Sumatran Tiger (Photo by Jessie Cohen)
Dr. Michael Robinson - Director, National Zoo
One of my great delights when I go home in the evening is watching my cat, Scuby, stalk around my home, chasing a string or pouncing on a favorite toy. As I watch her lithe, graceful motions, my mind conjures up images of jaguars padding through a dense rain forest or cheetahs streaking across a grassland in an attempt to run down a meal.
Clearly, our fascination for felines is deep seated in human history. Archaeologists believe the first cats were domesticated-and began to work their charms upon their unsuspecting owners-in the Middle East about 9500 years ago, probably around Jericho. Thirty five hundred years ago, the Egyptians worshipped a cat goddess and mummified their house cats. In other parts of the world, big cats, in particular lions and tigers, have long drawn human respect for their power and majesty. The Koreans call the tiger the king of beasts and tiger motifs symbolize royal power. For the Hindus, Shiva, the destroyer and reproducer, is often depicted wearing tiger skins and riding a tiger. Ancient Chinese art often uses the image of a tiger as the king of beasts, regal and beneficent, a messenger between the human and spirit worlds. Unfortunately, tigers, for all their lofty symbolism, are living an extremely tenuous life in their native habitats. Some biologists even believe that tigers will not survive in the wild.
Anyone who has ever watched a tiger cub will recognize what a tragedy that fate would be. In both 1992 and 1993, Kerinci and Riau, Sumatran tigers at the National Zoo, have produced a litter of cubs. The first time the cubs venture into their outdoor enclosure is a much anticipated day among the Zoo staff. Word of the appointed hour of debut spreads quickly through the zoo and the railing around the tiger yard is crowded with excited spectators, waiting for the door leading to the inside den to open. "Ohhs" and "ahhs" rustle through the crowd as the little balls of fur bounce into the yard. Should one of the cubs venture too close to the water-filled moat, a collective breath is drawn until Kerenci retrieves the wandering cub by the scruff of the neck.
Eight tiger subspecies once inhabited an area that stretched across Central Asia from Turkey to Siberia as well as throughout southern Asia from India to China. The Indonesian archipelago also provided prime habitat for tigers. Today three subspecies are extinct and all of the remaining subspecies are endangered. Burgeoning human population growth; destruction and degradation of habitat; and hunting and poaching have each weakened the tiger populations. The combined toll of these environmental assaults may very well doom the existence of tigers in the wild.
For the past 25 years the Smithsonian's National Zoo has led efforts to rescue the tiger from the abyss of extinction. In the 1970s, biologists working under the auspices of the Smithsonian began studying tigers and worked to translate this new knowledge into understanding tiger survival requirements and management strategies. A three and a half year field study at Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park provided scientists with the first basic information about the natural history of tigers. This knowledge has been vital in establishing tiger conservation projects in other locations. Incidentally, it was also through this project that the techniques of radio collaring and radio telemetry for wildlife projects were refined and greatly advanced. These techniques have become vital to biologists throughout the world who are studying animals in the wild.
The National Zoo also regularly conducts a conservation training program for wildlife biologists from Asian countries with tiger populations in order to ensure that these countries will have people with the knowledge to carry forward preservation programs into future generations. Over the years, these long-term projects, have greatly increased our understanding about how tigers live and what is needed to assure their survival. What we have not been able to do is to halt the fragmentation of the forests where tigers live, to curb human desire for traditional remedies that contain tiger parts, or to slow human population growth which is encroaching upon tiger habitat. If tigers are to be saved, it is to these problem areas which we must next direct our efforts.