IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Seidensticker, J.; Gratwicke, B.; Shrestha, M. | |
| How many wild tigers are there? An estimate for 2008 | |
| 2010 Book Chapter | |
It has often been reported in the general press that there were 100,000 tigers in Asia at the beginning of the last century and 40,000 tigers in India in 1930 [1]. These estimates were given credibility and have been retained because they were based on 'expert' opinion. locations where tiger specimens in museums were killed [2]. The records go back 250 years in some cases, and the conditions in most places where tigers were killed then are very different today, and many of these places can no longer support tigers. The most recent analysis of tiger habitats suggests that tigers now occupy only 7% of their historic range as mapped by Mazak, and that the area they occupy has decreased by as much as 40% in the past decade [3]. Knowing that tiger habitats are in severe decline, people ask: 'How many wild tigers are there today?' we do not know for certain, but the most commonly cited figure has been 5,000-7,000, derived from expert estimates compiled in 1998 by Peter Jackson, chairman of the IUCN Cat specialist group, for his report to CITES [4]. Since then, our understanding of wild tiger populations and their habitats in many of the range states has improved substantially. The pugmark census procedures used earlier by India and Bangladesh have been determined to be scientifically deficient [5] and as a result, India's Project Tiger instituted a country-wide program in 2005-2006 using a more rigorous sampling procedure to estimate tiger range occupancy and density [6]. newer statistically robust estimates of tiger densities derived from camera-traps and population models, that estimate numbers using mark-capture-recapture methods [7] are now available in the peer-reviewed literature from India, Nepal, Thailand, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Sumatra), and scientists in the Russian far east recently reported the findings of their decadal winter tiger track count in 2004-2005 [8]. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |