Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris

Nyhus

Brief Table of Contents

Copyright

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Contributors

I. What Is a Tiger?

Chapter 2. What Is a Tiger? Ecology and Behavior

Chapter 3. What Is a Tiger? Genetics and Phylogeography

Chapter 4. What Is a Tiger? Biogeography, Morphology, and Taxonomy

II. Tiger Problems and Solutions

Chapter 5. Will the Tiger Survive in India?

Chapter 6. Poaching and Poisoning of Tigers in Sumatra for the Domestic Market

Chapter 7. Partnering to Stop Poaching

Chapter 8. Panthera tigris vs homo sapiens

Chapter 9. Setting Priorities for Tiger Conservation

Chapter 10. The Terai Arc Landscape

Chapter 11. Collaboration and Partnerships Are Essential to Sustain Wild Tiger Populations

Chapter 12. The Cat Specialist Group and Tigers

Chapter 13. Save The Tiger Fund’s Grant-making Strategy for Recovering Wild Tiger Populations

Chapter 14. Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund

Chapter 15. Why Keep Tigers in Zoos?

Chapter 16. History and Function of US Sanctuaries

Chapter 17. Thirteen Thousand and Counting

III. Tools for Understanding Tigers

Chapter 18. Non-invasive Survey Methods for Assessing Tiger Populations

Chapter 19. Tiger Telemetry

Chapter 20. Scent-matching Dogs

Chapter 21. The Science and Art of Managing Tigers in Captivity

IV. Regional Reviews: Status of Tigers

Chapter 22. How Many Wild Tigers Are There? An Estimate for 2008

V. Future of Tigers

Chapter 40. Roads to Recovery or Catastrophic Loss

Chapter 41. The Next 20 Years of Tiger Science, Politics, and Conservation

Table of Contents

Copyright

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Contributors

I. What Is a Tiger?

Chapter 2. What Is a Tiger? Ecology and Behavior

Introduction

Morphology

The Adaptable Tiger

Predator Behavior and Ecology

Population Ecology

Conclusions and Research Directions

Acknowledgments

Chapter 3. What Is a Tiger? Genetics and Phylogeography

Genetic Ancestry of Modern Felids and Tigers

Redefinition of Subspecies in the Tiger

Dilemma of Tigers—Declining in the Wild, Booming in the Cages?

What is a Tiger? – A Closer Look at Subspecies

P.t. tigris—Bengal Tiger

P.t. sumatrae—Sumatran Tiger

P.t. corbetti—Indochinese Tiger

P.t. jacksoni—Malayan Tiger

P.t. altaica—Amur Tiger

P.t. amoyensis—South China Tiger

Summary

Chapter 4. What Is a Tiger? Biogeography, Morphology, and Taxonomy

Tiger Morphology

Fossil History

Subspecies Taxonomy

Geographical Variation in Tigers: Morphology

Why Do Tigers Vary in Size?

Biogeography of the Tiger

Molecular and Morphological Research

Conservation Significance

Discussion

What Is a Tiger, 2009?

II. Tiger Problems and Solutions

Chapter 5. Will the Tiger Survive in India?

Early Days

Illegal Trade in Tiger Parts

Wildlife Protection Society of India

In the Field

The Decline of the Tiger

The Tibet Connection

The China Connection

Tigers Today

Chapter 6. Poaching and Poisoning of Tigers in Sumatra for the Domestic Market

Introduction

This Study: Undercover Informants

Poaching Methods

Kinds of Poachers

Poaching Rates and Locations

Merchants of Tigers

Prosecution of Poachers

Chronology of Poaching Studies in Sumatra: 1990–2007

Tiger Bonfire

Conclusions

Chapter 7. Partnering to Stop Poaching

Introduction: A Different Kind of Conservation Landscape

Strategic Response: Navigating in New Ways

Protection: Interdicting at the Scene of the Crime

Awareness: Advertising Against Exploitation and Apathy

Networking: Creating Capacity and Political Will

Putting it All Together: Protection, Awareness, Networking

Chapter 8. Panthera tigris vs homo sapiens

Introduction

Eliminating Problem Tigers and Tigers as a Problem

Characteristics of Tigers that Influence Conflict

Characteristics of Landscapes that Influence Conflict

Responses to Conflict

Killing, Capturing, and Moving Tigers

Changing Human Behavior

Separating Tigers and People

Summary and Conclusions

Chapter 9. Setting Priorities for Tiger Conservation

Introduction

Methods

Study Area

Tiger Observations

Tiger Land Cover Data

Human Influence Index

Habitat-Specific Minimum Patch Sizes and Connectivity Rule

Tiger Conservation Landscape Delineation

Automation

Taxonomy for Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Prioritization of Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Results

Status of Tiger Range

Comparison to TCU 1.0

Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Classification and Prioritization of Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Discussion

A Conservation Vision for Tigers

Assessment of Tiger Status

Directing Conservation Action

Measures of Success

Acknowledgments

Chapter 10. The Terai Arc Landscape

Introduction

The Terai Arc Landscape: Conservation Status and Challenges

Conservation Challenges and Opportunities in the Terai Arc Landscape

Conservation Planning and Implementation in the Terai Arc Landscape

Corridor Restoration

Corridor Use by Megaspecies

Discussion

Chapter 11. Collaboration and Partnerships Are Essential to Sustain Wild Tiger Populations

Saving Wild Tigers is a ‘Wicked’ Problem: Coping Strategies

Terai Arc Landscape in India and Nepal

Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers in Malaysia

Looking Forward

Chapter 12. The Cat Specialist Group and Tigers

The CatSG 1971–2000

Tigers and the Future of the CatSG

Chapter 13. Save The Tiger Fund’s Grant-making Strategy for Recovering Wild Tiger Populations

The Donor’s Challenge

Some Background

Conceptualizing Tiger Conservation Actions

Managing Outcome Risks and Monitoring Tiger Conservation Actions

Evaluating and Managing Risks

Final Thoughts

Chapter 14. Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund

Chapter 15. Why Keep Tigers in Zoos?

Conservation Support

Conservation Support from Zoo Tigers

Chapter 16. History and Function of US Sanctuaries

Captive Wildlife Crisis

The Future of Sanctuaries and the Captive Wildlife Crisis

Role of Sanctuaries in Order to Affect the Captive Wildlife Crisis

Chapter 17. Thirteen Thousand and Counting

Introduction

A Taxonomy of Captive Tiger Owners

History and Growth of Captive Tiger Populations

Tigers in the United States

Obvious and Acute Problems Associated with Captive Tigers

Non-Obvious and Chronic Problems Associated with Captive Tigers

Beyond Complaining: What to Do?

III. Tools for Understanding Tigers

Chapter 18. Non-invasive Survey Methods for Assessing Tiger Populations

The Art and Science of Counting Tigers

Conceptual Issues in Assessing Tiger Populations

Matching Monitoring Needs to Management Goals

Some Empirical Approaches to Counting Tigers

A General Statistical Framework

Foundations of Population Assessments

The Basic Capture–Recapture Approach

Surveys for Assessing Tiger Population Dynamics

Many Ways to Catch a Tiger

Choice of Camera-Trap Equipment

Choice of Trap Sites and Setting Up Traps

Conduct of Field Surveys

Spacing and Placement of Traps

Sampling the Area with Camera-Traps

Surveys Repeated Over Multiple Years

Analyses Using Closed Models: Estimation of Tiger Abundance and Density

Analyses Using Open Models: Estimation of Vital Rates

Surveys of Spatial Distributon of Tigers

From Presence–Absence to Occupancy Estimation

Field Surveys of Tiger Habitat Occupancy

Analysis of Tiger Spatial Distribution Data

The Future of Tiger Surveys

Chapter 19. Tiger Telemetry

Introduction

Why Telemetry?

Capture

Sample Sizes and Study Duration

Data Collected in Telemetry Studies

Reproductive Parameters

Survival and Mortality

Movements, Habitat Use, and Home Range Size

Food Habits

Tiger–Human Conflicts

Conclusions

Chapter 20. Scent-matching Dogs

Introduction

The Science of Scent-matching

Using Scent-matching to Estimate Tiger Abundance

Summary

Acknowledgments

Chapter 21. The Science and Art of Managing Tigers in Captivity

Threats Facing Small Populations

The Value of Information

Coordinating Management Efforts

Regulating Population Size and Growth

Genetic Considerations

Meeting the Challenges

Looking Ahead

IV. Regional Reviews: Status of Tigers

Chapter 22. How Many Wild Tigers Are There? An Estimate for 2008

Introduction

Methods

Country and Regional Estimates

Indochinese Tigers

Results and Discussion

Acknowledgments

V. Future of Tigers

Chapter 40. Roads to Recovery or Catastrophic Loss

Introduction

Evolution of a Landscape-Based Approach to Tiger Conservation

The Base Map: Tiger Conservation Units (TCU)

Revisiting the Base Map: Tiger Conservation Landscapes

Emerging and Intensifying Threats to Wild Tigers

Three Scenarios: Alternative Futures for Wild Tigers

Scenario 1.. Business as Usual

Scenario 2.. From Holding Action to Moderate Improvement: Enhanced Connectivity and Habitat Restoration

Scenario 3.. The Road to Lasting Recovery

Chapter 41. The Next 20 Years of Tiger Science, Politics, and Conservation

The Science and Technology of Tiger Conservation

Policies, Priorities, and Partnerships for Tiger Conservation

Regional Differences and Highlights

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Russia

China

The Next 20 Years

Protecting and Restoring Habitat

Protecting Tigers and Prey

Managing Conflict

Supporting, Educating, and Training People

Better Science for Better Conservation

Managing Economic Growth and Funding Conservation

More Committed and Effective Governments, Institutions, and Policies

A Closing Thought on the Challenges from the Tiger’s Perspective

Copyright

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Foreword

The tiger perishes without the forest, and the forest perishes without its tigers. Therefore the tiger should stand guard over the forest, and the forest should protect all its tigers.Mahabharata (about 400 BCE)

If there is magic in an animal, it is contained in the tiger. The memories of my tiger study in India’s Kanha National Park during the early 1960s still stalk my dreams, and the vision of a tiger’s flaming beauty, elegance, and power still draws me back to India’s reserves. But I have also wandered through tiger forests for weeks in eastern India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam without finding spoor or at most noting a rare track. An estimated 93% of the tiger’s original range has been lost, and those forests that persist have all too often been emptied of tigers as well as deer, wild pigs and other prey. Tigers are shot, trapped, poisoned, and even electrocuted either for trade in their skin, bones, and other body parts or in retaliation for killing livestock. A very few thousand survive now in about 150 fragmented populations in thirteen countries.

In 1969, the IUCN General Assembly in Delhi passed the first resolution to save the tiger, and in 1973 Project Tiger was launched in India with the establishment of nine tiger reserves, a number that has grown to 27. All international trade in tiger products had been banned by 1987. Also in that year, Ronald Tilson and Ulysses Seal published their edited volume Tigers of the World, a valuable pioneering synthesis of existing knowledge. In the ensuing years many books on tigers appeared, including the excellent scientific Riding the Tiger, edited by John Seidensticker, Sarah Christie, and Peter Jackson, in 1999; and the popular Tiger, the Ultimate Guide by Valmik Thapar in 2004. Many workshops have been held to define problems and set priorities for tiger conservation. Given all that attention, the future of the species could be viewed with a measure of optimism. So where do we stand today?

As so often happens, rhetoric has exceeded implementation. All threats to the tiger have increased rather than diminished, and tiger numbers continue to dwindle. Even today we have little precise information about the cat’s status in most countries. Ullas Karanth wrote a seminal article in Tigers of the World in which he stated that the pugmark method of censusing tigers is unreliable. In 2002, he published, along with James Nichols, the important book Monitoring Tigers and Their Prey in which they strongly urged the use of standardized sampling techniques. But only now, after a quarter century, has India accepted the idea that scientific methods should be used to census tigers. In reviewing Tigers of the World for a journal, I pointed out that of 46 papers, a study in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park was ‘the only solid field research report in the volume.’ Today we have just three more long-term detailed studies, the superb ones in the Russian Far East and in India’s Nagarahole and Panna national parks. Other projects have contributed good information too, assisted by technological advances such as camera-traps. However, I find it striking that in spite of the urgency to collect information, so little local staff and so few trained investigators are in the field to collect site-specific data, train staff, monitor tigers and their prey, and try to resolve conflicts between predators and people. We cannot afford to continue the slow progress of the past two decades.

Goals have become clear and we know how they should be achieved. Isolating tigers in a few small protected areas provides them at best with a precarious future. Instead we need sustainable landscapes for them, ones that promote the coexistence of all wildlife and the people by developing innovative conservation measures adapted to the local situation. Judicious zoning of landscapes has been proposed with areas of human use, corridors connecting fragmented habitat, and critical core sites from which any resource extraction, including livestock grazing, is excluded. So far we know how to protect tigers, though rather inefficiently, whereas we know little about actually managing them within a large landscape with many people. Problems will be diverse, complex, and unpredictable. Without livestock grazing in core areas, will undergrowth become so dense that prey species may find the habitat unsuitable? Two novel, large-scale landscape projects have been initiated, and these will provide important insights. One is the Terai Arc project along the foothills of the Himalaya in western India and Nepal. The other is the Tigers Forever program of the Panthera Foundation in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society. That pro-gram has so far selected five key areas—one each in India, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Indonesia—in which it expects to increase tiger numbers by 50% within a few years.

Good management depends on good protection. It is not enough to establish a protected area when there is a lax guard force, poor implementation of laws, and an inadequate legal system in which wildlife crime has a low and slow conviction rate. Much of the trade in tiger and leopard body parts is controlled by organized gangs, yet governments have shown minimal determination to apprehend them. I find it a matter of concern that a disproportionately large amount of tiger research and monitoring of the illegal trade is done by national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rather than by close alliances between NGOs and relevant government departments at all levels.

It has become axiomatic that conservation cannot succeed without involving local communities, without considering their aspirations, attitudes, needs, and problems, as well as drawing on their knowledge. Programs of participatory conservation always recommend financial benefits to communities, whether compensation for livestock lost to predators, provision of services, or voluntary resettlement with considerable assistance. To shift attitudes from intolerance to tolerance is an immense yet essential task that requires constant monitoring to retain success. I am reminded of the dedicated efforts to provide schools, medical facilities, and other benefits to communities bordering India’s Ranthambhore National Park in the 1970s. Nevertheless, a very few hunters almost wiped out the tigers while a complacent guard force assumed that the cats had chosen to remain invisible. Communities must absorb the idea that their livelihood depends on a healthy environment, one in which they live in balance with their resources.

Another point is relevant here: conservation without moral values cannot sustain itself. Moral issues, especially those based on religious belief, should be part of the conservation agenda. The Hindu goddess Durga rides a tiger to defeat the evil affecting the world. The saint Padmasambhava brought Buddhism from India to Tibet in the seventh century, arriving on the back of a tiger and defeating all malevolent spirits. The tiger is a force for good, an intermediary between heaven and earth. Respect for life is such an important part of cultural traditions that conservationists must involve monks and mullahs, priests and shamans in the mission to save the tiger. Communities require not only a materialistic vision but a spiritual vision as well.

No task is ever completed in conservation. Conditions constantly evolve and a crisis may erupt at unanticipated moments. In 2006, the Indian parliament passed a Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act. The ponderous words obscure a potential danger for the tiger. Every household within forests will receive permanent rights to 2.5 hectares. According to the law, critical wildlife habitat may not be conceded and wildlife will receive protection. The law will be implemented by locally elected bodies. Who delineates critical habitat and who monitors the implementation of the law? Local conservation groups will have to become involved on an unprecedented scale. Planning for this must begin now.

During my visits to Lhasa in Tibet in the past decade, I saw more and more tiger and leopard skins in shops. Tibetans adorn their cloaks with these skins, making statements of status and fashion. In October 2003, China intercepted one shipment of 31 tiger, 581 leopard, and over 800 otter skins from India. Shops were still full of such skins in 2005. That year some Tibetan communities held festivals during which lamas lectured against wearing skins on religious grounds. In January 2006, the Dalai Lama decried the killings, and by 2007 the skins had disappeared from view. The carnage left many reserves in India depleted of tigers. All were killed in Sariska, probably all in Namdapha, and in Panna only a few males but no females remained. (All tigers in Panna were subsequently wiped out.) As during the 1970s in Ranthambhore, the guard forces disregarded the looting of their precious animals and ascribed their disappearance to various nebulous causes.

Tiger populations should be re-established in suitable localities, such as Sariska and Panna, that are ostensibly protected and have ample natural prey.[a] It is important and urgent to evaluate and test the best methods for such re-introductions. Translocation from one area to another is one option, and releasing captive-born cats after training them to hunt and avoid people is another. With most tiger populations small and fragmented, inbreeding with its subsequent decline in fitness is a basic problem. Ultimately it will be necessary to supplement the gene pool of certain populations by introducing new animals. We must learn now how to do this efficiently and successfully. Experience both with translocation and release of captive lions in Africa and pumas in the United States provides background knowledge in planning, training, releasing, and subsequent monitoring of re-introduced cats. Tigers can be re-established.

a This has in the meantime started.

If my comments focus unduly on India, it is because I am most familiar with tigers there and because that country’s field workers, NGOs, and institutes have, over the years, provided so much valuable information. Every country has similar problems: my remarks about lack of adequate knowledge, need for better protection, establishment of managed tiger landscapes, re-introductions, and other issues apply to all. I marvel that the tiger has survived so far, but I also feel anxiety and guilt that we are not acting fast enough to halt the decline of the species. Tigers are not yet secure in any one area, fully protected where cultural and moral values have instilled a feeling of responsibility toward the land, and where tigers are treasured by society as part of their natural heritage. My voice is not one of doom but of optimism and hope. Similarly, the chapters in this second edition of Tigers of the World resonate with clear-sighted and compelling information that tigers have a future, that all options remain open. The tiger is resilient, but now it also needs sincere national commitments by everyone from villager and urban resident to forest guard, from official to field biologist. This volume is a call for action. Willpower, passion, perseverance, and long-term involvement, measured not in decades but centuries, will be needed to assure the tiger, this icon of wildness and wilderness, its survival.

Preface

Genesis of the Second Edition

When the first edition of Tigers of the World was published in 1987, the science of tiger conservation was in its infancy. The biology of tigers was known from only a few field studies and a handful of studies in captivity. In many areas, we had relatively little idea where tigers were located in the wild, or their ecology. The human dimension of tiger conservation was even less understood. Two decades later, we have experienced a revolution not only in what we know about the biology and conservation of this species, but in how we obtain and disseminate this information.

Infra-red camera units, geographic information systems, and genetic analysis are just three scientific tools that were in their infancy then, but today are core technologies for the study of tigers. Tiger Conservation Landscapes, economic compensation programs, anti-poaching teams, and conservation partnerships are examples of conservation tools that have appeared in the intervening years. In this fast-changing world of conservation, there is a need to summarize the vast and current state of the art, to put this in historical perspective, to evaluate what worked and what did not, and to speculate on what yet remains to be done.

Despite the dramatic improvements in what we know about tigers, how we are obtaining this information, and substantial investment in tiger research and conservation, the challenge facing tigers today is even more daunting than it was twenty years ago—the simple fact is there are fewer wild tigers today than there were two decades ago. Asia is home to some of the world’s most populous countries, the world’s fastest growing economies, and is experiencing some of the most rapid habitat conversion and industrial development in history. The epicenter of the global debate over nature conservation and economic development is Asia, and the tiger is the dominant and the most emblematic species in this debate.

Tigers in Asia live in differing cultures, climates, and habitats, from the seasonally dry evergreen forests of India, east to Vietnam, north to the temperate Russian taiga, and south to the Indonesian tropical rain forests. The story of the tiger and its plight is as complex as the many languages of the people who live near the forests it inhabits. The one common bond throughout Asia is that the tiger is both awed and feared as a symbol of great power and strength. Now we are in danger of losing this living symbol of the Asian wilderness.

In April 1986, tiger experts from around the world gathered in Minnesota to discuss the status of tiger research and conservation. Tigers of the World was the product. Nearly a decade later the 1998 Year of the Tiger conference in Dallas (Tilson R, Nyhus P, Jackson P et al. Securing a Future for the World’s Wild Tigers. Washington, DC: Save The Tiger Fund, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 2000) and the Tigers 2000 conference in London (Seidensticker J, Christie S, Jackson P, eds. Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999), both watershed events, fostered cross-disciplinary and cross-regional communication among tiger conservationists world-wide.

In 2006, Thane Johnson from the Oklahoma City Zoo put us in touch with Jeri Wachter, CEO and publisher of William Andrew Publishing, who was keen to produce a second edition of Tigers of the World for a new series of natural history books. We agreed on the condition that this would not be a ‘typical’ academic edited volume. Our goal for this book was to provide a useful and accessible document that would compel readers of all kinds, worldwide, to take action. We have aimed to produce an authoritative book by the world’s leading tiger experts, but we also wanted it written from authors’ personal perspectives on the successes and shortcomings in tiger conservation over the last 20 years. This second edition of Tigers of the World, thus, is geared to both the scientific community and the general public in the belief that broad public understanding and support, especially in Asia, will have the most effective long-term positive impact on tigers.

The Tribe of Tiger Defenders

In this second edition of Tigers of the World there are seven authors who contributed to the original edition: Peter Jackson, Ullas Karanth, Stephen O’Brien, John Seidensticker, David Smith, Melvin Sunquist, and one of us (RT). Since then, the tribe of tiger conservationists has swelled. The good news is that over time there has been a growing number of Asian biologists recruited, and who are now leading experts in tiger research and conservation in their own countries. It is through the efforts of this new generation of passionate tiger defenders that the future of wild tigers will be determined.

We asked authors to write chapters that put the science and politics of tiger conservation into perspective; to use minimal scientific jargon but to stay true to the ‘state of the art;’ and to address important concepts and debates and to balance different perspectives and opinions. It was for many a delicate balancing act. We also encouraged authors to include short anecdotes or examples that would both enliven as well as ‘ground’ their material so that it was more tangible to readers.

We soon recognized that many of the authors we invited to write these chapters and essays were in fact ‘tiger icons,’ an eclectic group that, over the years, have assumed personalities not too dissimilar to the very animals they were writing about. We were delighted at their willingness to share their experiences and passion for tigers, and their deep convictions that tigers are vital for keeping the soul of humanity fresh and meaningful.

We could think of no two individuals more fitting than George Schaller and Peter Jackson to contribute the Foreword and introductory chapter. George is the ‘father’ of tiger research and conservation, and his book The Deer and the Tiger (Schaller GB. The Deer and the Tiger: A Study of Wildlife in India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967) set the gold standard that has served as an inspiration to an entire generation of tiger biologists and conservationists, including us. Peter’s long and distinguished history as Chairman of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group and founder of Cat News qualifies him like no other to describe the changes he has witnessed in tiger conservation over his career, poignantly expressed in his essay ‘Fifty Years in the Tiger World’.

Layout of the book

The book is divided into five sections, exploring what tigers are, current information about major tiger problems and solutions, tools for understanding tigers, and regional reviews of the status of wild tigers and projections for the future.

Before you can save the tiger, you have to know what a tiger is. The first section highlights the most interesting and new information about the biology, ecology, genetics, and natural history of wild tigers. A surprising amount of new information has emerged over the past two decades to answer a simple yet ultimately important question: What is a tiger? The answer has enormous implications for the science, politics, and conservation of both wild and captive tigers.

Ulysses Seal: The Quintessential Mentor

My career with tigers began in December, 1983 on my first day of work at the Minnesota Zoo. There I met a man who was larger than life: Ulysses S. Seal (Ulie), a quintessential mentor who listened to the tiger whispering in his ear.

In his remarkable career, Ulie founded the International Species Information System (ISIS), remembering the Latin name of every animal in the world’s zoo collections to do it. He launched the Species Survival Plan (SSP) of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in 1982 with the tiger as its model. Lastly, as chairman of the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, Ulie fostered a world-wide membership of caring conservationists who work tirelessly trying to find a way to save nature’s imperiled animals and plants.

Ulie pioneered tiger immobilization and contraception protocols; characterized the endocrine profiles of male and female tigers; and facilitated the collaborative efforts of David Wildt’s reproductive lab at the National Zoo and Doug Armstrong’s at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. All of these measures led to the development of assisted reproduction techniques—oocyte and semen collection and storage, laparoscopic artificial insemination, and in vitro fertilization. He encouraged collaboration with Steve O’Brien’s laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, which led to the redefinition of tiger phylogeny and many other activities too numerous to list.

Our early years together were spent working on tiger reproduction and how to improve their health and care. This evolved into international collaborations with Asian zoos and their tigers, culminating in field efforts with wild tigers in Indonesia following the first Population and Habitat Viability Analysis workshop for tigers, the drafting of Indonesia’s Tiger Conservation Strategy, and a ten-year program and commitment to conserve wild tigers in Sumatra. An invitation to journey to China to evaluate and rescue what was left of their tigers followed. Along the way, we edited the first edition of Tigers of the World. Ulie greatly influenced the study and conservation of tigers. His tiger footprint was enormous. I am personally indebted to Ulie because he gave me the opportunity of a lifetime: the profound pleasure of spending my life in the company of the most magnificent beast on earth.

The second section explores the problems facing wild tigers and offers strategies to save them. Habitat loss and degradation, illegal harvesting and trade, and human–wildlife conflict are important drivers of tiger decline and extinction. Authors in this section describe novel, unique, and interesting approaches to the conservation and management of tigers to address these challenges. They also provide a historic context and describe the current magnitude of the problems facing tigers, new approaches to educating the public, prioritizing, funding, and disseminating information. This section includes essays on the growth of the IUCN’s Cat Specialist Group, the Save The Tiger Fund, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, and essays on why zoos have tigers and the function and purpose of US sanctuaries. A final sobering essay discusses how growing non-zoo captive tiger populations threaten wild tiger populations.

The most striking change in tiger conservation over the last two decades is the tools and processes now available to understand tigers and their conservation, the focus of the third section. From molecular tools opening up the history of tiger evolution to remote camera-traps unlocking the secrets of the forest to remote sensing approaches that enable us to take a global approach to viewing tigers and their landscape, we now have a whole new suite of methods available to study and conserve tigers.

The fourth section focuses on regional reviews. There are 14 countries spread across Asia where tigers still persist in the wild. We departed somewhat from tradition by dividing Asia into four geographic subsets: South Asia, Southeast Asia including Indonesia, with Russia and China as stand-alone sections. In this section, leading tiger experts provide substantive reviews that evaluate the status of tigers in these regions. Most frame their essays with a historical perspective while providing an update and future projection of tigers and tiger conservation in their respective areas.

The first edition included numerous chapters devoted to tiger physiology and husbandry. Much of this information remains relevant, although how we manage tigers in zoos has changed in important ways. Hallmarks of captive management today include a greater focus on exhibit design emphasizing visitor immersion; graphics based on field science; improved medical health, especially in disease control, vaccinations, and medical procedures; and improved diets and growing emphasis on enrichment and humane treatment. One telling perform-ance indicator suggesting these changes are effective is that captive tigers often now live into their early twenties, an average increase of nearly six years since the first edition of Tigers of the World. Today, there are numerous websites where much of this information can be found—such as a tiger husbandry manual and standardized guidelines for exhibits and management. Captive tigers, by and large, are doing just fine; it is their wild brethren who face extinction and who we devote the space and time in this edition.

We end this second edition of Tigers of the World with some concluding remarks addressing the future of tigers, beginning with a chapter by Eric Wikramanayake and his colleagues on ‘How Will the Next Decade End for Wild Tigers?’ and following with our own ‘The Next Twenty Years of Tiger Science, Politics, and Conservation’. Before we put our first words on paper, our vision for this book was to discuss recent advances in the science of tiger conservation, to discuss the broad challenges and threats to the future survival of tigers, and to highlight compelling policy debates and opportunities for managing tigers in the wild and in captivity. Did we achieve what we started out to do? Perhaps that question can be one of the topics for the third edition of Tigers of the World twenty years from now. It would be comforting if the next edition was a forum to discuss these topics rather than a requiem for wild tigers.

Acknowledgments

The second edition of Tigers of the World was initiated when we were put in touch with Jeri H. Wachter, co-founder and chair of William Andrew Publishing. Jeri was keen to re-launch the Noyes series in Animal Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, and Management. With vision, passion, and perseverance she shepherded this volume through its initial development, and we are grateful we could benefit from her 20 years of experience in scientific publishing. Brent Beckley, Martin Scrivener, Valerie Haynes, Betty J. Leahy, Linda Mohr, and other professional staff at William Andrew also assisted with this project. We hope they are as proud of this book as we are.

In 2009 Elsevier purchased William Andrew and we continued to receive tremendous support for this project. We thank Kristi Gomez, Pat Gonzalez, Caroline Jones, Elaine Leek, Jacqui Holding, Jennifer Pfau, and the rest of the staff at Elsevier who helped to edit, design, proof, and produce this book, and Fred Rose for the cover design. We appreciate their quick work, attention to detail, thoughtful feedback, and enormous patience. They produced a thoroughly edited and attractive final product. The transfer to Elsevier brought the book’s ultimate publication to the beginning of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar. Perhaps this will be an auspicious coincidence.

This book was shaped by our decades living and working in Asia. Our work with wild tiger conservation was influenced by too many people to mention here, but we are particularly grateful for the friendship and inspiration of Bastoni, Muhammad Yunus, Sumianto, Sriyanto, and the many other young Indonesian tiger biologists and conservationists who worked with us in Sumatra. It is through their commitment and hard work—and that of their peers across Asia—that wild tigers will be saved. In China we are grateful for the support of Wang Wei, Wang Weisheng, Lu Jun, Hu Defu, and their many colleagues in Beijing, the provinces of Hunan and Hubei, and the national nature reserves whose support has been crucial for making the idea of tiger restoration more than an abstract thought. We acknowledge the contributions of the international members of the South China Tiger Advisory Team that helped formulate our chapter on China: Jeffery Muntifering, Tom Dahmer, Gijsbert Nollen, Philip Williams, Tony Fisher, and Tara Harris, who also helped check many of the facts in our chapters.

We both truly appreciate the enormous support and encouragement from our host institutions. At the Minnesota Zoo RT thanks in particular the Director, Lee Ehmke; many other members of the Board and Foundation; zoo staff, particularly the tiger keepers; Janet Tilson, my wife, and Lincoln, my son, both of whom are sources of inspiration and keep me grounded.

At Colby College in Waterville, Maine, PN thanks Dr Edward H. Yeterian, Vice President and Dean of Faculty; Dr F. Russell Cole, Director of the Environmental Studies Program; Dr David Firmage, Dr Tom Tietenberg, and many other faculty and staff colleagues for their support. Numerous students contributed their time and talent to the production of this book, including but not limited to Charles Carroll, Courtney Larson, Michael Ambrogi, Caitlin Dufraine, Sarah Hart, and Caroline Polgar. My wife, Gail Carlson, and children, Soren and Louisa Nyhus, were tremendously patient and supportive as this project variously consumed parts of the past few years. A final and deep thank you to my parents, Edward and Winifred Nyhus, who spent over a quarter of a century in Indonesia and instilled in me a deep and enduring love of the people and nature of Asia.

