Tigers of the World: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management and Conservation of an Endangered Species (Noyes Series in Animal Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, and Management) PDF
Preview Tigers of the World: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management and Conservation of an Endangered Species (Noyes Series in Animal Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, and Management)
TIGERS OF THE WORLD NOYES SERIES IN ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, ECOLOGY, CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT BenjaminB. Beck, Ph.D., Consulting Editor A series of professional and reference books in ethology devoted to the better under standing of animal behavior, ecology, con servation,and management. WOLVES OF THE WORLD: Perspectives of Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. EditedbyFredH. Harrington andPaulC. Paquet IGUANAS OF THE WORLD: Their Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Edited byGordonM. BurghardtandA. Stanley Rand HORSE BEHAVIOR: The Behavioral Traits and Adapta tions ofDomesticand Wild Horses, IncludingPonies. ByGeorgeH. Waring GAZELLES AND THEIR RELATIVES: A Study in TerritorialBehavior. ByFritzR. Walther, Elizabeth CaryMungall, and GeraldA. Grau THE 'MANAGEMENT AND BIOLOGY OF AN EXTINCT SPECIES: PER,E DAVID'SDEER. Edited byBenjaminB. Beck andChristen Wemmer APES OF THE WORLD: TheirSocialBehavior, Communi cation, Mentality and Ecology. ByRussellH. Tuttle TIGERS OF THE WORLD: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management, and Conservationofan Endangered Species. EditedbyRonaldL. Tilson and UlyssesS. Seal TIGERS OF THE WORLD The Biology, Biopolitics, Management, and Conservation of an Endangered Species Edited by Ronald L. Tilson Minnesota Zoological Gardens Apple Valley, Minnesota Ulysses S. Seal AAZPA/SSP Tiger Coordinator Veterans Administration Research Service Minneapolis, Minnesota NOYES PUBLICATIONS Park Ridge, NewJersey, U.S.A. Copyright©1987byNoyesPublications Nopartofthisbook maybereproduced inanyform withoutpermission inwritingfromthePublisher. LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber: 87-12204 ISBN: 0-8155-1133-7 Printed intheUnitedStates Published intheUnitedStatesofAmericaby NoyesPublications Mill Road,Park Ridge,NewJersey07656 1098765 432 1 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Tigersoftheworld. Paperspresentedatthesymposiumheld inMinneapolis onApr. 13-17,1986;sponsoredbytheMinnesota Zoologi calGardenandthe IUCN/SSCCaptiveBreedingandCat SpecialistGroups. Includesbibliographiesand indexes. 1.Tigers--Congresses. 2.Wildlifemanagement- Congresses. 3.Wildlifeconservation--Congresses. I.Tilson,Ronald Lewis. II.Seal,UlyssesS. III.MinnesotaZoologicalGarden. IV.IUCN/SSCCaptive BreedingGroup. V. IUCN/SSCCatSpecialistGroup. QL737.C23T475 1987 639.9'7974428 87-12204 ISBN0-8155-1133-7 Foreword This symposium on world conservation strategies for tigers has, for the first time, brought together all those involved with tigers, from the pure scien tist and the laboratory worker, to the most applied field worker, reserve man ager, zoo directorand keeper. As chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission I have found the many papers fascinating, and I look forward to seeing the Global Tiger Survival Planasamost valuable output both from myand IUCN's pointofview. I am sure that if the Global Tiger Survival Plan is not generated here and by you then it will never become a reality and a model for many of the other specialistgroups facingidenticaland equally difficult problems. All significant tiger populations in the wild are represented here by the reserve managers except, sadly, those in the Soviet Union. The total support of the "wild population" is, I am sure, the key to thetiger'slong-termsurvival. I am equally sure, however, that all these skills and techniques exposed here, in the zoo andlaboratoryworld,hold the keyas tohowwecanimproveand en sure the diversity of this supreme creature and all its subspecies both in the "wild"and incaptivity. The papers from our colleagues managing free-ranging populations reassure me that we are more than holding our own with regard toshort-term conserva tion solutions, but we must not be seduced by our present successes-we must be sure that we have the long-term solution,and Ibelievethatwith the partner ship we have at this meeting both the "wild" and the zoo world can give us suchlong-termsolutionsandsuccess. As the "wild" reserve areas become more and more restricted, managerial techniquesmust beimprovedto ensurethe necessarydiversity for thelong-term. v vi Foreword This will cost money, for further land purchase and reserve management on the one hand and, on the other, for captivebreedingwithin the "zoo"situa tion. The money does not always come from the same sources, and so is not necessarilycompeting. In both "wild" and captive situations the tiger is always a drawer-a flag bearer for its habitat in the wild whilst in the city-inthe zoo context-itrepre sentsmanycreaturesand theirenvironmentsin educational programs. We have also to remember the political worldinwhichwelive. The politics between zoos, and the "real" world must all be subsumed in the Global Tiger Survival Plan if we are to succeed in our ultimate aim, the tiger's long-term survival! This is a first step. The next must be a new Cat Red Data Book, and then further catspecialist plans. This meeting is creating a template from which many specialists will bene fit, and I congratulate our host, the Minnesota Zoological Garden, on the fore sightandactivitiesinensuringthesuccess ofthis most excitingmeeting. Gren Lucas Chairman, IUCNjSSC Preface This symposium grew out of our concern thattigers, witha globaldistribu tion extendingfrom Indiaacross Chinatothe Soviet FarEast,andsouththrough Peninsular Malaysia to Indonesia, are steadily