Sumatran Tiger

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is the smallest of the remaining five tiger subspecies. It has lived exclusively, for over a million years, in the once extensive moist tropical jungles of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Their population in the wild is now heavily fragmented and is estimated to range between 400 and 500 individuals. Groups of between a few and several dozen tigers can be found principally in and around Sumatra's national parks.

About the Sumatran Tiger
The Sumatran tiger represents a uniquely hopeful opportunity for the survival of an individual subspecies of tiger in the wild. Specifically, the animal is isolated geographically to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. This is important for many reasons. First, the animal has been genetically isolated. This offers felid biologists the opportunity to study the effects of such genetic isolation on a particular subspecies, unlike other surviving subspecies, which until the beginning of the last century, could roam among and between the realms of neighboring subspecies.

Wild Sumatran tigers have survived within the isolated and somewhat continuous political environment of the Island of Sumatra. This has afforded researchers, such as The Sumatran Tiger Project team, an opportunity to study these animals' genetic status in their natural habitat over an extended period of time. As a result, important first-hand field data has been generated which is relevant to all the surviving tiger subspecies.

Characteristics
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of the tiger subspecies as compared to the Siberian tiger which is the largest.

Sumatran male tigers average 8 feet (2.438m) in length from head to tail and weigh about 265 lbs.(120.2 kg). Females average 7 feet (2.134 m) in length and weigh about 200 lbs (90.718 kg).

The smaller size of the Sumatran tiger makes it easier to move quickly through the jungle. Also, their stripes are narrower than other tiger species. The tiger's patterned coloring is an adaptation for camouflage in their natural habitat, which is often tall grass. The males, especially, have a more bearded and maned appearance in which neck and cheek hair are well developed.

Habitat and Distribution
The Sumatran tiger is found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in habitat that ranges from lowland forest to sub-mountain and mountain forest including some peat moss forests. According to the Tiger Information Center and the World Wildlife Fund there are no more than 500 of these tigers left in the wild with some estimates considerably lower.

Conservation
In 2006 the Indonesia Forestry Service, the Natural Resources and Conservational Agency (BKSDA) and the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program sat down with commercial concession holders and Asia Pulp & Paper and set the foundations for the Senepis Buluhala Tiger Sanctuary, an area that covered 106,000 hectares in Riau by 2008. These organizations formed The Tiger Conservation Working Group with other interested parties and the project is recognised as a pioneering initiative. Current studies include the identifying of feeding behavior of tigers to develop strategies that will help protect both tigers and human settlements.