Finally, we owe a great deal of gratitude to the book’s contributors. Their replies to our every query were responsive, cordial, and quick. Collectively, the authors represent most of the ‘tiger icons’ of the past quarter-century, and in the case of Peter Jackson and George Schaller, half a century. Despite the devastating reduction in tiger numbers and their habitat across Asia, it must be clear that these authors kept the flame of tiger conservation burning because of their love and passion for saving and protecting these magnificent predators. We recognize and acknowledge—in our role as editors but also as colleagues—the fierce dedication of these tiger defenders. The flame they have nurtured now passes on to a new generation of tiger conservationists.

List of Contributors

Chapter 1. Fifty Years in the Tiger World - An Introduction

Mount Everest landed me in the Tiger World. It all began on 1 April 1953, when I was the correspondent in Pakistan for Reuters news agency. I received a cable from London: ‘You assigned cover British Everest Expedition.’ I knew that British mountaineers were planning another attempt to climb the world’s highest mountain in Nepal, following failures in the 1920s and 30s; my assignment came as a surprise.

I flew to Delhi to meet Adrienne Farrell, Reuters correspondent in India and Nepal, who helped me prepare my expedition. She had suggested that Reuters send a reporter to Everest, and she even contemplated making the 170 mile trek herself; since she was small she thought she could be carried in a basket in traditional Nepali style on the back of a porter. In the event, Reuters decided to send the nearest man, and that was me.

I set off from Kathmandu with 10 porters carrying my makeshift load, including a sleeping bag made of chicken feathers, rice, sugar, and tinned food. A chest of silver coins (the hill people did not accept paper money) and a large portable radio needed a porter each. I trekked to the foot of the Everest icefall at 5,500 meters (18,000 feet), visited the expedition base camp, and then settled at the Thyangboche monastery below the massif. When the climbers descended after their success, I was the lone reporter present. I got the first interviews with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the successful summit pair, and photographed them against the backdrop of Everest.[a]

a Editors' note: For his journalistic efforts, Peter Jackson has been honored by Reuters, which today operates the world's largest international news and television agency, as one of the company's eight ‘Famous Reuters People’ along with the likes of Ian Fleming of James Bond fame and novelist Frederick Forsyth. For more see http://www.thebaron.info/ (click on Archives/Everest Conquered). All of us contributing to this book certainly recognize that Peter is also one of the world's ‘Famous Tiger People.’

Everest not only led to a scoop. The color and variety of the birds and the beauty of the mountains opened my eyes for the first time to the magnificence of nature; and then something else.

Back in Delhi, Adrienne and I were completing the Everest accounts when I suddenly proposed to her. She says she was so surprised that she didn’t have the wit to accept. It was five months later, when she was on leave in Yorkshire, that I successfully renewed my proposal by cable from Karachi. We were married in England and Reuters posted us together to Delhi.

It was 1954 and now I was in the Tiger World. One can hardly live in India without being aware of the exuberance of wildlife. Blackbuck were still browsing in the countryside near Delhi. Leopards roamed the nearby ruins of Tughlakabad. Tigers were still being hunted less than 50 miles from the capital.

Tigers were notoriously secretive, and were only likely to be seen when attracted by buffalo baits. Adrienne and I drove through tiger forests without seeing the great cat. Sometimes we found pugmarks on top of our tire tracks. Eventually it was only on a bait in the Sariska reserve that we saw our first tiger.

Only 3 years earlier, Adrienne had been invited to a tiger shoot by the Maharajah of Bundi in Rajasthan, and a photo (Fig. 1.1) shows her looking sadly at the magnificent dead animal.

Figure 1.1. Adrienne Farrell (on left) views a tiger killed in a shoot in Bundi, Rajasthan. The Maharaja of Bundi, in dark clothes, stands with the successful guest on his left.

(Reproduced with permission from Reuters Limited.)

I became a keen birder and bird photographer in my spare time, and was encouraged by Dr Sálim Ali, India’s leading ornithologist, who had become a friend.

We went with Sálim to the Bharatpur bird reserve, near Agra, where trees were weighed down with storks, spoonbills, egrets, and cormorants. It was there that I later met George Schaller, taking time off from his pioneer study of tiger ecology in Kanha National Park in central India.

My interest in wildlife grew stronger, and when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) held its General Assembly in Delhi in 1969, I met the heads of IUCN and World Wildlife Fund and offered my journalistic abilities for wildlife conservation. The following year I left Reuters to become Director of Information for WWF International, working closely with IUCN, both based in Morges, Switzerland.

The Plight of the Tiger

The IUCN General Assembly was dominated by the decline of India’s tigers. Hunting in India was legal, and international trophy hunters were joining Indians in taking their toll. In 1970, Parliament was told that 480 tigers had been shot in the previous 4 years. Between 1965 and 1969 a total of 698 tanned and dressed tiger and leopard skins, and 18,179 kg of non-dressed skins, had been exported, mainly to the USA and Europe (a Press Trust of India, New Delhi, report dated 26 February 1970). Given an average skin weight of 5 kg, the non-dressed skins alone could have accounted for the death of 3,635 tigers and leopards (Fig. 1.2).

Figure 1.2. A Government report published by the Press Trust of India in 1970.

(Reproduced with permission from Reuters Limited.)

A British tea planter, E.P. Gee, a respected naturalist, had speculated that there might have been 40,000 tigers in the Indian subcontinent at the turn of the century, and that there were only about 4,000 in 1964 [1]. Now, at the General Assembly, Kailash Sankhala, a Forest Officer, estimated that by 1969 there remained only 2,500 [2].

The General Assembly called for a world-wide moratorium on tiger hunting. Tigers in other countries were already on the list of endangered tiger subspecies, and now the Bengal tiger Panthera t. tigris was added to the Red Data Book [3].

Despite opposition from Indian tiger hunters and shikar (hunting) companies, and some State Governments, a 5-year moratorium on tiger hunting was imposed throughout India in 1971, and later made permanent.

