Sumatra is the sixth largest island on Earth. It is inhabited by approximately 50 million people and as few as 600 tigers.
Known as one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, Sumatra is home to over 1,000 bird species, 7,000 plant species, and over 300 mammal species, including the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, elephant, and rhino. The island’s lush rainforests, coral reefs, and mangrove swamps also provide essential ecosystem services. Sumatra’s forests store more carbon per hectare than almost any other forested ecosystem onthe planet
Sumatra’s diverse assortment of habitats – montane forest, lowland rainforest, tropical pine forest, peat swamps, and mangroves – provide refuge to several hundred tigers. According to the Indonesian government, approximately 600 of them remain in the wild as of 2024. How much over or under that estimate is a matter of conjecture since tiger population surveys have been restricted to a few National Parks, which do not cover all of the species’ range. To put the number of wild Sumatran tigers in context, biologists believe roughly 4,000-6,000 mountain lions Puma concolor occur in the state of California, a territory comparable in size to Sumatra but with nearly 20 million fewer people.