Tiger was believed extinct — until expert found a ‘single hair.’ Now the hunt is on

The forests of Java, an island in Indonesia, were once heavily populated by the eponymous Java tiger, a subspecies of Sumatran tiger.

But, as a result of hunting and habitat loss, the cats began to disappear throughout the previous century and were officially declared extinct in 2008.

Recently, however, new evidence suggests the tigers may still be surviving in the wild, according to a study published by Cambridge University Press on March 21.

During the summer of 2019, a conservationist reported seeing one of the tigers on a plantation on the western side of the island.

In addition to claw marks and footprints, he said he found a “single hair” attached to a fence near where the animal had been seen.

Researchers collected the hair sample and conducted DNA analyses on it. They then compared the results to the DNA from a Java tiger museum specimen from 1930.

Their results revealed that the specimens were a close genetic match.

“We conclude that the hair sample,” researchers said, “belongs to the Javan tiger, and that it falls in the same group as the Javan tiger museum specimen collected in 1930.”

The finding has led to speculation that the extinct tiger — with a last confirmed sighting in 1976 — remains alive in the wild, Satyawan Pudyatmoko, an Indonesian conservation official, told Reuters.

But, to determine whether the Javan tiger is indeed living in the wild, further research, including field studies, needs to be conducted.

“We have prepared and will prepare efforts to respond …” Pudyatmoko told Reuters.

In addition to the 2019 sighting, a handful of other encounters have been reported throughout the island in recent years, though they have not been substantiated, researchers said.

These reports have included purported sightings, large footprints and killings of livestock attributed to the tigers.

The newfound evidence comes as over a dozen wild cat species worldwide are considered vulnerable, near threatened or endangered, according to the International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada.

This story was originally published April 1, 2024 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Tiger was believed extinct — until expert found a ‘single hair.’ Now the hunt is on."