Indo-Chinese Tiger
(Photo courtesy of M. L. Burnett)
Panthera tigris corbetti
Remote forests in hilly and mountainous terrain, one of the major corridors of which lies along the borders between countries around the Himalayan mountain range.
Widely dispersed population throughout seven countries: Thailand, China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam and Bhutan (2010 discovery).
Endangered
Around 1200-1800 individuals are estimated to remain worldwide but only around three hundred of these live in the wild.
The Indo-Chinese tiger is smaller and darker than the Royal Bengal tiger. They can weigh between 110-190kg, with the males weighing around 50% more than the females.
All existing wild populations are under extreme risk as a result of poaching, prey depletion due to human hunting of deer and wild boar, habitat fragmentation and resultant in-breeding.
The Indo-Chinese tiger is also called Corbett’s tiger after the former tiger hunter turned naturalist Jim Corbett. Access to the areas where Indo-Chinese tigers live in the wild has long been restricted, and as a consequence accurate studies of these tigers and their numbers, by field biologists, have been limited. Therefore there is a very limited knowledge of the status of these tigers in the wild. It has been reported that, in Vietnam, almost 75% of the tigers killed provide stock for traditional Chinese medicines.
The greatest density of Indo-Chinese tigers is found in Thailand where around 100 individuals survive, other wild populations are restricted to 30 or fewer tigers in each group.