Video collections
Time to play
Will future generations enjoy the sight of tiger cubs at play?
In Kanha National park, the young tiger cubs featured in Land of the Tiger are growing up fast. Their mother has done a good job of keeping them safe so far, but what of their future? The tiger is often seen as the symbol of Indian heritage, but changing culture has threatened the place the tiger holds in people's lives. The battle is on if our children are to be able to enjoy delightful sights like these satisfied, well looked after youngsters at play.
Tigers enshrined
Hope for the tiger's survival may lie in religious belief.
Buddists believe In the endless cycle of death and rebirth, where man and animal are inextricably entwined. In Land of the Tiger, Valmik Thapar tells the story of how the Buddha gave his life to save a starving tigress and her cubs. Does the pervading influence of religious belief offer hope to the tigers across Asia?
Holding on
Threats from human activity put the tiger's fate firmly in our hands.
Newsreader Fiona Bruce was chosen to champion the tiger's cause for Saving Planet Earth and was utterly captivated by the beautiful tigers of Bandhavgarh National Park, India. But with tiger numbers dwindling fast as a result of human activities, experiences like hers could sadly be a thing of the past. With their fate in our hands, will we allow that to happen?
Tiger plight
The planet's most potent conservation symbol.
Instantly recognisable, tigers are the iconic Asian species. Their distinctive striped coats help them slip into the undergrowth and almost disappear, and sadly they really are disappearing from the wild at an alarming rate. In the last century alone we have lost 95% of the world's tigers through direct poaching and loss of habitat. In Saving Planet Earth, David Attenborough introduced the tiger and gave an overview of the problems tigers face in today's world, before the rest of programme explored the issues in more detail.
Moving majesty
A tiger's roar sets an emotional tone for George McGavin's musings on the big cat's future.
Despite being an expert on insects, after filming this sequence, George McGavin confessed: 'At heart, I'm very definitely a man who loves the world's unloved creatures, and I still maintain that ants are the planet's major carnivores. But being this close to a tiger is just incredibly impressive.'
Nowhere to go
With safe space in short supply, the future for isolated tiger cubs is in grave doubt.
With safe space in short supply, the future for isolated tiger cubs is in grave doubt.
Trapped tigers
Tigers risk their lives if they stray outside the isolated reserves.
Tigers risk their lives if they stray outside the isolated reserves.
Fragmented isolation
Wildlife corridors across the Himalayas might help save the remaining tiger population.
Wildlife corridors across the Himalayas might help save the remaining tiger population.
Intact system
For tigers to stand a chance of survival, forest health must be more than skin deep.
For tigers to stand a chance of survival, forest health must be more than skin deep.
Wildlife treasures
As rarity increases value on the booming Chinese medicine market, do tiger's stand a chance?
As rarity increases value on the booming Chinese medicine market, do tiger's stand a chance?
Lords of the land
The planet's top predators and the ultimate in lethal grace and beauty.
The tiger was once the ultimate predator, ranging unchallenged across the wildernesses of Asia. But today tigers are in serious decline. Since humans developed guns and other weapons, these magnificent beasts have stood little chance. Hunting animals need hunting grounds and increased competition for the same territory and prey has brought tigers into conflict with humans. In this sequence, the former top predator is set in sharp relief against its now precarious status.
Wake up call
The shocking scale of the illegal trade in tiger products revealed.
The Natural World programme Battle to Save the Tiger reported in 2007 on the major threats to tiger survival. In this clip, the shocking scale of the illegal trade in tiger products was revealed. Almost 300 kilos of tiger bones - representing some 24 tigers - were discovered in Delhi in 1993. Destined for the Chinese traditional medicine market, this was the largest haul in India's history at the time.
Mangrove hideout
The Sundarbans are one of the last wildernesses in the tiger's range.
The largest tracts of wilderness left within the range of the Bengal tiger are the vast mangrove forests of the Sundarbans. Many of the 400 or so tigers that live here however, are reputed to be habitual maneaters. Living and working in or near the forests has become a deadly game for the villagers and fisherman who live nearby. This Natural World programme explored how various approaches are being used to reduce conflict as human demand on natural resources increases.
Pushing boundaries
Competition forest resources forces tigers into conflict with villagers.
Thinning forests and a reduction in available prey are pressures that result from the relentless encroachment of human populations into tiger territory. Whilst many local people are aware of the dangers of pushing the tigers to their limits, they have little choice about how and where they live. Perhaps the only way to avoid the conflict is to keep the tigers away from the villages and initiatives such as training packs of dogs to chase tigers away may be successful in doing this.
Live and let live
A surprising view on conflict between humans and tigers.
Living in close proximity to the forest holds real danger for India's rural villagers, and it would come as no surprise if the local people wanted to be rid of the threat. But even having suffered a terrifying attack, one villager interviewed in Saving Planet Earth expresses what may seem a remarkably generous view: that tigers have as much right to survive as humans. This is an ancient view embedded in traditional life, however, it's also one that may be under threat from changing cultural attitudes.
End of the road?
Can tigers survive in a world so full of people?
On the margins of Ranthambore National Park, it's easy to see where the forests end and the paddy fields denoting human habitation begin. The tigers here and elsewhere are simply running out of space to live. The tigers' natural habitat is shrinking which puts them in direct conflict with local villagers. This habitat loss, with the compounded pressures that fall out from it, is one of the key problems facing tigers today.
Tiger task force
Education on how to live with tigers may help minimise conflict.
To counter the effects of human/tiger conflict a Tiger Task Force has been set up in Bangladesh to help deal with confrontations between the two species. This clip tells the story of a hideous attack where thousands of villagers ended up beating a tiger to death in self-defence. Had they known how to handle the situation, the outcome in which several villagers were hurt and the tiger died could have been avoided. The aim of the task force is to provide practical help as situations arise, but also to teach them when to intervene and when to step back so that death is not always the final outcome.
The price of poaching
In rural India, the price of a tiger skin is a life-changing sum.
In order to save the tiger from extinction, it's vital to understand what motivates people to poach. The answer is easy enough, but how to counter it is more difficult. The price on a tiger's head is around 50,000 rupees, and this is a life-changing sum of money for rural people. Is it really any wonder villagers can be persuaded to take the risk or helping the organised poaching networks?
Tiger seizure
The scale of the tiger poaching problem is vividly illustrated.
In Battle to Save the Tiger's report on the threats facing tigers, no sequence was more vividly illustrative of the scale of the poaching problem than this one. On a remote road in the west of Tibet, skins seized from a single lorry are laid out side by side on the Tarmac. Among more than 1,000 skins are 31 from tigers which were to be smuggled across the Tibetan border.
Invisible tigers
In a twist on the conservation mantra, Sariska's tigers leave no footprints.
In 2004 the crisis facing tigers came to a head when researchers working in Sariska National Park could not find any fresh tiger footprints. With a flawed method of counting tigers, it seemed the reserve concealed a tragedy. Despite the park's protection, all Sariska's tigers had disappeared - victims of poachers. In isolation, this was a disaster for India's tigers, but it has since turned out not to be the only park where this has happened.
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
