, and they survived only in the wildest places in the south, for example in the Ujun-Kulon reserve, where six tigers still remained. It is possible that these are the last tigers on the island.
On the island of Bali in 1909 - 1912. the tiger was considered quite common (Schwartz, 1913). In the 1930s, several tigers allegedly still lived in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the island; they were intensely pursued by hunters from Java. These animals will apparently disappear completely in the near future (Geinsinus-Viruli and Van Gern, 1936). The presence of tigers in Bali has been questioned by a number of researchers, for example Pocock (1939) indicated it for this island with a question mark. H. Meissner (1958), having visited Bali, found out that there were no tigers on it now, and he also did not see places there suitable for its habitat.
Meissner generally doubts that tigers could swim across the sea strait from Java to Bali. Thus, the question of the distribution of the tiger on this island needs new confirmation.
Tigers have never been found on the islands east of Bali, since the nearest island of Lombok is separated from it by a strait 20 miles wide - this is an insurmountable barrier for many land mammals.
Apparently, the Javan tiger lives on all the islands of Indonesia.
China. In this country, the tiger was previously distributed starting from its northwestern part - Kashgaria or East Turkestan (modern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) - and further to the east. In the 70s - 90s of the last century, according to information collected by N. M. Przhevalsky (1878, 1888), S. N. Alferaki (1882), S. Gedin (1899), M. V. Pevtsov (1949) and others, tigers were quite common in the upper reaches of the Ili River and its tributaries (Tekes, Kunges, Kash) and on the Borohoro ridge. These predators were sometimes found north of the Tien Shan spur - the Iren-Khabarga ridge near the city of Shikho, in the Mukurtai swamps and other places, as well as in the Manasa River valley west of Urumqi. In addition, judging by later information, at that time they were supposed to stay near lakes Ebi-Nur and Ulyungur, as well as in the valley of the Urungu River, which flows into the second lake. “In general, in Dzungaria,” wrote N.M. Przhevalsky in 1888, “there are few tigers... In total, there are more tigers in the Tarim Basin, along the Tarim itself, then in Lob-Nor, as well as along the Khotan (Khotan) rivers, Yarkand (Yarkand) and Kashgar" (Kyzylsu ya Kashgar).
At the beginning of the current century, according to S. Miller, cited by D. Carruthers (1914), tigers still lived in dense bushes and reeds in the low places of Dzungaria, as well as in the spurs of the Tien Shan along the valleys of the Kasha, Kungesa, and Dzhingalanga rivers and Ili, where they climbed the mountains to 1200 - 1500 m above sea level. m. At that time, the skins of these predators were sold annually in the markets of Urumqi, Manas and Shikho. In Dzungaria, tigers were hunted using poisons, but they were rarely shot because they were afraid of them. A few years later, T. and C. Roosevelt (1926) reported that there were no tigers on Tekes and in the upper reaches of the Ili River, since local residents had killed them with poison. V. Morden (1927) also writes that tigers, which formerly lived in the upper reaches of the Ili on the northern slope of the Tien Shan, “now seem to have completely disappeared.” According to our data, tigers survived in the upper reaches of the Ili until the mid-30s of the current century, since before that time they often entered there from the southern Balkhash region. In addition, tigers previously entered South-Eastern Kazakhstan from Dzungaria.
Currently in Dzungaria, according to Beijing Zoo employee Zhu Bo-pin (oral communication), tigers may still exist in the area of Lake Ebi-Nur, but this seems doubtful to us. If tigers still lived near Ebi-Nur, they would appear, as happened in the last century, in the Alakul Basin (USSR), freely passing through the Dzungarian Gate. However, in the Alakul Basin, no one has found either the animals themselves or traces of their presence for a long time. There are also reports that tigers have survived in the Manas River valley (Murzaev, 1956; Kalmykova, Ovdienko, 1957). These data are confirmed by survey information collected on site in 1959 by M. A. Mikulin (oral communication). If tigers still survive in some places in Dzungaria, then very soon they will completely disappear there.
