Scientific Inquiry & Controlled Experiments: Tigers and their extinction

Tigers
Consequences of their extinction

Tigers are known to be one of the world’s best predators. Their skeleton, their body, their teeth, tail and stomach are all made for hunting. Tigers consume on average 50 animals per year, each (Busch Entertainment Corporation, 2002). Tigers mostly hunt wild boar, wildebeest, gazelles, and several species of deer, such as nigali, chital, and sambar. They inhabit dense forests, as this serves them as cover since they usually attack by stalking their prey and then suffocating them by pressing down their throat. Although they are great predators, they are currently an endangered species. Currently, there are 3 species of tigers that are extinct: Bali, Javan and Caspian. They all disappeared in the 20th century. Nowadays, the remaining species of tigers only occupy a mere 7% of the land they have historically been known to roam for prey (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 2009). If we have a population of 100 or 150 tigers in a selected environment, and a larger population of prey, tigers will maintain a balance of the area’s resources and population, and this maintains a harmonious balance in the area. Also, this promotes survival of the fittest and makes for stronger prey and they make stronger offspring.
But, what happens to the population of the prey and the resources of the area if tigers extinct? Do tigers maintain a balance on the resources of the particular area they hunt in? My hypothesis is that by hunting, tigers help maintain a balance and a control on the population of their prey and the area’s resources.
If tigers go extinct, then several things would happen:
· Overgrowth of prey population
· Depletion of area’s resources: water, grass
· Barren lands: absence of carcasses to fertilize the land
In my example of a controlled experiment, two areas will be designated as protected areas for certain species: Wildebeest, Wild boars, deer and antelope. These are all either omnivores or herbivores and will feed off the natural resources of the area, such as grass, nuts, insects and small reptiles.
In area A, there will be all the above species and there will be tigers. This will be the control group for the experiment and will serve as a guide for the normal circumstances in which nature develops and tigers interact with the species around them.
In Area B, there will be the above species, but there will be no tigers. This means that the omnivores and herbivores will roam and reproduce freely; also they will have indiscriminate use of the resources available in the area.
There will be a total amount of 500 animals of these species in each protected area. There will be 7 tigers, 4 female and 3 male.The experiment will be conducted over an extensive period of time, 5 years. During this time, the population of the existing species in the area and their reproduction will be closely monitored. Most importantly, the abundance of natural resources, such as water, plants, fruits, and grass, will also be monitored. If, despite the absence of tigers, the environment still maintains a steady progression and the resources still abound, then the hypothesis is proven to be false.
During the experiment, we were able to observe the following: In the protected area A, where there were tigers, there were approximately 350 animals hunted by the tigers. However, due to the reproduction of the species, their population maintained an even balance since there were 400 births. There were also several cubs added to the tiger’s population, and ultimately we see that all the populations grow at a controlled rate. The natural resources of the area maintained an even level, as plants, water and food were never scarce, but never overgrown or overpopulated.In the protected area B, we were able to prove that if there is no hunt, the prey population overgrows and then depletes the natural resources available in the area. Water is scarce, plants’ fruits are few, and there are too many animals to be feed. Also, there are too many animals for the area, since 400 animals were birthed but only 100 died.
Based on the results of the experiment, we can say that the hypothesis was proven correct. By hunting, tiger maintain a balance on the resources and population of their prey and this in turn balances the natural resources available to all the inhabitants to the area.
The results of this experiment can be used as further evidence as to why we need to protect tigers from extinction and also as to why there must be a predator in a protected area. Further experimentation can be done to see which type of tiger manages to maintain a higher control of the population and resources based on their hunt, and also on how different prey can bring different results.
References
Busch Entertainment Corporation. (2002). Tigers. In Tigers. Retrieved May 4, 2009, from http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/tiger/diettiger.html
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. (2009). Tiger Conservation Landscapes. In Save The Tiger Fund. Retrieved May 4, 2009, from http://www.savethetigerfund.org/Content/NavigationMenu2/Initiatives/TCL/ default.htm