The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

. This population occurs in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, including 85 in Myanmar and 20 in Vietnam, with the largest population unit surviving in Thailand estimated at 189 to 252 individuals during 2009 to 2014.

Taxonomy

Vratislav Mazák proposed ''Panthera tigris corbetti'' as a

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

for this specific population in 1968 based on skin colouration, marking pattern and skull dimensions. It was named in honor of Jim Corbett. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and now recognizes the tiger populations of mainland South and Southeast Asia as belonging to the nominate

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...

''P. tigris tigris''. Results of a genetic study published in 2018 supported six

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

s based on

whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...

analysis of 32 tiger specimens. The specimens from Malaysia and Indochina appeared to be distinct from other mainland Asian populations, thus supporting the concept of six living subspecies.

Characteristics

The Indochinese tiger's ground colouration is darker with more rather short and narrow single stripes; its skull is smaller than that of the

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present i ...

. Eleven Indochinese tiger skins in the collection of the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

have 21–31 stripes. In body size, it is smaller than Bengal and

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inh ...

s. Males range in size from and in weight from . Females range in size from and in weight from .

Distribution and habitat

The Indochinese tiger is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Its historical range also included Cambodia, China and Vietnam. Results of a phylogeographic study using 134 tiger samples across the global range suggest that the historical northwestern distribution limit of the Indochinese tiger is the region in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...

and

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

basin, bordering the range of the Bengal tiger. In Myanmar, surveys were conducted between 1999 and 2002, confirming the presence of tigers in the

Hukawng Valley The Hukawng Valley ( my, ဟူးကောင်းချိုင့်ဝှမ်း; also spelt Hukaung Valley) is an isolated valley in Myanmar, roughly in area. It is located in Tanaing Township in the Myitkyina District of Kachin State ...

Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary is a large protected area in northern Myanmar. It was established in 1974 in the Sagaing Region. It is located between the Chindwin River in Hkamti District and the Uyu River, with of the area in Homalin Township, an ...

and in two small areas in the

Tanintharyi Region Tanintharyi Region ( my, တနင်္သာရီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; Mon: or ; ms, Tanah Sari; formerly Tenasserim Division and subsequently Tanintharyi Division, th, ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: ''Tanao Si'', ; ...

. The

Tenasserim Hills The Tenasserim Hills or Tenasserim Range ( my, တနင်္သာရီ တောင်တန်း, ; th, ทิวเขาตะนาวศรี, , ; ms, Banjaran Tanah Seri/Banjaran Tenang Sari) is the geographical name of a r ...

is an important area, but forests are harvested there. In 2015, tigers were recorded by camera traps for the first time in the hill forests of Kayin State. Camera trap surveys between 2016 and 2018 revealed about 22 adult individuals in three sites that represent 8% of potential tiger habitat in the country. More than half of the total Indochinese tiger population survives in the Western Forest Complex in Thailand, especially in the area of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. This habitat consists of

tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discon ...

. Camera trap surveys from 2008 to 2017 in eastern Thailand detected about 17 adult tigers in an area of in Dong Phayayen–Khao Yai Forest Complex. Several individuals had cubs. The population density in

Thap Lan National Park Thap Lan National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติทับลาน, , ) is in the Sankamphaeng Range in Prachinburi, Nakhon Ratchasima Provinces, Thailand. Established as a national park on 23 December 1981, it was the coun ...

Pang Sida National Park Pang Sida National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติปางสีดา, , ) is a national park in the Sankamphaeng Range, covering 527,500 rai ~ in the eastern Thai province of Sa Kaeo. It is 28 kilometres north of Sa ...

and Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary was estimated at 0.32–1.21 individuals per . Three subadult tigers were photographed in spring 2020 in a remote region of Thailand that are thought to be dispersing. In Laos, 14 tigers were documented in

Nam Et-Phou Louey Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NPA) is a protected area in northern Laos, covering in three provinces: Houaphan, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khouang. The park includes a core area where human access and wildlife harvest is prohibited an ...

National Protected Area during surveys from 2013 to 2017 covering four blocks of about semi-evergreen and evergreen forest that are interspersed with some patches of grassland. In eastern Cambodia, tigers were last recorded in Mondulkiri Protected Forest and Virachey National Park during surveys between 1999 and 2007. From the 1960s and earlier, the Indochinese tiger occurred throughout the mountains in Vietnam, even in the midlands and Islands. In the report of the Government of Vietnam at the Tiger Forum in 2004, there would be tiger only in 17 provinces and they are living in fragmented and severely degraded forest areas. Tigers were still present in 14 protected areas in the 1990s, but none has not been recorded in the country since 1997. Population of tigers in Laos and Vietnam has declined significantly, according to the global census of tigers in 2016, there are only 2 left in Laos and less than 5 in Vietnam only. There is news of its extinction in both countries. In Laos, no tiger has been seen since 2013, when its populations were estimated at only two, and these two individuals simply vanished shortly after 2013 from Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area, denoting they were most likely killed either by snare or gun. In Vietnam, a 2014

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

report indicated that tigers possibly extinct in Vietnam. In China, it occurred historically in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

province and

Mêdog County Mêdog, or Metok, or Motuo County (; ), also known as Pemako ( meaning "Lotus Array", ), is a county as well as a traditional region of the prefecture-level city of Nyingchi in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China ( ...

