Tiger's 13

Figure from Wikipedia

As you can see from the map above, the tiger's natural range has shrunk tremendously from what it used to be. It's still shrinking. At the present rate, Habitat loss and poaching will wipe out wild tigers forever, unless we reverse the trend.

There are only 13 countries in the world where tigers roam in the wild. These “tiger range countries” (TRC) are:

1. Bangladesh
2. Bhutan
3. Cambodia
4. China
5. India
6. Indonesia
7. Lao PDR
8. Malaysia
9. Myanmar
10. Nepal
11. Russia
12. Thailand
13. Vietnam.

Malaysia has an estimated 500 out of the 3,000 tigers remaining in the wild worldwide (i.e. in the TRCs). That means Malaysia hosts 1/6 or 17% of the world's wild tiger population! Imagine, one out of six tigers in the wild is found in Malaysia. What a privilege. What a responsibility.

Of course, there are many other countries where tigers are kept in captivity. But these don't count towards the natural, wild and native biodiversity. Sadly, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild today. It is estimated that there are 5,000-10,000 tigers in captivity in the U.S.A. That's more than the total wild tiger population of the whole world!