Sumatran Tiger Profile
Indonesia looks a lot like a handful of small islands scattered into the Pacific, but it’s one of the largest countries on Earth by landmass and the largest Archipelago state. The fact that it’s made up of islands means it also has some of the most distinctive and rare species of animal on Earth.
At the end of the Pleistocene, several groups of tigers became isolated on these islands, and over the millennia, adapted to the unique pressures of island life. These cats could be found nowhere else in the world, and the loss of subspecies in Bali and Java means the end of a truly unique lineage.
In Sumatra, one subspecies is on the brink of the same fate, but efforts to protect it are strong. The Sumatran tiger’s future depends, like those of so many other species, on the willingness of humanity to look past economic gain to the health of our ecosystems.
Sumatran Tiger Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Mountain and lowland jungle, grassland, |
| Location: | Sumatra, Indonesia |
| Lifespan: | Up to 20 years |
| Size: | Up to 2.5m long (8.2 ft) |
| Weight: | Up to 140kg (309lb) |
| Colour: | Classic cereal box tiger: Orange with heavy black stripes |
| Diet: | Generalist predators, mostly of medium-sized mammals like deer and pigs |
| Predators: | Humans only |
| Top Speed: | Possibly up to 65 km/h (40 mph) |
| No. of Species: | 1 |
| Conservation Status: | Endangered (IUCN) |
Sumatran tigers are a rare and critically endangered subspecies of tiger, trapped in a pocket of ever-reducing forest habitat on the Indonesian island.
These are tigers that have engineered their ecosystems for tens of thousands of years, now reduced to a collapsing community in the low hundreds.
Interesting Sumatran Tiger Facts
1. They’re tiny tigers!
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest subspecies of tiger. These are relatively petite members of the largest cat in the wild, weighing in at an adorable 140kg, and measuring a playfully cute 2.5 meters long. This is not far off the feeble proportions of the female African lion.
Their canines are a mere 6.4cm long, and their 9cm claws are hardly worth a mention. When compared with the largest Siberian tigers, these cats are just teddy bears.
Amazingly, researchers estimate your chances of beating them in a fight to be about 50 times higher than the 0% of the larger subspecies.
2. They may have been responsible for the largest arboreal ape
Primates in general spend most of their time in the trees. It’s only when they get rather large and heavy that they begin to come down. While they are excellent climbers gorillas are simply too bulky to spend their whole lives in the canopy, and chimps are sort of half-half.
Humans are typically arboreal only in the first 8 to 10 years of life when they still have the energy for it, but orangutans in Sumatra spend almost their entire lives up there, despite being rather heavy themselves.
In Borneo, many, if not most orangutans have scars and broken bones from falling out of trees. This is clearly a dangerous lifestyle, so there must be some pressure to maintain it.
One hypothesis is that the presence of giant murderous cats convinced the largest arboreal mammal to flee upwards and make a life for itself in the branches.
3. They’re solitary and territorial
Tigers are more like house cats than lions in temperament, preferring to do things their own way, patrolling their habitats for food and getting grumpy with other cats that find themselves sharing the same space.
Sumatran tigers have an impressive range, claiming territory of up to 52 square kilometres, which makes their protection difficult. Not only do they suffer from low population densities by nature, but they need vast amounts of protected habitats to be safe, and a few poached tigers can make a huge difference to the trajectory of the species.
Deforestation has been their biggest threat of late, reducing their natural habitat and increasing human-tiger conflict, the latter of which doesn’t end well for the cat either.
Sadly, while they were once a common island species, there were only a few hundred left in Indonesia. 1
4. They’re extinct everywhere outside of Sumatra
This tiny population is now only found on a single island. The subspecies on the surrounding islands of Java and Bali went extinct in 1937 when the last tiger was shot in Bail.
The last of the Sumatran tigers are still threatened by accelerating deforestation, with 90% or more of their habitat having been already destroyed to produce palm oil for world markets.
Hunters also play a role in their decline, supplying an ignorant wealthy community with fake medicine and trophies. Fines and jail time are said to be consequences for poachers, but this is easier said than done.
5. Fatwas can help
Anti-poaching patrols do serve the tigers well where they are implemented. But public backing has come in the form of religious appeals.
A fatwa was declared in 2014, condemning and forbidding the poaching of tigers on the island. It’s hoped that providing a more cultural context for the action will generate an emotional connection to the protection of tigers, and cultivate its support.
Other efforts include international captive breeding programs and general sustainable management practices being implemented.
Palm oil is by far the most efficient oil crop we have, so its sustainable cultivation could be a viable solution to food scarcity; the key to protecting these ancient forests lies in the place and the way it’s grown.
But these problems need to be solved quickly. 2
6. There are only hundreds left
It’s estimated that there are between 400 and 600 of these tigers left in the wild, and numbers are still dropping.
There are many long-term projects in place, like San Diego’s Population Sustainability research, which focuses on what’s needed for rewilding habitats, reintroducing tigers, and dedicated population monitoring.
If programs like this can succeed, the subspecies may even be suitable for reintroduction into the vacated niches of the Bali and Javan tigers, their extinct, close relatives. 3 “Bali Tiger – Panthera tigris sondaica”, Project Endangered Tiger.
Sumatran Tiger Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Panthera |
| Species: | Tigris |
| Subspecies: | Sondaica |
Fact Sources & References
- Lydia F. Bednarski “5.5 Tigers- Naked and Alone in the Disappearing Sumatran Forests”, Ohio State Press Books.
- (2014), “Indonesian Muslim Council Issues Fatwa to Protect Threatened Animals”, WWF Panda.