Roaring Back: Triumphs and Challenges in Tiger Conservation

Roaring back may be an overstatement, but the number of tigers living in the wild is on the rise, and that is cause for optimism.

The largest of all the big cats, nine tiger subspecies once roamed throughout central, eastern and southern Asia. In the past one hundred years, tigers have lost around 94% of their historical range and now live in scattered populations in 13 countries, from India to Southeast Asia, in Sumatra, China and the Russian Far East. Caspian, Javan and Bali Tigers are extinct; of the remaining six subspecies, the South China Tiger has not been observed for many years.

Feline Factcheck: Current State of Tiger Conservation

Tigers are currently listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In 2010, the wild tiger population was at an all-time low of about 3,200 individuals worldwide. However, by 2022, the population estimate from the Global Tiger Forum was about 5,574 wild tigers—a 74% increase driven by a multilateral conservation agreement by tiger range countries and partners like WWF.

This is a stark contrast to the 100,000 tigers that roamed the Earth at the start of the 20th century. The drastic decline in tiger numbers is primarily due to habitat loss, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict.

Recovery has been remarkably uneven, with South Asia accounting for the vast majority of the increase. That’s especially impressive given that it is one of the most densely populated regions in the world.

India, Nepal, and Bhutan have seen significant successes in stabilizing and even increasing their tiger populations through rigorous conservation efforts. These efforts include anti-poaching patrols, habitat restoration, and the establishment of protected areas and wildlife corridors.

Photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Surya Ramachandran

Community-led Tiger Conservation

In its 2022 Living with Tigers: How to Manage Coexistence for the Benefit of Tigers and People report, WWF emphasizes the importance of involving local communities in conservation efforts. It’s a complex interplay of economic, demographic and environmental factors that shape tiger conservation. Agriculture, transport and urbanization are treacherous for tigers; tigers can be treacherous to people and their livestock and livelihoods.

In 2020 nearly 47 million people lived within the boundaries of the tiger range, and an additional 85 million people within 10km of those landscapes. These human populations are also shown to be on the rise; up 7.5 percent in tiger landscapes since 2015 alone and projected to continue growing into the foreseeable future.

The survival of tigers in the wild depends to a large extent on the degree to which people living in the area will tolerate their presence. In areas where tigers are found, community-based initiatives have proven to be effective, especially when they help to increase the general level of education and economic opportunity. Community initiatives often include education programs about the importance and value of tigers, compensation schemes for livestock losses, and the development of sustainable livelihoods that do not rely on forest resources, including ecotourism or tiger-related conservation travel.

By 2050, three of the top four economies in the world are likely to be countries with tigers. China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh’s economies are all projected to continue growing rapidly. The impacts of this growth on tiger conservation are hard to predict; rural depopulation could result in increased tiger habitat.

If conservation and development are sustainable and equitable, there could be opportunities to both expand habitat and fund development that could support local communities, including a focus on wildlife corridors to ensure viable wild tiger populations.

Nepal and India’s Khata Corridor (Khata Forest Conservation Area) is a study in addressing habitat fragmentation and destruction. Expanding and connecting protected areas, including Bardia National Park in Nepal and the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India, ensuring they are effectively managed and working with local communities living in and around tiger habitats, are critical to protecting the species.

In Nepal, increasing numbers of people are adapting by earning conservation-related degrees or working in wildlife and conservation travel. Nepal’s is a tiger success story, with numbers nearly tripling from 121 in 2009 to 355 in 2022.

Tech Tools in Tiger Conservation

2022 was the Year of the Tiger, and an IUCN tiger population assessment offered some hope for the critically endangered species – up 40% from 2015, but much of the reported increase is actually due to improvements in monitoring.

“A fairly significant chunk of that 40% increase is explained by the fact that we’re better at counting them, that many governments in particular have really sort of moved heaven and Earth to do massive scale surveys,” Luke Hunter, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) big cat program, told NPR in a 2022 interview.

• Camera Traps

The use of camera traps equipped with motion sensors has become a common method for capturing images or videos of tigers in their natural habitats1. These devices are strategically placed in tiger habitats, and when an animal passes by, the camera is triggered and captures images or videos. Researchers can identify individual tigers from these based on their unique stripe patterns.

• Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture

Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR), a statistical modeling approach, is used to estimate population density more accurately. This approach combines camera trap data with spatial information, considering the spatial distribution of individual tigers within the study area. SECR studies in India demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology in providing more accurate estimates of tiger populations, contributing to better informed conservation efforts.

