Javan Tiger (Global)
Christina Campos
Background Information:
The oldest tiger fossils found in Java date back to 1.2 million years ago. In the 19th century, the Javan Tigers were so common, they were considered pests. Once the human population started growing, the tigers were hunted and killed for the benefit of humans. There was a severe reduction of their natural habitat. Even though the javan Tiger has been declared officially extinct, there are still occasional claims of sightings. Despite the continuing claims, it's far more likely to just be a leopard seen from a distance. Some agencies are carrying out experiments using infrared activated remote cameras in an effort to photograph any tigers in Java. However, until concrete evidence is provided, the Javan Tiger is just yet another subspecies of the tiger that is extinct and lost forever.
Characteristics:
Quite similar in appearance to the Sumatran Tiger, but it had darker and closer-set black stripes. They had longer whiskers than any other subspecies of tiger also.
Habitat:
They occurred on the Indonesian island of Java.
Other Extinct Subspecies of Tiger:
The Bali and Caspian Tigers are both extinct.
Reasons they're extinct and attempts to help them:
The causes for their extinction include hunting of the tigers and their prey and loss of forest habitat to agriculture. They were hunted down and poisoned mostly by the natives, which was surprising because they believed they were their relatives reincarnated. Their main cause for extinction was deforestation, however. Small reserves were set up for the tigers in an attempt to save them, but they did not work because they weren't large enough reserves and the prey species was too low.