declining in many parts of their range. Three of the recognized eight subspeciesare now extinct;afourth is near extinction. The remaining tiger populations, with the possible exception of the Sundarbans population in Bangladesh, are both too fragmented andtoo small forlong-termsurvival. Guidelines emerging from conservation biology theory suggest that for a species like Panthera tigris a minimal population size ofabout 2,000 animals is necessary for the long-term survival ofeachsubspecies. Thisimpliesthat ifman agement units of tigers are to center around the currently recognized five sub species, then a world population of 10,000 wild tigers is needed. This is not likely to occur in the near future. Alternatively, if some of the management units are to survive with retention of even 90%oftheirremaining genetic diver sity for 200 years, then population sizes of 350 to 500 animals must be main tained. Only one wild population of one tiger subspecies possibly fits this crite rion. Theothersarefragmented intosmalldisjunct populationswithlittle oppor tunity for genetic exchange or recolonization if the population is lost. Popula tions subdivided into many small populations-say of 10 to 100 animals-are fragile and face a high probability of extinction. This means we must be pre pared to provide periodic recolonization of habitat vacated bylocalextinctions as well as exchange of genetic material between locally decimated populations. This will require development of strategies for interactive management of the fragmented wild populations and use of captive populations for backup and support. The objective ofthis symposium was to contribute to the development of a Global Tiger Survival Plan that would facilitate a multinational agreement vii viii Preface for the sustained conservation of the world's remaining tigers. The contents of this book were designed to help encourage this process. We believed that the necessary first step toward addressing strategic long-term goals of tiger conser vation was to establish t~e currentstatusofeach subspecies,thesubpopulations that comprisethem,and the extentand integrityoftheirhabitat. Moreprecisely, we wanted to identify, as closely as possible, population numbers and their spatial relationship to each other relative to political boundaries. The revised distribution map of the world's remaining free-ranging tigers and the available data on their numbers suggest that the tigeris notas wide rangingas commonly perceived, and does not exist in sufficient numbers to be considered a self-sus tainingspecies (see map). U.S.S.R ~. balica "1::::::::l:A:V:A::" EXT~ All ~ P.t. ~ e.L sondpica (EXTINCT ~ P.t. amoyensis ~:;:;;;:~.:~~: tt corbetti -P.t. sumatrae ......... ~ tigris Preface ix A second necessary step toward developing and implementing compre hensive reproductive and management programs for the world's captive popu lation was to request managers of these populations to share their knowledge. The declining availability of replacement animals from the wild has forced zoos to manage their widely dispersed animals as single biological populations if they are to be self-sustaining. Since many traditional exhibit species have be come endangered in the wild, the possible contribution of the captive popula tions to survival of these species has become important. Thus,the demographic and genetic concepts derived from conservation biology that serve to guide the management of small, fragmented captive populations are directly applic able to the management of remnant populations of the same species in the wild. The third necessary step was to assemble the managers of both the wild and captive tiger populations to facilitate the international and interdiscipli nary exchange of ideas and data. The chapters included in this book reflect this diversity of nationality, language and culture. To retain their perspectives we edited the chapters for format only and left intact the nuances of the indi vidualand idea. We thank the many people who labored to make the symposium and this book a reality. The symposium, held in Minneapolis on April 13-17, 1986, was sponsored by the Minnesota Zoological Garden and the IUCN/SSC Cap tive Breeding and Cat Specialist Groups. We are particularly indebted to Peter Jackson, Chairnlan of the Cat Specialist Group, Siegfried Seifert, Keeper ofthe International Tiger Studbook, Hemendra Panwar, past Director of India's Project Tiger, and Chris Wemmer, from the Smithsonian-Nepal Tiger Ecology Project, for helping with the initial planning ofthesymposium. Theyand Betsy Dresser, Mohammed Khan bin Momin Khan and Steve O'Brienwereresponsible for chairing their respective sessions. Gren Lucas, the IUCN/Species Survival Commission Chairman, kindly consented to deliver the keynoteaddress. Steven Kohl helped translate for our Chinese colleagues, Fritz Jantschke and James Dolan helped translate for our German colleagues, while Tom Foose and Nate Flesness helped plan travel arrangements for the overseas delegates. We grate fully acknowledge the unselfish dedication of thirteen Minnesota Zoo Volun teers, coordinated by Kate Anderson, who kept thesymposiumagendaontrack andonschedule. Funds to support international travel and cost for the delegates were re ceived from the Smithsonian's NationalMuseum Act,theWindstar Foundation's Web of Life Fund, the United Nations' Environment Programme, the World Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Minnesota Zoological Garden and from private donations. We thank our friends at Meyers Printing, Minneapolis, for producing the poster and brochure commemorating the sym posium, Rebecca Becker for the artwork, Adele Smith for the graphics, Tom Cajacob for the photographs, Carole Stead for assisting with the symposium arrangements, and G. Allen Binczik for formatting and editing the many drafts
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