In the northern half of Kitat, after a long break in spreading eastward, tigers again begin to be found in modern Gansu province. Thus, A. Sowerby (1923) reported that they live in Kansu, near the Tibetan border and in the Ala Shan region. To the east, these predators have been recorded in Inner Mongolia and other provinces. For example, N.M. Przhevalsky (1875) writes that tigers used to be found in the Muna-Ula mountains, which are the western extremity of the In-Shan ridge (40°45" N latitude and 110° E longitude). Later M. V. Pevtsov (1951), during his trip in 1878 - 1879, noted that “in the forests of In-Shan, leopards and roe deer live everywhere, there are many pheasants, and near the borders of Manchuria there are even tigers.” In the city of Dolun (Dolonnor ), lying south of Lake Dalai Nuur, a stuffed tiger was kept in the temple, killed on the streets of this city (Soverby, 1923).It is possible that the tiger is still found in Inner Mongolia at the present time (Shaw, Hsia Wu-ping, etc. , 1958).
North of In-Shan, on the vast territory of the Gobi Desert (Shamo), a significant part of which already lay within the Mongolian People's Republic, there were no tigers, but they reappeared in the very west of Manchuria - in Northern Barga (50° N latitude and 120 °E).
Chinese zoologists believe that there were no tigers on the Greater Khingan in the last decade, but in 1953 and 1954. Several tigers came to the borders of the Soviet Union, to the South-Eastern Transbaikalia, from beyond the Argun, which could only get there from Barga or from the Greater Khingan. Similar approaches were observed before - in the 19th - early 20th centuries.
Beyond the Greater Khingan, tigers were found throughout the northern half of Manchuria as far as the Ussuri River and Lake Khanka in the east. To the south they were distributed to the Changbai Mountain ridge and its southern spurs, running along the eastern shore of the Korean Isthmus, already outside the borders of China, as well as to the valley of the Yangtze River.
N.A. Baikov (1925) believes that at the beginning of the current century, the indigenous habitat of tigers within Manchuria was the province of Girin, where they were found in large numbers in many places, such as, for example, in the vast virgin forests of the upper reaches of the Sungari, Lilinghe and Ashihe, as well as in the areas of the Mudanjiang, Maihe, Muren and Suifun river basins. After the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, deforestation by Russians and then Japanese concessions and the settlement of the region, the tiger became rare in these areas and appeared only during transitions from one area to another.
In recent years, according to T. X. Shaw, Hsia Wu-ping et al. (1958), as well as Zhu Bo-pin (oral communication, 1958), in the former Manchuria tigers were found in the northern province of Heilongjiang and in southern - Girin. The most common predator described turned out to be in the Lesser Khingan mountains in the area bounded in the north by the city of Yichun, and in the south by the Songhua River. From Yichunxiang County (Yichun, Dailin) in Heilongjiang Province, the mentioned researchers received tigers. Tigers were also common in the mountains of the Zhangguangcailing ridge in the area lying from the city of Mudanjiang to the north to the city of Dunhua to the south and near Lake Jingbohu (Dunhuaxiang and Jianxiang counties, Jirin province), as well as on the Changbai Mountain plateau in Fusunxiang county (Girin province). Until 1955, the medicinal factory in Fusun purchased 20 to 30 tigers annually.
According to survey information we collected in China in 1958, in its northeastern part, in the provinces of Heilongjiang and Jirin, another 200 - 250 tigers lived, and before the ban on hunting, 50 - 60 animals were killed there annually. In the province of Girin, due to deforestation and the extermination of wild ungulates, tigers began to attack horses and cows.
As a result of intensive persecution of Amur tigers, their numbers sharply decreased in the 50s of this century, which prompted the government of the People's Republic of China to completely ban hunting on them and begin to organize reserves in the Lesser Khingan and in other areas lying near the Amur River and its tributaries, in order to protect this most valuable subspecies of the described predator.
South of the former Manchuria, the Amur tiger used to be found in other provinces of the northern half of China. Thus, N. M. Przhevalsky (1875) wrote that he lived in the forests stretching north of the Yellow River to the modern city of Chengde in the province of Zhehe. A. Sowerby (1923) reported that tigers were still found in Hebei Province in the area of Dongling and Weichang (Eastern Graves and Imperial Hunting Grounds), north and northeast of Beijing. For example, in the area of the Eastern Graves at the beginning of this century, three animals were seen at different times, one of them was killed in 1912. Currently, judging by the information we collected, there are no tigers there anymore. Previously, they were mined in the northern and southern counties of Shanxi Province. For example, one animal was killed in the south of this province in 1932 (Harper, 1945).
