New estimate for Sumatran tigers

New estimate for Sumatran tigers

BANDARLAMPUNG, Lampung: A research team from the Sumatran
Tiger Project has increased the previous estimate of the number
of tigers inhabiting a section of the Way Kambas National Park in
central Lampung by 80 percent, Antara reported on Thursday.

By using Geographic Information System (GIS) equipment, the
team was able to examine an 842-sq km habitat outside its main
research site, team member M. Yunus said, and concluded that 36
tigers inhabited the area.

The figure represents an 80 percent increase from the previous
projection, Yunus said.

"We are optimistic about the conservation of Sumatran tigers
in the national park."

The Way Kambas National Park covers 1,300 sq km.

Yunus said that during its 16-month survey of a 162-sq km site
the team used an automatic infrared camera to get clearer
pictures of the tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) than at any time
since the project began in 1995.

With such a camera, he said, the team was also able to take
pictures of other wild animals, such as the two-horned Sumatran
rhinoceros (Dicererhinus sumatranus), which is an endangered
species.

The team took 200 pictures believed to be of 21 adult tigers,
Yunus said.

With the help of the GIS equipment, the team was also able to
identify six of the 21 tigers as resident tigers and the rest as
transient tigers which passed through the research site only
occasionally, he said.

According to research conducted by the Directorate General of
Forest Protection and Nature Conservation in 1992, the population
of the Sumatran tiger is estimated at 200 in five national parks
and protected forests and at least 100 living outside these
areas.