Counting The Tiger

Poaching for bones and other products, of which there is evidence throughout tiger range, represents a major threat to the species. Bones, penises and other tiger parts are in demand for Chinese medicine and other traditional uses, while there are indications that skins are being smuggled to many parts of the world. The tiger is reproducing well and is clearly in its evolutionary prime, its numbers limited only by human action: killing and destruction of habitat. Establishing tiger numbers is extremely difficult because they are naturally secretive, forest-dwelling animals, ranging over large areas of often rugged terrain.

In some places, estimates of tiger numbers have been made by extrapolating the results of studies of tiger density to the known range.

Other estimates have been based on anecdotal reports by forest guards and local people.

The result is a broad range of estimates, from a low of 4,600 to a maximum of 7,700 for the total world tiger population. All the estimates show that over half the world's tigers live in India.

There is little doubt that tiger numbers have declined in the past 50 years, but the lack of trustworthy estimates of numbers precludes any calculation of the rate of decline. Human populations have increased (for example, by 50% in India in the past 20 years), leading to extensive loss of habitat through deforestation and conversion of land to human use, which itself would have caused a decline in tiger numbers (the increase in India is due to the removal of previous hunting pressure). Seven of the eight subspecies were included in the first edition of the IUCN Red Data Book in 1964. The Bengal tiger Panthera t. tigris was added in 1971 following alarm about the obvious decline resulting from hunting for sport and for skins. The alarm led to the launching by the World Wildlife Fund (now the World Wide Fund for Nature) of Operation Tiger to raise US$1,000,000 to support conservation. In 1973, the Government of India initiated a comprehensive tiger conservation programme called Project Tiger, based on total protection of the tiger and conservation of selected areas of habitat as reserves managed primarily for tigers.

While there were no specific tiger conservation programmes in other countries, most range states provided legal protection and tigers existed in protected areas, although some of these areas lacked protection on the ground.

References used to compile The Tiger pages.
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