In the southern half of China, according to G. Allen (1938), tigers were relatively common in many places, for example in Hubei province, in its western part. They were very rare in western Sichuan, although they were sometimes found in the jungles of Washan. These predators are more common in the Chien-chan valley and south through the entire Yunnan province. The described predators were found in significant numbers in Fujian province, but were scarce to the north. One tiger, killed in Anhui province, was shown on the streets of Anqing. Two tigers were killed near Hankow in 1933.
According to T. H. Shaw (oral communication), in 1930, one tiger was killed in the Moganypan Mountains in Zhejiang Province, in addition, in the current century, these animals were killed in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian and Guangdong, and in the latter two more often than in others.
According to information we collected during a trip to China in 1958, tigers are still quite common in Yunnan Province. In this province, north of the city of Kunming, the described predators are found in Panxiang, Xinzhen and Kunguo counties, and in the latter they are rare. In the south of the province, the tiger is common in Simao and Pu'er counties. In Simao, the described predator lives in almost all counties. Until 1949, in the Simao Valley, due to its low population, near the city of the same name, bushes and weeds grew greatly, in which tigers and leopards often appeared. In 1948, one tiger entered the city of Simao and was killed right on the street. In the 50s of this century, in Simao County, judging by the purchases of the Local Products Campaign, from 30 to 40 tigers were killed annually (Yang Li-tsu, oral communication). Currently, there are approximately 500 to 600 tigers in southwest Yunnan Province, and up to 200 of these predators are hunted annually throughout the province. In recent years, 40 - 50 tiger skins passed annually through the base of the Yunnan Foreign Trade Bureau in Kunming, and in 1957 more than 100 of them passed through.
After the war for the liberation of China, which ended in 1949, many military units remained in the country, in addition, in the south, the local population acquired large quantities of modern rifled weapons. Large roundups of tigers and leopards began, in which military units took part. The production of the described predators has increased sharply. According to T. X. Shaw (1958), throughout China in the 50s of the current century, up to a thousand tigers were killed in some years. If the extermination of the described beast continues at this rate, its numbers in the south of the country will quickly decrease and it will become as rare as in the northeastern provinces.
In the northeast of China, in the province of Heilongjiang, the Amur tiger lives, and in the provinces of Jilin, Zhehe and others south to the Yangtze River - the Korean or Ussuri tiger. Some authors consider the Amur and Korean tigers to be one form and call them the Manchurian tiger. In the south of the country there is a South China tiger, and in the southwestern part of Yunnan there is a Bengal tiger, and possibly a tiger of an as yet undescribed form. Thus, over the vast territory of China there live tigers of four or five forms.
Korea. In the second half of the last century, about 150 tiger skins were exported from this country annually to Japan and China (Perry, 1964). According to Won Hong Gu (oral communication), at the very end of the 19th century. tigers were hunted in the south of the country in Chomado and in the north - in Gengsondo, Unsan (Wansan? - A.S.) and Pyongyangdo. F. Barclay (1915) writes that at the beginning of the current century in this country there were more tigers in its northern regions than in the southern ones. At that time, the described predators were still located at the southwestern tip of Korea and on the island of Jindo, where F. Barclay successfully hunted them. In the early spring of 1914, a fresh corpse of a tiger was washed up by the sea in Japan on the island of Honshu (Hondo) near the city of Myatsue. The tiger's corpse could only have come to Japan from South Korea. Won Hong Gu reported that in 1911 tigers were hunted in Zenlanamdo Province, in 1918 in Gongwondo Province, in 1922 in Gyeongseonbugdo Province, and in 1930 in Pyongyangbugdo Province.
In the early 1920s, the described predators were still common in North Korea, and sportsmen there killed several animals every year (Soverby, 1923).