, where it probably does not survive any more today. Thus, probably the Indochinese tiger now only survives in Thailand and Myanmar. In Yunnan's Shangyong Nature Reserve, three individuals were detected during surveys carried out from 2004 to 2009.

Behaviour and ecology

In Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, seven female and four male tigers were equipped with GPS radio collars between June 2005 and August 2011. Females had a mean

home range A home range is the area in which an animal lives and moves on a periodic basis. It is related to the concept of an animal's territory which is the area that is actively defended. The concept of a home range was introduced by W. H. Burt in 1943. He ...

of and males of . Between 2013 and 2015, 11 prey species were identified at 150 kill sites. They ranged in weight from .

Sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...

were most frequently killed, but also remains of

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in t ...

calves, hog badger, Old World porcupine,

muntjac Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years a ...

serow The serows ( or ) are four species of medium-sized goat-like or antelope-like mammals of the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were until recently also classified under ''Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the gorals. Extant ...

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', ''Phataginus'', and '' Smuts ...

and langur species were identified.

Threats

The primary threat to the tiger is

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

for the illegal

wildlife trade Wildlife trade refers to the of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, t ...

. Tiger bone has been an ingredient in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

for more than 1,500 years and is either added to medicinal wine, used in the form of powder, or boiled to a glue-like consistency. More than 40 different formulae containing tiger bone were produced by at least 226 Chinese companies in 1993. Tiger bone glue is a popular medicine among urban Vietnamese consumers. Between 1970 and 1993, South Korea imported of tiger bones from Thailand and from China between 1991 and 1993. Between 2001 and 2010, wildlife markets were surveyed in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. During 13 surveys, 157 body parts of tigers were found, representing at least 91 individuals. Whole skins were the most commonly traded parts. Bones, paws and penises were offered as

aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...

s in places with a large sex industry. Tiger bone wine was offered foremost in shops catering to Chinese customers. Traditional medicine accounted for a large portion of products sold and exported to China, Laos and Vietnam. Between 2000 and 2011, 641 tigers, both live and dead, were seized in 196 incidents in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and China; 275 tigers were suspected to have leaked into trade from captive facilities. China was the most common destination of the seized tigers. In Myanmar's Hukaung Valley, the Yuzana Corporation alongside local authorities has expropriated more than of land from more than 600 households since 2006. Much of the trees have been logged, and the land has been transformed into plantations. Some of the land taken by the Yazana Corporation had been deemed tiger transit corridors. These are areas of land that were supposed to be left untouched by development in order to allow the region's Indochinese tigers to travel between protected pockets of reservation land.

Conservation

Since 1993, the Indochinese tiger is listed on CITES Appendix I, making international trade illegal. China, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and Taiwan banned trade in tigers and sale of medicinal derivatives. Manufacture of tiger-based medicine was banned in China, and the open sale of tiger-based medicine reduced significantly since 1995. Patrolling in Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary has been intensified since 2006 so that poaching appears to have reduced, resulting in a marginal improvement of tiger survival and recruitment. By autumn 2016, at least two individuals had dispersed to adjacent

Mae Wong National Park Mae Wong National Park (Thai alphabet, Thai: อุทยานแห่งชาติแม่วงก์) is a List of national parks of Thailand, national park in Thailand. This park lies in Amphoe Mae Wong, Mae Wong and Amphoe Mae Poen, Mae ...

; six cubs were observed in Mae Wong and the contiguous

Khlong Lan National Park Khlong Lan National Park ( Thai อุทยานแห่งชาติคลองลาน) is a national park in Thailand. Description Khlong Lan National Park is situated in the Dawna Mountain Range. This park lies in Khlong Lan and M ...

in 2016, indicating that the population was breeding and recovering. In Thailand and Laos, this tiger is considered

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

, while it is considered Critically Endangered in Vietnam and Myanmar.

In captivity

The Indochinese tiger is the least represented in captivity and is not part of a coordinated breeding program. As of 2007, 14 individuals were recognized as Indochinese tigers based on genetic analysis of 105 captive tigers in 14 countries.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q192742 Environment of Southeast Asia Mammals of China Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of Laos Mammals of Thailand Indochinese tiger