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Tiger Numbers Rise For First Time In a Century (nationalgeographic.com)

Posted by msmash on from the great-news dept.

Brian Clark Howard, writing for National Geographic: At last -- some good news for tigers. Driven largely by conservation successes in India, Russia, and Nepal, the global population of tigers in the wild has shown a significant increase in the past few years, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reports in a new survey. The report comes as national leaders meet in India to discuss next steps for saving the iconic -- and highly endangered -- species. The study estimates that there are now 3,890 wild tigers, up from 3,200 in 2010, when countries announced a historic commitment to double the population by 2022. Countries appear to be heading toward their goal, and this is the first time tiger numbers have been increasing globally in more than a hundred years. "We're positively surprised by the numbers, which validate what we thought has been happening thanks to conservation efforts," says Ginette Hemley, senior vice president for conservation at WWF.

45 comments

  1. Goooood! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I need some tiger blood!

    1. Re:Goooood! by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      HIV? no, no one needs tiger blood

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  2. Tiger Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone beside me read the headline and immediately want to jump over to wolfram alpha to see what a 'tiger number' was?

    1. Re:Tiger Numbers? by NatasRevol · · Score: 1

      It's i squared.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    2. Re:Tiger Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the headline I though the article was about the tank.

    3. Re:Tiger Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's Grrreeeaaat!

    4. Re:Tiger Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      # of Mac OS X 10.4 installations, anyone?

    5. Re:Tiger Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Similar to Erdos and Bacon numbers. If you have been eaten by a tiger, your tiger number is zero. If you ever have known someone who was eaten by a tiger, your tiger number is one. And so on.

  3. Re:Jeeze Man! This is horrible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, come on now. Tiger numbers increasing is clear evidence that man-made global warming is scientific fact. I'm not sure how just yet, but as soon as I get a multi-million dollar grant to prove it, I'll get right on it.

  4. In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gazelle, zebra, and water buffalo populations are declining at a more rapid pace. Activists and conservationists are baffled how to maintain a perfect balance.

    1. Re:In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A tiger? In Africa?

    2. Re:In other news by r1348 · · Score: 1

      I doubt a tiger has ever tasted zebra meat...

    3. Re:In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the only complaint you have about my post are the specific prey species I chose, then I've already won the argument.

      I love cats, both small and big, and would hate to see tigers disappear. But I have to wonder how the rest of the ecosystem is handling this resurgence of tigers in the area.

    4. Re:In other news by Flavianoep · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sorry, but that is not how the world works. It's not only the substance of a proposition that matters, the form is also important. That's because most people think that important matters must be serious. When you listed tiger prey as if tigers lived in Africa, you transformed your argument into laughing stock. And because your argument is now laughing stock in the form, its substance will be disregarded. Therefore, you lost. LOL L00ZR!

      --
      Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
    5. Re: In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You weren't wondering any such thing. Your comment above reads as mockery of conservationists, which is funny on the Simpsons,but don't be surprised when you get derision for your own mistakes.

  5. and amazing accomplishment by cats-paw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Between the tiger parts in "traditional medicine" idiocy in China and human population pressures in India, the fact the numbers actually increased is borderline miraculous.

    --
    Absolute statements are never true
    1. Re:and amazing accomplishment by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Now if only they can squash that whole "rhino horn is an aphrodesiac" nonsense, maybe the rhinos can make a comeback too.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:and amazing accomplishment by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      It's all so that Putin has more tigers to ride on.

    3. Re:and amazing accomplishment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's get some perspective here: this announcement is based on official government figures from, chiefly, Russia, India and Nepal. Those are three of the most corrupt countries on the planet. Their "government statistics" are worth less than an economist's predictions.

      Let's wait for some more independent verification, or at least a long-term trend, before we celebrate too hard.

  6. Sound like something William Blake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could possibly appreciate.

    1. Re:Sound like something William Blake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tiger, tiger, burning bright
      In the forests of the night,
      What immortal hand or eye
      Could frame thy fearful...
      Hunting Tigers, out in India,
      Out in out in out in India.

  7. Re:Jeeze Man! This is horrible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not according to Leonad Nimoy

  8. First Time In a Century? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How did the number it get from 3200 to 3201 without rising?

    1. Re:First Time In a Century? by cogeek · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not everyone had Statistics in college, sadly... The last sample was from 2010, 6 years ago. At that time the population was 3,200. Now in 2016 there are 3,890. Obviously during that 6 year period, the numbers were on the rise. It's still the first time the numbers have gone up at a sampling point in a century (sadly we have to trust the headline on this since the writer of the article apparently skipped Journalism 101 and doesn't cite when the last time the population increase was).