At present, tigers in South Korea have apparently already been exterminated, and the southern border of their modern range lies somewhat south of Pyongyang. In the northern half of this country, tigers remain in areas bordering the province of Jilin (South Manchuria) of the People's Republic of China. So, in 1935, 1952 and 1956. they were mined in Hamgyongbugdo, where they were especially common at the headwaters of the Suifun River. After 1953, in the province of Hamgyongbugdo in the regions of Musan, Yongso, Onseong, Helen, several tigers were captured alive every year, most of which were sold abroad. For example, in 1956, ten tigers were captured, only one of which was left in Korea. Two tigers were killed in the Musan region after 1945. The tigers still held out in Ryangando (Won Hong Gu, oral communication, 1957 and 1958). M. Simon (oral communication) believes that there are still 40 - 50 tigers left on the Korean Peninsula.
In 1958, the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea adopted a resolution banning hunting of the described animal.
The Korean or Ussuri tiger lives throughout the country.
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Deserts occupy about a third of the earth's landmass. Deserts are very dry and there are no water reserves because precipitation is extremely rare here. The desert, as a rule, is covered not only with dunes stretching for many kilometers, but also with rubble, stones and even mountains (rocky deserts).
Some deserts, such as the African Sahara, are very hot all year round, while others, such as the Asian Gobi Desert, are very cold in winter. Hot deserts are located, as a rule, in subtropical regions, cold deserts are located in high latitudes, often close to mountains that trap precipitation. Life in the desert is extremely harsh and suitable only for certain species of plants and animals - such as insects, reptiles, some birds and small mammals. All desert inhabitants, both animals and plants, are very well adapted to live in conditions of extreme temperature changes and prolonged drought.
Desert fauna
A camel can go without water for several days, and without food even for several weeks. Camels have fat reserves in their humps, and their thick fur helps them avoid large amounts of water loss. In addition, his hard-working kidneys produce urine with very little water content. At watering places, a camel can drink up to 95 liters of water in a few minutes.
There are two types of camels: one-humped - dromedaries, which live in Arab countries and North Africa, and two-humped - Bactrians, which live in Central Asia. Both types of camels have long been domesticated animals. They serve man as beasts of burden and as means of transportation, supplying him with meat, milk, wool and skin. In Mongolia, wild two-humped camels still exist, while one-humped camels - dromedaries - are used almost without exception as pets. Only in the undeveloped lands of Australia, where they were brought as pets, do some of them live in freedom. Camels are lazy animals, but docile if handled correctly. In response to excessive cruelty, they may kick or bite.
Camels are artiodactyl animals. They have two toes on their feet, connected by a “swimming membrane,” which makes it easier for them to run on the sand. The camel's long eyelashes protect the eyes from sand. To rest, the camel lies down on the hot sand. At the same time, keratinized areas (calluses) protect his chest, knees and joints from burns. Camels can close their nostrils to prevent sand from getting into their noses.
Lizards
In the deserts of Namibia in southwestern Africa, lizards live that move in a very original way, which allows them not to get burned by hot sand. They simultaneously raise two legs up - the front right and back left, or vice versa. This way, the two paws and the body do not come into contact with the hot sand. Lizards have the ability to retain moisture much better than most mammals or reptiles, and therefore they can more easily tolerate hot desert climates.
Spiketail
The spiny-tailed lizard is a lizard with a spiny tail. Spinytails hold the record for endurance among lizards. Their habitat is the hottest deserts of Asia and North Africa and they can withstand ambient temperatures of almost 60°C. Spiketails are quite large, the body length of some individuals reaches 75 centimeters. They got their name from the special structure of the spiny scales on their tail. Young spiny tails have teeth, but as they age, they fall out, and then the lizard's mouth becomes like a turtle's. They feed in a similar way, eating only herbaceous plants. The local population eats the spiny tail by pulling this lizard out of its hole by its tail.
A miniature fox from the canine family lives in the Sahara and the deserts of Arab countries. Its fur is very similar in color to the color of sand in the desert. The fennec cat has huge ears that help get rid of excess heat. In addition, the fennec cat has well-developed hearing and can already hear the approach of prey from afar. During the day, the fennec rests in a hole, and at night, when it gets cooler, it goes out hunting.