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Unfortunately below is the last known sighting of a tiger in Cambodia from 2007
With no confirmed sightings since, it is thought that the cambodian tiger is gone. There are plans and conversations going on about reintroducing it -hopefully I can write an article on this in the near future.
In 2011 vietnams population of tigers was estimated at 20. These are of the Indochinese sub species, unfortunately with only around 350 left across all countries it lives in, this sub species could still be lost. It should be noted, that the last photo was in 1997, and it is considered functionally extinct.
Given populations of tigers in nearby countries, if Vietnam improves its forest health the tiger is likely to return on its own in due course.
Unfortunately, there is little more to say about the tiger in Vietnam
In 2009 the first tiger survey counted 121 tigers. In this year, they set up Banke national park, to extend a reserve in the area called Bardia national park. The two combined protect about 860 square miles of land.
A survey from 2018 counted 235 individual animals. Unless there has been a total breakdown, and poaching has started up, this is likely to be well about doubling the population by now.
It appears that there are only 2 different areas of Bangladesh which still hosts tigers. These include the Sundarbans, an area of mangrove lying between India and Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hills Tract where photographic proof of a tiger has been taken. Unfortunately, though there are tigers in the Chittagong hills tract, it is unlikely going to be more than a few.
There is still some argument about how many tigers call the Sundarbans home. 114 tigers were identified, however as this survey only looked at about 16% of the forest it is reasonable to presume there are more. If all areas of the Sundarbans have similar densities of Tigers, we can estimate the whole population at about 700. Assuming this is prime habitat, the original number of 400-500 seems reasonable.
My judgement is that the tiger population has grown. I suspect that it has not doubled, but it has increased. I suspect that there is still significant poaching, but with continued efforts these tigers could recover.
We have watched with horror, the problems that Myanmar has suffered over the last few decades. Perhaps one of the positives though is the fact that often when this sort of thing happens ecosystems are given time to recover.
This appears to be the case in the the snowy north.
40 different large mammals were sighted on the camera traps. These include Red pandas dholes Shortridges langurs and takins. As a result of the study, a recommended southern extension of a local national park, could protect this special area.
Clouded leopards are also present (a species that could encourage tourists to come and visit).
With few roads in the area, at the moment it is only accessible after several days hiking through unforgiving terrain. This has protected it from destruction, but also from discovery.
We must just hope and put pressure on Myanmar to protect this area before it is destroyed.
Yesterday I wrote about the problem of tigers living as pets in the USA (https://seeanimalswild.com/2022/02/04/there-are-more-than-10000-tigers-living-in-the-usa-with-under-4000-in-the-wild/(opens in a new tab)
Today and over the next few days, I am going to try to do an overview of how the 12 tiger range countries have managed in their target of doubling tiger numbers in the last 12 years.
In 2010 it is estimated by WWF that India had 1706 tigers living wild within its borders. There are now estimated to be roughly 2967, which would mean an impressive growth but not meeting the doubling goal they have however claimed to have met it (often with lower starting figures). Still a population increase of 72% is not a bad showing in just 12 years. I should note that this number of 2967 is also listed on many pages as the number of tigers in 2018. So it is possible that they have increased the number further over the last 4 years – data is hard to find. One positive point for the future is currently wild tigers only live in about 10% of the potential 115,830 square miles of habitat. Either way, the Indian country is not satisfied with this number, and are aiming to increase numbers by a further 35%. One thing that has been recognized, is that reserves missing apex predators do not do as well. This is for a variety of reasons, but the main ones come down to regulating availability of grazing for too many herbivores. Mizoram’s Dampa reserve, West Bengal’s Buxa reserve and Jharkhand’s Palamau reserve are three tiger reserves within India which have no tigers.
11 years ago a DNA assessment was done on the Iranian cheetah. This cheetah population is the last Asian cheetah population remaining.
It was thought that all cheetah went through a bottleneck 10,000 years ago, meaning that all cheetah were closely related. However this is not as all encompassing as we thought.
It is often suggested that bears are merely opportunistic when it comes to meat eating. The suggestion is that bears are vegetarians who are capable of scavenging from dead animals.
Now, of course we need to be careful as bears have a wide range of intelligences. Brown bears have an intelligence on par with chimpanzees, where as black bears are far less bright (though they are still one of the brightest animals).
No biologist has ever seen one in the wild, and they were only confirmed to exist in 1992 becoming one of a very rare group of mammals only discovered in the last few decades.
Camera traps have photographed them a handful of times, and possibly even local villages have tried to keep them in captivity. Unfortunately, they have never survived -presumably because they were not given suitable food.
In 1992 2 skills and a pair of trophy horns were discovered. Over the next few years about 20 more specimens including a full skin were collected, and in 1993 DNA evidence revealed it was not only a species unknown to science, but exists in a new genus of the Bovid family (which include cattle antelope goats and sheep).
The name means spindle horns.
Although not directly hunted, poaching has exploded in its range – likely reducing its population further. While efforts to mount more patrols have been undertaken, there are thousands of people setting up snares, with millions in the forest.
Other species like the Large-antlered Muntjac have also become critically endangered.
In 2001 the Saola population was estimated to number 70 to 200 individuals. More recently, this has been reduced to ‘no more than 100’. It was last camera trapped in 2013 with villagers continuing to report its presence.
The problem with species like this is simple. If you imagine looking for a small antelope with a small population in a large forest, it is clear how rarely you would stumble upon it; if you add that it is shy and good at hiding, it makes it particularly hard to protect.
Its thought that the Saola has lived on earth for 8 million years, as it is present in the fossil record. At the moment, there is an effort underway to find and catch enough to create a captive breeding program; though we must hope that if they succeed, the scientists will be more successful than the villagers in keeping them alive.
For decades there have been schemes, where people from wealthy countries give someone a gift of a gift for those elsewhere. In most cases, the gift is a goat or cow to a family living in one of the poorest countries on earth.
In theory, this is a lovely idea. The family is better off and well fed. In practice it seems that it can often do more harm than good.
In many of the areas that these livestock are sent, there is little water. These livestock need a lot of water, so their introduction can quickly change the water balance in the area, and push it towards desert.
Often the animal cannot be found enough food or drink, and veterinarian care is completely missing.
Much more useful is to support seed hubs, water irrigation systems and soil regeneration. While these do not produce the sweet picture, they are likely to benefit hundreds of people rather than one family, and often for decades to come.
That is not to say goat gifts are useless, in places with plenty of water, they can produce milk and meat, and can also have 6 kids a year which can be sold. A goat gift in the wrong place is worse than useless.