Tiger and my children / Tiger a moje deti

I wrote this post in English and Slovak language.

Hi

I was looking through photos from the summer and found these shots of my kids with a tiger. The photos are from our ZOO in Spišská Nová Ves. We were lucky. Feeding time was approaching and the tiger was eagerly awaiting food. Instead, my son and later my daughter stood up to him fearlessly. Dad stood opposite each other and watched each other.

On this occasion, it occurred to me to say something about the tiger, that is, rather to write. Maybe you'll learn something you didn't know about the tiger and together we'll get a closer look at his life.

The jungle tiger is a large feline. At one time, it was abundant from Turkey and the Caucasus to Korea. He also lived on the islands of Bali, Sumatra and Java. Today it is found only on a fraction of its former territory. They live as islands in individual territories, while they have completely disappeared from Turkey, and almost from all of China. Three subspecies of the jungle tiger have already disappeared from the world, and the Chinese tiger, the Indian tiger and the Sumatran tiger are likely to do the same in the near future.

At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 100,000 tigers lived in the mentioned territories. Today, barely 3,900 animals live in the wild, and their number is constantly decreasing.

One of the reasons why the tiger is on the verge of extinction is the fact that, as one of the few species, there are man-eaters in its ranks. They are mostly old, sick or injured individuals who have lost respect for humans. For this reason, people feared him and hunted him on a large scale.

The second reason is that it is hunted by poachers. They are especially fond of its fur, which is a popular material for the fashion industry, claws and bones, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The tiger lives in dense forests and primeval forests, to which its body and coloring have adapted. It reaches a weight of up to 300 kg, which is a decent pile of bones and muscles.

Tigers love water and like to bathe in it.

The tiger is a loner, he does not seek the company of other tigers, that is, if we do not count the mating time. Each individual has its own territory, which can be thousands of square kilometers.

At mating time, both sexes meet for a short time, mate, and each returns to its own territory. The female usually gives birth to 2-3 cubs, which are blind after birth. Their eyes open in the third week of life. The mother breastfeeds them for half a year. They live with their mother for two years. They learn to hunt and all the knowledge they need for life. However, most do not live to adulthood. In the wild, tigers live up to 20 years.

The other day I saw a video on TV of a tiger with its paw stuck in an iron trap set by poachers. He could not get out of there and eventually died of hunger. It was a terrible sight.

People should think about themselves. Over the destruction of other species and indeed the entire planet. If things continue like this, our children's children will already know animals and plants only from pictures.

Well thank you

Ahoj

Prezeral som si fotografie z leta a našiel som takéto zábery mojich detí s tigrom. Fotky sú z našej ZOO v Spišskej Novej Vsi. Mali sme šťastie. Blížil sa čas kŕmenia a tiger netrpezlivo očakával jedlo. Namiesto toho sa voči nemu nebojácne postavil môj syn a neskôr aj dcéra. Tatko stáli oproti sebe a pozorovali sa navzájom.

Pri tejto príležitosti ma napadlo niečo si o tigrovi povedať, teda skôr napísať. Možno sa dozviete niečo čo ste o tigrovi ešte nevedeli a spoločne si aspoň takto priblížime jeho život.

Tiger džungľový je veľká mačkovitá šelma. Svojho času sa hojne vyskytoval od Turecka a Kaukazu až po Kóreu. Žil tiež na ostrovoch Bali, Sumatra a Jáva. Dnes sa vyskytuje už len na zlomku svojho niekdajšieho územia. Žijú ostrovkovito na jednotlivých územiach, pričom úplne vymizli z Turecka, a takmer z celej Číny. Zo sveta vymizli už tri poddruhy tigra džungľového a v najbližšom čase to zrejme čaká aj tigra čínskeho, tigra indického a tigra sumatranského.

Začiatkom 20. Storočia žilo na spomínaných územiach viac ako 100000 tigrov. Dnes vo voľnej prírode žije sotva 3900 kusov a ich počet neustále klesá.

Jedným z dôvodov prečo je tiger na pokraji vyhynutia je fakt, že ako jeden z mála druhov sa v jeho radách vyskytujú ľudožrúti. Sú to väčšinou staré, choré alebo poranené jedince, ktoré stratili pred človekom rešpekt. Z tohto dôvodu sa ho ľudia báli a vo veľkom lovili.

Druhým dôvodom je ten, že ho lovia pytliaci. Tí majú zálusk predovšetkým na jeho kožuch, ktorý je obľúbeným materiálom pre módny priemysel, pazúry a kosti, ktoré sa používajú v tradičnej čínskej medicíne.

Tiger žije v hustých lesných a pralesných porastoch čomu sa prispôsobilo aj jeho telo a sfarbenie. Dosahuje hmotnosť až do 300 kg, čo je slušná hromada kostí a svalov.

Tigre milujú vodu a radi sa v nej kúpu.

Tiger je samotár, nevyhľadáva spoločnosť iných tigrov, teda ak nerátame čas párenia. Každý jedinec má svoje teritórium ktoré môže mať aj tisíce kilometrov štvorcových.

V čase párenia sa na krátky čas obe pohlavia stretnú, spária sa a každý sa vracia späť do svojho teritória. Samica privádza obvykle na svet 2-3 mláďatá, ktoré sú po narodení slepé. Oči sa im otvárajú v treťom týždni života. Matka ich kojí pol roka. So svojou matkou žijú dva roky. Učia sa loviť a všetky znalosti ktoré na život potrebujú. Väčšina sa však dospelosti nedožije. Vo voľnej prírode sa tigre dožívajú 20 rokov.

Minule som videl v televízore video, ako tiger uviazol s labou v železnej pasci, ktorú nastražili pytliaci. Nevedel sa odtiaľ dostať a nakoniec zomrel od hladu. Bol to hrozný pohľad.

Ľudia by sa mali nad sebou zamyslieť. Nad ničením iných druhov a vlastne celej planéty. Ak to takto pôjde ďalej tak deti našich detí už budú zvieratá a rastliny poznať len z obrázkov.

Ďakujem