IUCN declared that ‘to maintain a genetic pool of sufficient variety in a population of animals like the tiger, it is essential that a contiguous population totaling at least 300 head exists. All known tiger populations in India are of a much smaller number than this, and the areas separating these small remaining populations are of such a nature as to be absolutely prohibitive to regular genetic exchange between them. Hence the estimated number of two to four thousand tigers still existing in all of India is misleading, since no single population is large enough to maintain a healthy stock’ [4]. Now, almost 40 years later, that statement remains valid.

Kailash Sankhala was commissioned to carry out an all-India census in 1971. His estimate was 1,827 tigers, with a caution that there were weaknesses in the census.

In 1972, WWF launched an appeal, called ‘Operation Tiger’, for one million dollars to support tiger conservation projects. Within the first 3 years it raised US$1,800,000, of which US$1,000,000 provided equipment and training for India.

Guy Mountfort, the WWF International Trustee who had proposed Operation Tiger, flew to India to discuss conservation measures with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She needed no persuasion and India’s Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 in Corbett Tiger Reserve in the Himalayan foothills. Many tigers were in other protected areas and forests, and as time went on they became tiger reserves under Project Tiger, totaling 37 by 2009.

In Nepal, Prince Gyanendra took responsibility for tiger conservation. Bangladesh’s President, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, put the tiger on Bangladesh banknotes, but other action was difficult while his country was busy organizing itself after breaking away from Pakistan.

As I was the only person in WWF and IUCN who had seen tigers in the wild, and was a friend of Kailash Sankhala and other Indian tiger specialists, I volunteered to manage project funding. I visited India and Nepal to arrange for the provision of essential equipment: jeeps, motor cycles, speedboats (for river areas), wireless systems, binoculars and night viewers, even two camels, with saddles, for the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.

Scientists Move In

The plight of the tiger, publicized by the IUCN Delhi assembly, alerted scientists. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, launched a study of the ecology and behavior of the tiger in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park, where John Seidensticker, Mel Sunquist, and David Smith were to make their names in a long-term study. For the first time, tigers were radio-collared to track their movements, and reveal their behavior and ecology.

Maurice Hornocker, then Director of Hornocker Wildlife Research Institute, and the USSR Academy of Science, set up a Russo-American scientific study of the ecology of the Amur tiger in the Russian Far East in 1990. It proved crucial to the campaign for saving the Amur tiger after the Soviet Union collapsed and widespread poaching occurred.

Hornocker’s Institute later merged with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has a dozen tiger projects in China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Thailand.

Indian scientist Ullas Karanth is especially notable for his leading role in the development of photo-trap methodology to measure tiger density and provide realistic estimates of the number of tigers in selected areas. The ability to identify individual tigers by their stripe patterns is a crucial part of the system. It has also been applied to jaguars whose spot patterns can identify them.

Big business moved in with the establishment of Save The Tiger Fund (STF) in 1995, financially backed by ExxonMobil, and managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to support conservation projects throughout tiger range. Grants to over 300 projects in 13 tiger range countries and international projects totaled US$15.7 million by mid-2007 [5].

Europe has contributed 1,627,368 dollars for projects through 21st Century Tiger, a partnership of the Zoological Society of London and UK-based Global Tiger Patrol.

Genetics opened the way to better understanding of species. For a century and a half subspecies had been identified by their physical appearance and measurements, but now fast developing genetics made it possible to examine the evolution of species and provide a scientific basis for classification.

Since Linnaeus named Panthera tigris in 1758, about 20 tigers had been described as subspecies, but, in 1930, the British taxonomist R.I. Pocock reduced the number to eight [6]. Four are still used—Bengal tiger P.t. tigris, Sumatran tiger sumatrae, Javan sondaica and Bali balica (the last two extinct), to which the Amur tiger altaica, Indo-Chinese corbetti, Malayan jacksoni and South China tiger amoyensis have been added [7]. However, in 1986, Stephen O’Brien, head of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in Frederick, Virginia, and colleagues found minimal genetic differences between P.t. tigris, altaica and sumatrae, which suggested that tigers should not be divided into subspecies [8].

In 1998, Joel Cracraft and team from the American Museum of Natural History, applying the Phylogenetic Species Concept, which does not recognize subspecies, classified all mainland tigers as a single species, Panthera tigris, and declared the Sumatran tiger a separate species, Panthera sumatrae [9].

The following year, another study at the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, led by Joelle Wentzel, concentrated on five tiger ‘subspecies’—P.t. tigris, corbetti, sumatrae, altaica and amoysensis—and found ‘a minimum of molecular genetic support for classifying subspecies’ [10].

But in 2004 yet another study at the laboratory, led by Shu-Jin Luo, identified six living tiger subspecies, including the five previously recognized, plus a newly identified subspecies, the Malayan tiger [11]. It was named P.t. jacksoni in recognition of my conservation work. I said later that I felt that it should have had a regional name P.t. malayensis.

Understanding tiger genetics is very important, but in field conservation the aim has to be to save all wild tigers, regardless of specific species.

Attacks by Tigers on Humans

In 1978, I visited Nepal to obtain information for an article in the Smithsonian magazine. I met David Smith of the University of Minnesota and accompanied him when he sedated a tigress and fitted a radio-collar on her in Chitwan National Park. As she appeared, her small cubs ran under the tree in which I was standing. The tigress was recognized as ‘Chuchchi,’ so named in Nepali for her long toes. My account became the cover story of the Smithsonian magazine [12], with a wrap-around cover photo of a resting tiger I had taken in Kanha Tiger Reserve (Fig. 1.3). In the years to come Chuchchi contributed much to the understanding of tiger behavior. Until killed by a young male when 16 years old, she had born 16 cubs, of which eight survived to disperse.

Figure 1.3. Peter Jackson with the tranquilized tigress Chuchchi in Nepal’s Royal Chitwan National Park.

By chance I dropped into Nepal the following year to find out how Chuchchi and her cubs were doing. It turned out that one of those cubs, now sub-adult, having set off to establish himself, had been seriously injured by an adult male. This led him to return home where he fed on village cattle, easy prey. I was with Dave Smith when a villager came to report that a tiger had just killed their schoolteacher. It was obviously Chuchchi’s son, now radio-collared and named Tiger 119. We found the teacher surrounded by mourners. Tiger 119 had met him by chance; each was surprised. Tiger 119 leapt on him and bit his skull, then ran away. He had not attacked anyone before, although his inability to hunt normal prey could have led to him becoming a man-eater later on. Next day he was captured and spent the rest of his life in Kathmandu zoo [13].

