The Javan Tiger
Declared extinct, the Javan tiger keeps being reported in the forests of Java, and in 2024 a single hair raised hopes.
What was reported
The Javan tiger once lived across Java, Indonesia's most populous island. As forests were cleared and tigers hunted, it dwindled; the last confirmed animals were in Meru Betiri, in the island's south-east, in the 1970s. It was listed as extinct in 2008.
Villagers and rangers have kept reporting tigers and tiger tracks. In 2024 scientists published a DNA study of a hair found on a fence in West Java after a sighting in 2019, which matched Javan tigers more closely than other tigers.
Explanations offered
Other scientists cautioned that a single hair isn't proof of a living population, and that contamination or older material can't be ruled out. Camera traps haven't caught one. Until a tiger is photographed or more evidence is found, it remains officially extinct.
- When
- Declared extinct in 2008
- Where
- Meru Betiri National Park, East Java, Indonesia
- Witnesses
- Villagers, park rangers and researchers
- Status
- Disputed
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