Animal profile

Javan Tiger

Panthera tigris sondaica

MammaliaLowland tropical forest and scrubExtinct

Field profile

The Javan tiger was a small-bodied tiger population of the Indonesian island of Java, with narrow closely spaced stripes and adult males weighing around a hundred to a hundred and forty kilograms. Rapid human population growth and forest conversion removed its habitat. It is generally considered extinct since the 1970s or 1980s.

Published field notes

2025-07-08

Javan Tiger

Java's tiger was crowded off its own island

Java is one of the most densely populated islands on Earth. Its tiger disappeared not chiefly through trophy hunting but because the lowland forest was converted to rice, teak and plantations, leaving no space large enough to hold a breeding population.

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