Another death from a tiger attack occurred in India’s Corbett Tiger Reserve that was also the result of surprise contact. A British tour leader was taking a group of birders along a dry river bed when he dashed into the bushes to identify an owl. His screams were heard. When guards on elephants retrieved the body the tiger had disappeared. Nearby sounds suggested that the killer might have been a tigress with small cubs and she was given the benefit of the doubt. A year later, a local male killed a man, and it is thought that this tiger was the one that killed the tour leader. He was captured and sent to a zoo.

In Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park I found that a tiger had grabbed and dragged away a young girl when she crawled under her stilt-supported house to recover a pencil. The tiger ran away when people rushed out on hearing the girl’s cries. She died.

That night two guards moved into the house and stood by an open window. In the early hours, the tiger appeared from under the house. It reared up and killed one guard with a blow to the head. The following night the tiger appeared again, and was shot dead. I examined a mount of the tiger and found it in poor shape, with broken canine teeth and a mangy skin; it was in no condition to kill its usual prey. It had not killed a human before, and could have mistaken the girl for an animal when she was crawling under the house. But, like Tiger 119, it too could have become a man-eater.

On the other hand, tigers in the Sundarbans mangrove delta have centuries-old records of killing fishermen, wood-cutters, and honey collectors. While I was there a tiger killed a fisherman, and I was able to follow its tracks. The source of the Sundarbans tigers’ aggressive nature is still unknown, but the mental effect of having to drink saline water has been suggested, and even lack of large prey, which no longer exist there.

Freelancing

In 1979, I decided to become a freelance writer and photographer on wildlife and I left WWF. Adrienne took on my job as editor of the WWF Annual Report.

My final three months luckily included the first International Tiger Symposium, held in Delhi, and I attended as a WWF’s representative. The Symposium brought together international tiger specialists, among them, for the first time, two Chinese biologists. They told us that only about 150 Amur tigers were left in China. In the adjoining Soviet Far East a population estimated at fewer than 50 in the 1940s was now recovering and had risen to over 100. There were still thousands of South China tigers. Today they appear to be absent in the wild, the only survivors being about 70 captive bred animals.

Project Tiger leaders were proud at that time of the increase in India’s tiger population, claimed to have risen from 1,827 in 1973 to 3,015 in 1979. But specialists doubted that there could have been such a large increase. Later census estimates were also considered to be exaggerated.

After the symposium I headed for Nepal and Chitwan to spend some time with Dave Smith. From the air he picked up the signals of 11 of his 19 radio-collared tigers, and we spotted one with cubs. Our pilot swooped down and circled low, and I struggled to aim my camera each time we passed the tiger (the cubs had hidden). I took chance shots. One caught the tiger just at the edge and may have been the first aerial photo of a tiger.

In the Bardia National Park, to the west of Chitwan, the Director said that they didn’t often see tigers. Five minutes later, a tiger walked on to the track about 100 meters ahead of our jeep. We drew closer and stopped. The tiger lay down by the side of the road and looked towards us. I slipped out of the jeep and walked slowly forward—but not too far for a quick return—and took photos from behind a tree.

The tiger got up, scent marked, and walked down the road towards me. At about 20 meters it paused, looked at me and then moved into the bushes where I thought it lay, facing me. I slipped back to the jeep and found it standing just behind, looking at us. It walked slowly away and we followed until it turned again into the bushes and disappeared.

In Kanha, in central India, one of India’s finest wildlife reserves, I met several of India’s top tiger specialists. While out on elephants we encountered tigers and viewed large herds of spotted axis deer. One day we found that a buffalo bait had been killed by a tigress with well grown cubs. The kill was attracting crows and vultures. A large cub resting in the grass reacted furiously when he saw the vultures. He charged the seething mass of hungry birds and brought one down with a great swipe with a paw. As it crawled away he got another, this time leaping on it. As he lay on the carcass, tail twitching, the crippled vulture painfully struggled away, doomed.

In September 1979, Adrienne and I set off on a 6-week Grand Tour of China. Our eldest daughter, Paddy, was teaching translation at Beijing Normal University. Her fluent Chinese made it possible for me to meet senior officials and scientists and discuss wildlife conservation. We saw several subspecies of tigers in zoos in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Guangzhou.

Chairman of the Cat Specialist Group

I regularly visited the IUCN Species Survival Commission office and talked about my tiger experiences. One day, in 1983, I was surprised to be asked to become Chairman of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. I said that I was not a scientist, but, in view of my 18 years in India, where I became interested in the tiger, followed by 9 years in WWF, dealing with tiger projects, it was felt that I could manage the group.

My first step was to get about 30 international cat specialists to a workshop, held in Kanha Tiger Reserve in central India. Hemendra Panwar, Field Director of the reserve, built a bamboo hall—ideal for the hot weather—where we discussed the little known status of cats and how to conserve them. It was specially enjoyable when we went out on elephants to see tigers and other wildlife.

The proceedings, ‘The Plight of the Cats,’ are available on the Cat Specialist Group digital library www.catsglibrary.org [14]. It was the first step towards the publication in 1996 of Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan [15]. A summary served to launch Cat News as the group’s newsletter.

A Time of Complacency

The 1970s and 80s were great decades for India’s Project Tiger, seen as one of the world’s major conservation programs. Census estimates rose. There was a worldwide air of complacency about the tiger in India, although little news came from other tiger countries, except Nepal, where a successful conservation program had been established.

Valmik Thapar, a young man who had dedicated his life to the tiger, became a powerful figure. Field observation by Thapar and Fateh Singh Rathore, Field Director of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, revealed the fascinating family life and behavior of the tiger, which had till then been considered as a dangerous, man-eating beast. Under Fateh Singh’s control, Ranthambhore became famous when the secretive tigers ceased to fear humans and became visible by day in the early 1980s. People came from all over the world to see the great cats. Tigers also became visible in Bandhavgarh, Corbett, and Kanha reserves. In most other Indian reserves you have to be lucky to see one, especially so in other range countries.

The First Tigers of the World Meeting

In 1986 Ron Tilson and Ulysses Seal held a symposium called ‘Tigers of the World’ in Minneapolis that drew international tiger experts together. It led to the publication of the first edition of Tigers of the World: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management and Conservation of an Endangered Species [16] covering every aspect of the tiger, from the extinction of the Bali and Javan tigers to current status, behavior, reproduction, management, genetics, captive-breeding, veterinary matters, etc., and a draft of a Global