The Indochinese tiger
INTRODUCTION
The tiger of Indo-China draws its Latin name from the name of a hunter of reputation, Jim Corbett. Corbett became a famous character near the villagers when it protected them from the attacks from tigers. Becoming aware that these felid was going completely to disappear, it became thereafter one of the most enthusiastic guard of the species.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The indochinese tiger was registered on the list of the subspecies of tigers as from 1968. This species is smaller, darker and with less stripes than the Bengal tiger.
A male can reach 2.7 m length for a weight of 180 kg, whereas a female in general measures 2.4 m for a weight of 110 kg.
It of orange color is striped at several places on the body.
DISTRIBUTION
The majority of the individuals still alive are in various parks and zoological gardens throughout the world. They are approximately 1 000 to 2 000 individuals whereas only 600 others still live in freedom in their natural range.
When it was discovered, the indochinese tiger occupied almost all the South-East Asia, like in Burma and Malaysia. Today one does not find any more but of small isolated colonies in Burma, in Kampuchea, in Laos, in Malaysia, in Thailand and in Viet-Nam.
The dimension of a territory for a tiger is not formally known, but the density of the populations makes it possible to estimate a field at 100 km² for 4 or 5 tigers.
POPULATION
In 1930, well before this subspecies is not officially well-known, it was valued that there were approximately 3 000 Indochinese tigers only in Malaysia. With the arrival of the firearms and the opening of the forests for agriculture as well as mining, this figure radically declined. It is estimated to date that there would remain approximately 600 indochinese tigers on all the totality of its surface of distribution.
=> Gallery of Panthera tigris corbetti <=
