The Javan Tiger: A Glimmer of Hope for an Extinct Subspecies The Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), once a majestic inhabitant of the dense tropical forests and remote mountainous regions of the Indonesian island of Java, was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2003. The last confirmed sighting of this relatively small tiger subspecies, with males weighing around 100-140 kg and females around 75-115 kg, was in 1976. The primary causes of the Javan tiger's tragic demise were habitat loss due to deforestation, hunting, and human-wildlife conflict. As human populations grew on the island, tiger habitats were destroyed, and tigers were killed to protect livestock and human settlements. However, a recent study by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has sparked hope that the Javan tiger may still exist in the wild. The study, published by Cambridge University Press, revealed that a single strand of tiger hair found
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