SUMATRAN TIGER
The Sumatran tiger is a Panthera tigris sondaica population in the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This population was listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2008, as it was estimated at 441 to 679 individuals, with no subpopulation larger than 50 individuals and a declining trend.
The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving tiger population in the sunda siland , where the bali and javan tigers are extinct. sequences from complete mithocondrial genes of 34 tigers support the hypothesis that Sumatran tigers are diagnostically distinct from mainland subspecies.
In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognizes the living and extinct tiger populations in Indonesia as P. t. sondaica.
The Sumatran tiger was described on the basis of two zoological specimens that differed in skull size and striping pattern from Bengal and Javan tiger specimen. It is darker in fur colour and has broader stripes than the Javan tiger. Stripes tend to dissolve into spots near their ends, and on the back, flanks and hind legs are lines of small, dark spots between the regular stripes. The frequency of stripes is higher than in other subspecies. Males have a prominent ruff, which is especially marked in the Sumatran tiger.
The Sumatran tiger is one of the smallest tigers. Males measure between the pegs 2.2 to 2.55 m (87 to 100 in) in head-to-body length, with a greatest length of skull of 295 to 335 mm (11.6 to 13.2 in), and weigh 100 to 140 kg (220 to 310 lb). Females weigh 75 to 110 kg (165 to 243 lb) and measure 2.15 to 2.30 m (85 to 91 in) in length between the pegs with a greatest length of skull of 263 to 294 mm (10.4 to 11.6 in).
