Tooth and claw: Tigers
Discovery
BBC
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“As it charges towards you, you can actually feel the drumbeat of its feet falling to the ground”. Nothing quite says fear more than standing before a charging tiger. Yet so often it’s also the poster-predator for conservation. The tiger truly is the ‘prince of the jungle’.. The good news (to some) is that after a century of decline, wild tiger populations have increased recently. But with this comes the increase in human fatalities – there are almost daily attacks on the rural poor across India. A world without wild tigers is not a world we want, but how do we balance the needs of people and the needs of tigers? Adam finds out more about tigers and the people that live around them by speaking with Indian tiger expert Rajeev Matthews and conservation biologist Samantha Helle, who is based in the US and works with communities and tigers in Nepal.
Producer: Rami Tzabar and Beth Eastwood Presenter: Professor Adam Hart
(Photo: A crouching tiger, Credit: Yudik Pradnyana/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself. |
| 0:03.6 | My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced |
| 0:12.2 | pundits and the biggest sport stars. |
| 0:14.3 | Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players' |
| 0:18.5 | mouths. |
| 0:19.5 | But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world. |
| 0:24.9 | What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to |
| 0:28.8 | dedicated sports fans across the UK. |
| 0:31.0 | So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. |
| 0:37.8 | If the lion is the king of beasts, then the final predator in this Discovery series on |
| 0:42.0 | the BBC World Service, the tiger, must surely be the emperor. |
| 0:46.0 | Larger than a lion and spectacularly marked, would striped emulated the world over. |
| 0:50.1 | Tigers are deeply rooted in the cultures and nations far from where they roam, occupying |
| 0:54.0 | a very special place in the human psyche. |
| 1:02.6 | They are also the icon of endangered species worldwide. |
| 1:05.6 | On the brink of extinction or at least that's the usual headline. |
| 1:08.9 | The tigers are actually doing rather better these days than you might realise, at least |
| 1:12.8 | in some parts of their range. |
| 1:15.0 | As home to around 70% of wild tigers, and with that population having nearly doubled |
| 1:19.1 | in the last 12 years, India is leading the tiger conservation charge. |
| 1:23.7 | But with increasing tigers comes problems, and very difficult questions about what's |
... |
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