Contents
Its Significance
Tiger Facts
Tigers Status and Distribution
 Bengal (Indian) Tiger
Tiger Threats
Fate of the Tiger
Solutions
WWF Action Plan

 Acknowledgements
 References


Status & Distribution


Tigers: Status and Distribution of Extant Tiger Sub-species.

Throughout their range, tiger populations vary in numbers but are all considered endangered. Three sub-species - the Amur, Sumatran and South China - are regarded as critically endangered, and the other two are classified as endangered (Table 1). Today, it is estimated that the world's tiger population numbers around 5,000 - a reduction of some 95 per cent in just eight cycles of the Year of the Tiger.

The following accounts document the current status and population trends of tigers throughout their range.

Table 1. The status of Tiger Panthera tigris (Linnaeus 1758).

                                                                                                                                                 
Tiger Sub-speciesMinimumMaximum
Bengal (Indian) tiger  P.t. tigris (Linnaeus 1758)3060 3985 - 4735
Bangladesh300460
Bhutan80240
China3035
India2,5003,000 - 3,750*
Nepal150250
Caspian (Hyrcanian/Turan) tiger  P.t. virgata (Illiger 1815) Formerly Afghanistan, Iran, Chinese and Russian Turkestan, Turkey   Extinct 1970s-
Amur (Siberian/Ussuri/North-East China/Manchurian) tiger P.t. altaica (Temminck 1844)437506
China1220
Korea (North)<10<10
Russia415476
Javan tiger P.t. sondaica (Temminck 1844)Extinct 1980s-
South China (Amoy) tiger P.t. amoyensis (Hilzheimer 1905)China<20<30
Bali tiger  P.t. balica (Schwarz 1912)Extinct 1940s-
Sumatran tiger  P.t. sumatrae (Pocock 1929)400500
Indo-Chinese tiger P.t. corbetti (Mazak 1968)1,1801,790
Cambodia100200
China3040
Laospresent
Malaysia600650
Burma (Myanmar)present 
Thailand250600
Vietnam200300
Totals5,0976,811 - 7561
Rounded totals5,0006,800 - 7,500

Note: Both Bengal and Indo-Chinese tigers are found in Burma. The Bengal is found west of the Irrawaddy and the Indo-Chinese to the east. The table is a revision of a June 1997 table compiled by Peter Jackson, chairman of the Cat Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, IUCN, from reports by specialists in tiger range countries.  * The last official survey in 1993 gave the official figure as 3,750 but recent unofficial estimates put it nearer 3,000 or below ???12.  Most estimates are educated guesses and lack accuracy. However, detailed census work has been carried out recently in Nepal and the Russian Far East to produce more reliable statistics. These will serve as baseline data for those areas.



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