  9. Re:Jeeze Man! This is horrible! by Tighe_L · · Score: 1

    LOL, so true.

  10. and we solved global warming by known_coward_69 · · Score: 1

    Fuck1ng cold here in the northeast and snowing out west in the USA

    1. Re:and we solved global warming by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Fuck1ng cold here in the northeast and snowing out west in the USA

      It's why we call it "climate change" now more than "global warming" because the latter implies that everywhere gets hotter. While that is true, what you don't see is the methods that arise in attempting to bring the heat back down again.

      Hurricanes and tornadoes are easy to see (they're heat engines that get their power from the ocean warmth, that's why they die out over land pretty quickly), enough to drop the local temperature 3-5C (6-9F) of the water.

      The increased heat will also disrupt normal flows of weather causing the jet stream to whip down, causing summer like conditions out west and blizzards out east.

      What is generally true is the weather gets more extreme - hotter summers, colder winters, and seasons that extend way beyond their welcome (hotter summers that go well into fall and perhaps even giving balmy weather through the holidays, colder winters that last way into the beginning of summer) etc.

  11. Other cats by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

    Now if they can just do the same for the Cheetah.

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    1. Re:Other cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's more difficult with cheetahs, because cheetahs never prosper.

    2. Re:Other cats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, you deserve this:
      "Though I cast a roving eye on an attractive lady Lion,
      And the Tiger and the Leopard and the Lynx,
      Though my name was linked in rumour with a Panther and a Puma
      Nothing could be sweeter than to make you Mrs. Cheetah."

      From "Jaguar"; Flanders & Swann

      (i'm halfway through pulling Fuses on my old Jag XJS, trying to find just what it is that drains the battery overnight. So far I have pinned down the Passenger's Seat Control Module, the CD Head Unit, and the Interior Lights Delay Function Unit as Vampires. Turn Signals are dead, although the Flasher clicks, Fuses good. Bad Flasher Switch? Funny thing is, after 6 months, the Engine started right up. Jaguars are fussier by far.)

    3. Re:Other cats by operagost · · Score: 2

      Maybe their counts are up, but it's hard to tell. It's easy to catch a tiger by the toe, but cheetahs are really fast.

      EENIE MEENIE MINEY MOE!

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    4. Re:Other cats by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      Maybe their counts are up, but it's hard to tell. It's easy to catch a tiger by the toe, but cheetahs are really fast.

      EENIE MEENIE MINEY MOE!

      I always choose to let him go.

  12. Tigers will eat you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Be careful what you wish for. Tigers will eat you. The look great, but tigers like to hide in the bush and grab you when you're not lookin', just like your housecat would if she would just grow a bit bigger. All good for thinning that human herd down a bit.

    1. Re: Tigers will eat you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just remember to wear a mask on the back of your head while having a dump in tiger country. For that is when tigers like most to tuck into long pig.

    2. Re: Tigers will eat you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/tippoos-tiger/

    3. Re:Tigers will eat you by delt0r · · Score: 1

      My cat would kill me and all humans, for a bowl of milk, if she could work out how. I know cats like milk, but she is crazy about milk.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
  13. I guess by rossdee · · Score: 1

    This has something to do with the new Jungle Book movie

  14. I like tigers by neo-mkrey · · Score: 1

    they are my favorite animal.

  15. so... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    How much of this success is due to rich people willing to pay upwards of $70k each to preserves to go hunt one?

    1. Re:so... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

      sorry I meant reserves not preserves. Damn pre-1st-coffee typos.

  16. If you want to donate ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    ... I recommend Panthera, Panthera. They focus efforts on conservation of the world's largest, most imperiled cats: tigers, lions, jaguars and snow leopards, and also developing conservation programs for cheetahs, leopards and cougars. The also took over administration of the Save the Tiger Fund from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Their Board of Directors covers all the organization's fund raising costs.

    From their FAQ:

    Where do my donations go?
    100% of your donation goes directly to Panthera’s Conservation and Education Programs, as our fundraising costs are covered by Panthera’s Board of Directors.

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:If you want to donate ... by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

      Pantera? Really?

      There are way better metal bands.

      Look around. Upgrade your taste in music, dude.

    2. Re:If you want to donate ... by delt0r · · Score: 1

      Cheetahs are kinda of boned. There population was just too small in the last ice age, and now the population is too inbreed.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
  17. The real reason why by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    If Tiger Woods had 26 mistresses, how many mistresses do you think actual tigers have?! ;)

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    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.