Tiger
- Global Tigers Programs Video
- Tigers are in trouble, but Dr. Ullas Karanth and his team in India are finding smart ways to save them.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Photo
- Once ranging from the Caspian Sea to the Russian Far North, the world’s largest cat species now exists in only 7 percent of their historical range.
- ©John Goodrich
- Wildlife Crimes Unit Slideshow
- Tigers are fast disappearing in the wild, due in large part to increasing illegal wildlife trade around the globe. Our Wildlife Crimes Unit is working to support the arrest and prosecution of poachers and wildlife traders so that we can ensure a future for these cats in some of their last strongholds. Take a look at what WCS conservationists working throughout tiger territory in Asia have come across in their surveys and patrols.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Police display confiscated tiger skin with other seized animal skins and body parts in Indonesia. The country is Southeast Asia’s largest exporter of wildlife, both legal and illegal.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Many of the wildlife pelts and other items that are poached in Indonesia are part of complex trade chains, which often terminate in illegal markets in China.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- The Wildlife Crimes Unit provides technical assistance to Indonesian police conducting anti-poaching raids.
- ©WCS Indonesia
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- This tiger was caught in a snare in northern Sumatra, a hotspot for the big cats in Indonesia, and therefore a draw for poachers.
- ©WCS Indonesia
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- In addition to tigers, tons of turtles are also exported from Indonesia on a weekly basis, and about 1.5 million wild-caught birds are sold in a market every year in Java.
- ©WCS Indonesia
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Tiger bones in Sumatra are sold as souvenirs and talismans, and ground up or boiled down for use as ingredients in traditional medicines.
- ©WCS Indonesia
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Tiger pelts are considered a status symbol by some and many wealthy people consume tiger products for purported medicinal qualities.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- WCS conservationists in India calculate tiger numbers by setting up remote camera traps that photograph the big cats in the wild.
- ©Eleanor Briggs
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- The camera trap technique is also used in the Russian Far East, where this Siberian tiger was photographed.
- ©WCS
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Tiger scat contains a unique DNA signature that gives researchers another way to accurately identify and count individual animals.
- ©S. Gopinth
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- In the protected areas of India’s Western Ghats region, where WCS has worked for over 20 years, tiger populations are holding steady.
- ©Ullas Karanth
- Tiger Rescue Operations Photo
- Help the Wildlife Conservation Society save tigers in the wild by making a donation.
- Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
Solitary and beautiful, the tiger prowls alone and marks its territory carefully, patrolling each corner of its domain methodically every few weeks. Expert hunters who kill their prey with a bite to the throat or back of the neck, tigers are carnivores that eat large mammals like deer, pigs and buffalo. In order to satisfy their large appetites—and their offspring—these big cats must have access to wide swaths of land and large populations of prey.
Historically, hundreds of thousands of tigers roamed across Asia, but their numbers have plummeted dramatically. Today, tigers occupy only 7 percent of their historical range. The largest tiger population is now in India, but there are wild populations in numerous Asian countries. WCS is working throughout the continent to protect this astounding mammal, which can survive in diverse habitats that include tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, grasslands, evergreen forests, and snowy, rocky terrain.
Fast Facts
| Scientific Name | Panthera tigris |
|---|
- Tigers can measure up to 9 feet long.
- Tigers are very vocal and make friendly “chuffing” noises to communicate with one another.
- A tiger’s tail hangs loosely when relaxed and twitches when nervous or agitated.
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Threats and Challenges
The tiger is endangered, and in many countries entire local populations have gone extinct. As ever-growing expanses of Asia are carved up for roads, farms, logging interests, and urban development, tigers are losing their natural habitats. Hunters who kill wildlife either for human consumption or illegal trade have depleted populations of deer and other prey, making food scarce. Logging roads give people easier access to places where wild tigers live, further compromising their fragile environments. Throughout its range, the tiger is killed for its stunning pelt, bones and other body parts, many of which are used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines. Even though the sale of tiger parts is illegal, a hunter can receive thousands of dollars per cat. In 1920, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today, their numbers hover in the low thousands.
WCS Responds
WCS has long-standing conservation programs in nine countries where tigers live: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, and Thailand. Our goal is to help save the populations of this big cat in the wild and improve their living conditions. We have worked with government officials and business leaders for the creation of protected areas and other ambitious conservation projects, provided technical and financial support for law enforcement geared toward apprehending poachers, and collaborated on science-based projects aimed at effectively managing prey populations and human activity in tiger habitats. We also partner with local volunteers who help restore tiger habitats by, for example, removing illegal hunting traps in northeast China. In 2006, WCS and Panthera, a wild cat conservation group, together launched Tigers Forever, an ambitious collaborative effort that aims to increase tiger numbers by 50 percent at eight WCS tiger landscapes across Asia over 10 years.
WCS Projects
WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit helps intercept the trade in illegal tiger parts on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The island’s populations of tigers and other endangered species are under siege by poachers who sell the animals into complex trade chains. These chains often terminate in illegal markets in China and other parts of East Asia.
From the Newsroom
The forest haven for monkeys, tigers, and elephants also stores carbon and will help in the global fight against climate change. Key research conducted by WCS led to the park’s creation.
Recent arrests and prosecutions in Sumatra and Jakarta put the heat on illegal wildlife traders attempting to sell Sumatran tiger skins. WCS’s Wildlife Crime Unit played a key role in the arrests.
WCS announces a new way to count tigers, based on a study that shows that fecal DNA sampling provides extremely accurate estimates of the big cats’ populations.
WCS scientists track tigers with a new 3D software program that may speed up conservation efforts. The software can also help locate the origins of confiscated tiger skins.
YouTube may be the latest conservation field tool. WCS-India has posted a series of instructional videos on the site to help researchers and park rangers monitor tigers in the wild.
The Wildlife Crime Units help intercept the trade in illegal tiger parts on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Ten arrests have been made in three months.