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Sumatran Tiger

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The smallest living tiger subspecies, found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where it survives in fragmented patches of lowland and mountain rainforest that continue to shrink under logging and conversion to palm oil and pulpwood plantations. Its comparatively small size and dark, closely spaced stripes are thought to be adaptations to Sumatra's dense forest, where camouflage and maneuverability among close-growing vegetation matter more than the raw size that favors tigers hunting in more open terrain elsewhere in Asia. Like other tigers it is a solitary, territorial ambush predator, and camera-trap studies remain the primary tool for estimating how many survive in a landscape too dense and remote for a direct count.

Facts
Disputed
Population Estimate
600 3
Published estimates for the remaining wild population range from under 400 to roughly 600 individuals depending on survey year and method; camera-trap-based density estimates for a wide-ranging, low-density forest predator carry substantially more uncertainty than a count of a visible, aggregated species, so this figure is the upper end of recent published estimates, not a settled number.
Scientific Name
Panthera tigris sondaica 1
Conservation Status
Critically Endangered 2
IUCN Red List, assessed by Linkie, Wibisono, Martyr and Sunarto in 2008; fewer than 400 mature individuals estimated in more recent (post-2008) population reviews cited elsewhere in the literature.
Cross-Tradition Connections

In Biome

Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Life
Encyclopedia of LifeView the Source
2. Sumatran Tiger (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationReferences, IUCN citation
Quote, References, IUCN citation
Linkie, M.; Wibisono, H.T.; Martyr, D.J.; Sunarto, S. (2008). Panthera tigris ssp. sumatrae. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008 e.T15966A5334836.
View the Source
3. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
International Union for Conservation of NatureView the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
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