The Malayan tiger is a subspecies that is native to Peninsular Malaysia. This population inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula and has been classified as nationally critically endangered. As of April 2014, the population was estimated at 80 to 120 mature individuals with a continuous declining trend. If you look it up, current numbers appear to vary depending on what you are looking at. These numbers may well come from the IUCN, however there is a range of estimates; Save the Malaysian tiger estimates the population between 250 and 340. The most common number is around 150, which if true suggests that while the population is not falling, it is not recovering very fast either (whether this is due to poaching or habitat availability will have to be explored in another article). This is down from 3000 in the 1950s. While there is clearly no longer enough space for this number, Malaysia can certainly host more, and provided they are not targeted, this population should continue to grow. It should also be noted, that the tiger is likely to be worth a great deal to the country in the future in tourism income.

In the Malay language, the tiger is called harimau, also abbreviated to rimau. It is also known as the southern Indochinese tiger, to distinguish it from tiger populations in northern parts of mainland Southeast Asia, which are genetically different to this population.

There are reserves to head to, in order to give you the biggest chance to see these tigers in the wild. We hope to link with these people in time, any visit is worthwhile though, as it will incentivize money to preserve the population that remains.