Java Tiger
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![Java tiger photographed in 1938 by Andries Hoogerwerf in the Ujung Kulon National Park [1]](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Panthera_tigris_sondaica_01.jpg)
Java-Tiger photographed by Andries Hoogerwerf in 1938 in the Ujung Kulon National Park |
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| Panthera tigris sondaica | ||||||||||||
| Temminck , 1844 |
The Java tiger ( Panthera tigris sondaica ) is an extinct subspecies of the tiger that was native to the Indonesian island of Java until the 1980s . The Java tiger was one of three subspecies whose occurrences were or are restricted to the Sunda Islands . The IUCN ( International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ) runs Java Tiger since 2003 as " Extinct " ( extinct ).
features
Java tigers were very small compared to other subspecies on the mainland, but larger than Bali tigers . Male animals reached a body length of 200 to 245 cm with a weight of 100 to 140 kg. Females were smaller and weighed only 75 to 100 kg. Her nose was long and narrow, and the back of her head was noticeably narrow. Their fur had long, thin stripes that were slightly more numerous than the neighboring Sumatran tiger , the only surviving insular subspecies of the tiger. The smaller size of the Java tiger in comparison to the subspecies of the mainland is explained by Bergmann's rule : the prey animals of the Java tiger are smaller than the species of deer and wild cattle that are common on the Asian mainland. However, the diameter of the paw prints of Java tigers was larger than that of the Bengal tigers in Bangladesh , India, and Nepal .
Habitat and Ecology
At the end of the 18th century, tigers were common over most of the island of Java . Around 1850, people in the populated areas of the island viewed tigers as a plague. By 1940 the tigers had retreated to remote mountainous and forested areas. Around 1970 the only known tigers lived in the region around the highest mountain on the island, Gunung Betiri (1192 m), on the southeastern coast, which had not been populated until then because of the steeply sloping and rugged terrain and was declared a game reserve in 1972. Tigers were last sighted in this 500 km 2 protected area in 1976 .
The Java tigers preferred mane deer , banteng (sunda ox) and wild boar , and more rarely waterfowl and reptiles as prey . There is no information about the gestation period, lifespan in the wild or in captivity. Until the Second World War , Java tigers were kept in some Indonesian zoos, but they were closed during the war. After the war, Java tigers were so rare that it was easier to get Sumatran tigers. Few European zoos kept specimens of this subspecies.
extermination
Around 1900, 28 million people lived on the island. The annual rice production was insufficient to adequately supply the growing population, so that within 15 years 150% more land was made arable for rice cultivation. In 1938, 23% of the island was still covered with natural forest. In 1975 the forest area was less than 8% and the population had grown to 85 million people.
In this landscape dominated by people and their needs, the extermination of the Java tiger was a process that was intensified by the interplay of several circumstances and events:
- Tigers and their prey were poisoned in many places when their habitat was increasingly being reduced;
- After the Second World War, natural forest stands were dismembered in an uncontrolled manner in order to reclaim land for planting teak , coffee and rubber , which no longer offered a suitable habitat for wild animals;
- Mane deer fell victim to disease in many protected areas and forest stands in the 1960s;
- During the political unrest after 1965, many armed groups withdrew to protected areas where no tigers survived afterwards.
Efforts to rediscover
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In the mid-1960s, the tigers survived in three protected areas established in Java in the 1920s-1930s: Ujung Kulon , Leuweung Sancang, and Baluran . No tigers were seen there after the political unrest.
In 1971 an elderly female Java tiger was shot dead in a plantation near Gunung Betiri in southeastern Java. Since then, no young animals have been sighted in this last known refuge for cats. The region was declared a Meru Betiri game reserve in 1972, a small guard was set up there to protect fauna and flora from poachers and some projects to protect the biotope were initiated. The sanctuary, however, was divided by two large plantations, which were located in the larger river valleys and occupied the most suitable habitat for tigers and prey. In 1976, tracks were found in the eastern part of the reserve that could be assigned to three to five tigers. Only a few Banteng survived in the vicinity of the plantations, but tracks of red deer were no longer seen.
No tiger sightings were confirmed in Meru-Betiri after 1979. In 1980, Seidensticker and Suyono recommended expanding the game reserve and completely eliminating human impact on the fragile ecosystem. The Indonesian Environment Agency implemented these recommendations in 1982 when they declared the reserve a national park. But these measures came too late to save the few tigers in the region.
A group of 30 students from the Indonesian "Agricultural University of Bogor" ( Institut Pertanian Bogor ) undertook a search expedition in the Meru-Betiri National Park in 1987. In five groups, they searched the entire area and found tiger droppings and paw prints.
In the west of Java is the Halimun Reserve, now integrated into the Halimun Salak National Park . A tiger was killed there in 1984 and traces were found in 1989 which, judging by their size, came from a tiger. However, an expedition of six biologists in 1990 did not produce any definitive, direct evidence for tigers.
