The tiger, once wide-ranging across Asia, has disappeared from much of its historic range. But thanks to concerted conservation efforts and communities willing to coexist with them, the majestic predator is making a comeback in some parts of the continent despite threats including habitat loss and poaching.
South Asia continues to be a stronghold for tigers (Panthera tigris), but some other regions are also showing promise. On International Tiger Day, July 29, Mongabay presents three stories from the past year that offer hope for the big cat.
Thailand’s tiger recovery
Tiger numbers are rising in western Thailand’s Huai Kha Khaeng and Thung Yai (HKK-TY) wildlife reserves, which make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since camera-trap surveys began there in 2007, the tiger population has more than doubled, Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan reported in July 2024. There could now be up to 140 Indochinese tigers in HKK-TY.
Thailand is now the last stronghold of the Indochinese tiger (P. t. corbetti). Researchers attribute the increase in tiger numbers in HKK-TY to long-term conservation actions like strengthening ranger patrols to control poaching and efforts to boost prey populations.
“Tiger recoveries in Southeast Asia are few, and examples such as these highlight that recoveries can be supported outside of South Asia, where most of the good news [about tigers] appears to come from,” Abishek Harihar, tiger program director for the NGO Panthera, told Mongabay.
Sumatran tigers surviving in unprotected forests
In Indonesia’s Aceh province, researchers installed camera traps across the massive unprotected forests of the Ulu Masen Ecosystem, where they photographed 11 Sumatran tigers (P. t. sumatrae). This is a small but promising population of the rare subspecies, Cowan reported in November 2024.
The survey also recorded several tiger prey species, including sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), serow antelope (Capricornis sumatraensis) and wild boar (Sus scrofa).
However, habitat loss, poaching and illegal mining remain significant threats in Ulu Masen. Scientists have called for better protection of Ulu Masen to support tiger conservation and recovery, saying they hope the new evidence about Ulu Masen’s tiger population will bring in more investment from conservation funders.
Rare Amur tigers reintroduced in Kazakhstan
In September 2024, two Siberian tigers (P. t. tigris) named Bodhana and Kuma were moved from a sanctuary in the Netherlands to a seminatural enclosure in Kazakhstan’s Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve. Tigers in the region were hunted to extinction some 70 years ago, and the pair is part of an ambitious reintroduction project.
Kazakhstan has reportedly spent six years reforesting part of Ile-Balkhash with native trees, and reintroduced prey species like the Bukhara deer (Cervus hanglu bactrianus) and the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus), WWF said in a blogpost.
Experts say they hope that Bodhana and Kuma will breed, and their cubs will become the first wild-born tigers in Kazakhstan, spurring a new population in the region.
Banner image of a Sumatran tiger by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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