For the academic year, 2019-2020 MCM Geography Department has sponsored a Malayan Tiger named ‘Moby’ in association with the Malaysian WWF.
Back in the 1950s, Malaysia was thought to have as many as 3,000 tigers. In 2014, the number of Malayan tigers was estimated to have declined to an estimated 250-340, down from approximately 500 tigers in 2003. Recently, Malayan tigers have been classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ species under the IUCN Red List, with less than 200 left in the wild.
Sadly by being critically endangered the Malayan Tiger faces an extremely high chance of extinction in the wild. MCM’s Head of Geography, Mr Alex Duncan, who has previously sponsored other animals, believes in the value of sponsorship to help realise global learning opportunities, teaching empathy, development, cause and effect and international awareness of endangered species. Sponsorship also captures the imagination and ultimately engages young people, especially animal lovers.
MCM would like all students to understand how and why human interactions with wildlife are so important to the future of the planet and because the strength of the link between nature and resources is becoming ever clearer.
In Geography lessons, pupils in all year groups from Year 7 to Upper Sixth will study the issue of endangered wildlife in some form, here are some examples from the Upper Prep and Senior School curriculum;
- Year 7 will look into this within the topic of tourism and particularly when studying sustainable and eco-tourism options in Kenya and Malaysia. This will link directly to Tigers.
- Year 8 have looked at river pollution and the possibility of fresh-water species extinction due to human actions.
- Shell pupils are doing their ‘Johorgraphy’ projects this term, with the theme of environmental threats to the local area. A combination of marine life (crabs/mudskippers/fish) and land animals (monkeys/boar) are being studied by some students with regard to human development in the area having an impact on these wildlife.
- Remove and Hundred are studying rural environments with a focus on the rainforest, linking well to the Malayan Tiger and the threats it faces.
- The IB Geographers are studying Climate Change and Global Resource Consumption. Within both topics, threats to wildlife and more positively, success of sustainable goals are studied.
It is so important to save the Malayan Tiger as the population has halved over the past decade. They are an important and powerful symbol for Malaysia’s biodiversity, which is a selling point for the country– Valentin Gatignol
