Sumatran Tiger Panthera tigris sondaica/sumatrae

The Sumatran Tiger is a subspecies of tiger native to dense rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia. The tiger is the biggest of the big cats but the Sumatran is the smallest and darkest-coloured of tigers.

Tigers need a huge area of land to hunt and are usually solitary except when a pair comes together to mate or a tigress is raising cubs.

Male and female have similar coats although males are usually bigger and have wider, hairier sideburns.

Females are usually smaller and have less fur on the sides of the face.

Sumatran Tigers are critically endangered. They have suffered from habitat loss (mainly for plantations), hunting directly and starvation through lack of hunted prey (deer, wild pigs). Javan Tigers, from the Indnesian island of Java became extinct in the 1970s through over-hunting and habitat destruction.