Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to choose the word or phrase that best fits each other numbered blanks. 

One of the most wondrous and iconic animals to walk the Earth, Bengal tigers, (25) _________ are majestic and rare. They're also one of the biggest cat species in the world. On average, Bengals are larger than (26) _______ tiger species, but the largest tiger ever (27) _______ was a Siberian. As such, Bengals are considered the second largest tiger species. 

Today, wild Bengal tigers are animals that only live in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. (28) _________ there are more Bengals than any other tiger subspecies on the Indian subcontinent, the populations are endangered. Conservation efforts are working to some degree, but they're not (29) __________ the poaching, deforestation, and human encroachment that has devastated wild tiger habitats over the past 50 years.