All you need to know about one of the world’s rarest cats, the Sumatran tiger
One of the rarest cats in the world the Sumatran tiger, also known as Sunda tigers, after the island group on which they are found, is the world’s smallest tiger and one of the world’s rarest cats.
What do Sumatran tigers look like?
The smallest living tiger species, Sumatran tigers are darker than the Bengal tiger, with closer, broader, more numerous black stripes.
How big are Sumatran tigers?
The male Sumatran tiger is heaver than the female, weighing in at 100-140kg compared to 75-110kg.
Length-wise they range from 2.14m to 2.55m and stand around 60cm high at the shoulder
What do sumatran tigers eat?
Sumatran tigers usually feast on large forest mammals, especially deer, wild pigs and tapirs, but sometimes takes cattle and other domestic livestock.
How do Sumatran tigers reproduce?
Female can breed year-round giving birth to 1-5 (usually 2 or 3) cubs after a gestation of about 3.5 months; young are weaned at about 6 months and independent at 18-20 months.
How long do Sumatran tigers live?
The lifespan of a Sumatran tiger in wild is up to 15 years.
Where do Sumatran tigers live?
As its name suggests the Sumatran tiger is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Primarily it favours tropical forest, though the species can also use degraded and semi-forested habitats
How many Sumatran tigers are there left in the wild?
Sumatran Tiger populations are small and fragmented across the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with as few as 400 individuals thought to be left in the wild. As with leopards, there is a substantial illegal market for their pelts, which has contributed to their decline.
What threats do Sumatran tiger face?
As well as poaching habitat loss has been a major driver of population decline in these tigers. In particular, the replacement of forests with palm oil plantations has been devastating to them in terms of loss of prey opportunities.
Strict protections have been put into place to try and preserve Indonesia’s remaining tigers. Many of them now live within patrolled national parks, and as well as governmental laws a religious decree (a fatwa) has been instituted by the Muslim country against poachers.
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