SUMATRAN TIGERS There is no better time than now to asses the past and present of the tiger, as this is the Chinese Year Of the Tiger. In these pages there will be info on the Sumatran as well as tigers in general... tigers in general will be on page 2. Sumatran tigers are found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Historical documentationof the Sumatran is sketchy at best. In 1978 the numbers were around 1000. Since then Sumatra has undergone much agricultural developement and subsequently the tiger habitat has declined. More recent studies put the numbers in the hundreds not thousands. The Basics for the Sumatran tiger. It is the smallest of the 5 remaining sub-species with the male weighing in at 220lb (120Kg) and they are approx. 8 feet from head to tail. They have the darkest coat of all. Their broad black stripes are closely spaced and often doubled. Unlike the Siberian the Sumatran has striped forelegs. THE FATE OF THE SUMATRAN TIGER IN THE YEAR 2010 Indonesia was once home to 3 subspecies of tiger. The Javan, The Bali, and The Sumatran. The Javan and the Bali are EXTINCT, and the Sumatran has little chance for survival. This is due to poaching and habitat loss caused by human encroachment. A 1992 estimate revealed that Sumatra probably has 400 tigers in 7 major reserves and another 100 in a marginal habitat with little chance of survival. The overall estimate of 500 suggests a tiger density of 1-3 per 100Km2. Between October 95 and December 96 results found a density of 4.3 tigers to every 100Km2. These findings give us some hope! However it is more likly that the first finding was underestimated. Sumatran tigers are extremely vulnerable to poaching and further loss of habitat. In 1995 Indonesian officials recognized the critical status of this subspecies and is taking conservation action to ensure it does not follow the same path to extinction as the Javan and Bali tigers. The situation for Captive management of Sumatran tigers is much better. For 3 years the Indonesian Zoological Parks Assoc. (PKBSI) has been working with the Tiger GASP to develope a conservation program for the Sumatran tiger. In addition to 58 Sumatran tigers living in Indonesia, there are 58 tigers managed by North American zoos, 6 in Australian Zoos, 108 in European zoos, and 2 in Japanese zoos. This captive population is decended from 37 wild caught founders. PLEASE GO TO THE NEXT PAGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TIGERS IN GENERAL AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP! IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON THIS PAGE PLEASE EMAIL ME. to get to the next page type in to your browser www.angelfire.com/ca2/cheyenneshome2/page2.html there is very informative info on that page
My Favorite Links
Angelfire - Easiest Free Home Pages
SITE FOR ANIMAL LOVERS
TIGER PATROL EMAIL
WANT TO DO MORE CLICK HERE