• Satellite Mapping

Satellite technology is being used to track and map tiger habitats, offering new insights for tiger conservation organizations. Using Google Earth Engine and NASA Earth observations to monitor changes in tiger habitat, scientists aid conservation efforts in near-real time. Data from the VIIRS and MODIS sensors and on Landsat satellites maps “empty forests” near where tigers are known to have lived recently as well as habitat potentially suitable but where tiger residence is unknown. These areas are potential landscapes for tiger restoration and targets for further protection and wildlife corridor development to prevent further fragmentation of tiger populations.

• AI

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has also been a game-changer in wildlife conservation. For instance, AI-powered cryptic cameras have been used to detect wild tigers and their prey, transmitting images to the cell phones and computers of park managers in real time. This advancement represents a significant step forward in real-time monitoring and conservation efforts for rangers.

These and other new technologies play a significant role in developing tiger conservation strategies, providing critical data that helps conservationists at local, national and international levels make informed decisions about habitat management and wildlife conservation.

Photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Aditya Panda

Thrilling Tiger Encounters: Tiger Conservation Travel

Conservation travel has emerged as a powerful tool in the fight to save tigers. By creating economic incentives for conservation, ecotourism helps ensure that local communities see the value in protecting these majestic animals.

One of the most remarkable stories of tiger conservation success comes from India, home to approximately 70% of the world’s wild tigers. Today, the country boasts numerous tiger reserves where these big cats thrive.

If witnessing a tiger in its natural habitat is on your bucket list, do we have the trip for you…our most tiger-intensive itinerary is the India Tiger Quest, specially designed to maximize your odds of witnessing Bengal tigers in their natural habitat.

Ranthambore National Park in southeast Rajasthan is India’s premier tiger safari destination. It’s warmer, but that means tigers head out of the dry underbrush to quench their thirst at least twice a day—and that is when we go in search of them!

These trips are strategically timed for early summer when visitors are fewer and tigers less elusive. With just two travelers per open safari vehicle, our presence is understated, and the views unimpeded.

Ranthambore is home to more than its famous tigers, too: it’s a veritable Jungle Book of creatures, with chances to spy sloth bears, caracals, jackals, striped hyenas, desert foxes, mongoose and more.

For photographers seeking coveted tiger shots and plenty more wildlife, Nat Hab’s India Tiger Photo Expedition is designed to facilitate the best, most in-depth opportunities to photograph tigers and other wildlife at an excellent time of year for sightings.

Finally, The Grand India Wildlife Adventure is a more comprehensive India itinerary that offers excellent opportunities to spot Bengal tigers, plus a host of other wildlife, on visits to three different national parks. Two of the parks—Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park – are home to some of India’s most concentrated tiger populations and are more remote, with fewer tourists than some of the country’s other tiger destinations. The wide-ranging itinerary also includes a visit to Kaziranga National Park for rhinoceros viewing.

Tiger Trials: Challenges in Tiger Conservation

Despite the successes, the road to secure a future for tigers is fraught with challenges. Habitat fragmentation remains a significant threat, as does human-wildlife conflict. WWF’s Living with Tigers report outlines several key strategies that are essential for the continued recovery of tiger populations:

• Strengthening Protected Areas: Ensuring that tiger reserves are adequately protected and managed.
• Expanding Wildlife Habitat Corridors: Connecting fragmented habitats to allow tigers to move freely and safely.
• Enhancing Anti-Poaching Efforts: Increasing the resources and technology available to combat poaching.
• Promoting Sustainable Development: Encouraging practices that reduce human impact on tiger habitats.

Dale Miquelle, WCS Tiger Program Coordinator, has said:

“We recognize that this progress is fragile – we are still losing tigers from many areas while they are increasing in others. Poaching is still a huge issue, trade and demand are huge issues, and habitat loss continues to be a problem. We also know that saving tigers goes a long way to addressing many of the environmental problems of Asia, from buffering the impacts of climate change to reducing the potential for zoonotic outbreaks. Not just the wildlife, but the people of Asia will be better off when we are protecting large blocks of forests, as those habitats provide a host of ecosystem services to the people surrounding them as well.”

The commitment and concerted action of international conservation organizations, national governments, and local communities is crucial in implementing these strategies.

Tiger population recovery shows us that solving complex conservation challenges is possible and within our reach. Many tiger populations appear to be stable or increasing.

“We need to learn from these conservation successes, share them with the public, and increase our investment in evidence-based conservation action,” said Dr. Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.

Photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Vedant Thite

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