SAFARI - LIST

THE ACORN TREE

The Tiger is one of the most beautiful cats, with it's dark mahogany stripes wrapping over it's smooth tawny, red fur, forming it's own unique "fingerprint", as no two cats are alike. The Tiger is the largest of all cats.

Have you ever watched one, perhaps in a documentary or a wildlife program? Maybe you have seen one in the zoo. They are clearly a majestic and powerful animal. The Tiger is indeed a formidable force in his environment!

He can not survive without the wilderness. He prefers to live in densely forested areas, where the grasses grow tall and the vegetation is thick enough to easily hide in. Their coats provide perfect camouflage for this, which is important because Tigers hunt by ambushing their prey.

The Siberian Tiger is the largest of all the cats. A male Siberian can weigh as much as 700 lb., and is about 13 ft. long, nose to tail. The Siberian is native to Northeast Asia, and sadly there are only about 150 - 200 in the wild today. The Siberian is considered critically endangered.

The Bengal Tiger weighs about 500 lb. and is about 8 ft. long, nose to tail. He is the second largest of the tigers.

The Tiger has one enemy who is greater than all. That is man! Of the eight original subspecies of Tigers, only five remain, with three becoming extinct within the last 60 years. There are less than 50 South China Tigers left on the planet, few and possibly none survive in the wild. Tigers are ruthlessly hunted by poachers for their skin and body parts, to sell as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines.

There were once many thousands of tigers roaming Asia. Not so true today, as loss of habitat and poaching have led to a steady decline in their numbers.

In addition to being stalked by man, land the Tiger uses to live and hunt on, is disappearing to provide for agricultural expansion, timber cutting, new roads, and human settlement, just to name a few. This means the Tiger has only small pieces of his natural domain left. He is surrounded by human population, and increasing numbers of illegal hunters.

And so the Tiger must compete with humans to live. He is forced to resort to hunting domestic animals, and although rarely, he will even stalk humans. It has become a battle between humans needing to increase their community size, and the Tiger, needing to survive.

The government and wildlife conservationists have been working together to establish wildlife preserves. Even so, the Tiger still struggles to survive because of the threat of disease, and the difficulty of meeting mates. Government and wildlife conservationists struggle in their fight to save this animal, due to a lack of funds and the inability to protect the area from poachers.

There is no easy solution to the problem. And we need to consider that this situation does not just affect the Tiger. It affects all life. Plant and animal. Funds and volunteers are desperately needed for organizations to continue the fight to keep the Tiger from disappearing from our planet, as well as other animal and plant species.

Education is extremely important. Teach your children early, the significance of preserving today's resources for tomorrow! If we taught one child at a time, it would make a difference. Imagine teaching thirty children at one time! Suggest "adopting" a wild animal as a project at organizations such as Boy Scouts Girl Scouts, or your child's class at school.

THE ACORN TREE acknowledges that there will be younger people visiting our site, and we encourage them to get involved. Get you teachers and community leaders involved.

Get creative! Get involved!!

We would love to know if you've been able to implement an idea to help spread the word about our environment. Let us know how you were able to get others involved and you may earn our " ACORN AWARD" !

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