The second major threat to tigers is poaching. Poachers kill tigers for their valuable skins and bones. The bones are sold on the black market and used in traditional Asian …show more content…
They are the top predator in every ecosystem they inhabit.
Until the 20th Century there were nine tiger subspecies that probably numbered over 100,000 animals. They included the giant 660-pound, or 300 kilo, Siberian (Panthera tigris altaica) and Caspian (Panthera tigris virgata; now extinct) tigers as well as the relatively small—and now also extinct—200-pound (90 kilo) Balinese tiger. Depending on whether there are any remaining South China tigers—nobody has seen one in years—there are either 5 or 6 tiger subspecies remaining in existence; all are endangered. All tiger subspecies put together currently amount to around 3,200 endangered tigers remaining in the wild.
The main reasons tigers are endangered—in most cases, critically endangered—are illegal hunting for their pelts, meat and body parts (used in folk medicines) as well as habitat loss that results from logging and other forms of forest