With the support of WWF Indonesia , another investigation was planned in the Meru-Betiri National Park in autumn 1992, during which camera traps were used for the first time . From March 1993 to March 1994 cameras were set up in 19 locations, but they did not capture a single image of a tiger. During this time no traces were discovered that indicated the presence of a tiger. After the final report of this investigation was published, the Java tiger was declared extinct.
But rumors and indications of the possible presence of tigers in the Meru-Betiri National Park prompted the director of the park Bapak Indra Arinal to initiate another search. With the support of the Sumatran Tiger Project , twelve employees of the national park were trained in autumn 1999 to set up camera traps and map observations. The Canadian The Tiger Foundation provided infrared cameras. However, the year-long mission only produced photos of few prey, many poachers, but none of tigers.
Unconfirmed sightings
Although this species of tiger is considered extinct and efforts to rediscover it have failed, there were repeated sightings in the second half of the 2000s. These sightings are worth considering as they have been reported in different places and by different people. Scientifically it can be said that these sightings do not confirm the existence of the Java tiger.
In November 2008, the body of a mountain hiker was found who, according to the local villagers, had fallen victim to a tiger attack. At the same time, sightings were reported by the villagers. This incident took place near Mount Merbabu . Another sighting relates to the area around Magetan in January 2009. After rumors were raised that a female tiger with two cubs had been sighted, panic broke out among the rural population, which was reported in the media (including Jawa Pos) .
The last incident, which also found its way into the press internationally and caused a stir, took place in November 2010 after the eruption of the Merapi volcano . Several paw prints were found in the volcanic ash, believed to be those of tigers. Evidence as to whether these are really tiger tracks or those of particularly large leopards has never been provided.
etymology
The zoological technical term Panthera tigris sondaica goes back to the root word Sunda . Sunda refers to the former land mass that includes today's Sunda Islands , mainly Java, Sumatra , Sulawesi and Borneo , the Indonesian part of which is called Kalimantan .
literature
- Vratislav Mazák The tiger: Panthera tigris (= Neue Brehm Bücherei , Volume 356). 2nd, revised edition, Ziemsen, Wittenberg 1979 (German first edition 1965); 4th edition, unchanged reprint of the 3rd edition from 1983, Westarp Wissenschafts-Verlagsgesellschaft, Magdeburg / Spectrum, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-89432-759-0 .
Web links
- Short profile Java-Tiger; IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group in English
- Panthera tigris ssp. sondaica in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by Jackson, P., Nowell, K., of 2008.
- The Tiger Foundation (Canada): Javan Tigers in Meru Betiri National Park
- Museum Wiesbaden, Natural History State Collection: Javatiger
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Seidensticker, J. (1987) Bearing Witness: Observations on the Extinction of Panthera tigris balica and Panthera tigris sondaica . In: Tilson, RL, Seal, US (Ed.) Tigers of the World . Noyes Publications, New Jersey. Preview of the book
- ↑ Jackson, P., Nowell, K. (2008) Panthera tigris ssp. sondaica. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4
- ^ Mazák, JH, Groves, CP (2006) A taxonomic revision of the tigers (Panthera tigris) . Mammalian Biology 71 (5): 268–287 full text as pdf ( memento of the original from March 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Seidensticker, J. (1986) Large Carnivores and the Consequences of Habitat Insularization: Ecology and Conservation of Tigers in Indonesia and Bangladesh. Pp 1-42 In: Miller, SD, Everett, DD (Eds.) Cats of the World: Biology, Conservation and Management . National Wildlife Federation, Washington DC.
- ↑ Treep, L. (1973) On the Tiger in Indonesia (with special reference to its status and conservation) . Report no.164, Department of Nature Conservation and Nature Management, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
- ↑ Seidensticker, J., Suyono, I. (1980) The Javan Tiger and the Meri-Betiri Reserve, a plan for management. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland. 167pp.
- ↑ a b Istiadi, Y., Panekenan, N., Priatna, D., Novendri, Y., Mathys, A., Mathys, Y. (1991) Study of the carnivores in the Gunung Halimun nature reserve. Zoological Society for Species and Populations Protection eV Announcements 7 (2): 3-5
- ↑ Rafiastanto, A. (1994) Camera trapping survey of Javan tiger and other wild animals in Meru Betiri National Park. WWF-IP Project ID 0084-02
- ↑ Jackson, P., Kemf, E. (1994) Wanted alive! Tigers in the wild: 1994 WWF species status report. WWF Gland.
- ^ Tilson, R. (1999) Sumatran Tiger Project Report No. 17 & 18: July - December 1999 grant number 1998-0093-059. Indonesian Sumatran Tiger Steering Committee, Jakarta. full text as pdf ( memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Breining, G. (2002) What's Our Zoo Got to Do With It? Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. full text as pdf ( memento of the original dated July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cf. Detik News, Indonesian press release: November 17, 2008 Archive link ( memento of the original from June 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See "The Sydney Morning Herald", press release: November 2, 2010: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/tiger-rumours-swirl-below-indon-volcano-20101102-17ce0 .html
- ↑ Kock, D. (1995): On the naming of the tiger Panthera tigris L. on the Sunda Islands. Mammalian Communications 36: 123–126.
