For generations, communities across Sumatra have lived alongside the Sumatran tiger, one of the world’s most endangered big cats. This long history of coexistence has created a rich body of knowledge, stories, beliefs, and practices that help people understand the tiger and the forest they share. Yet much of this knowledge remains undocumented and is increasingly at risk of disappearing as landscapes, livelihoods, and cultural traditions change.
This project explores Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) related to the Sumatran tiger among communities surrounding Kerinci Seblat National Park. Local people have developed a remarkable understanding of tiger ecology and behavior through generations of direct experience. They can recognize signs of tiger presence, interpret tracks and sounds, identify areas frequently used by tigers, understand seasonal movements and breeding periods, and recognize signs that a tiger may be approaching a village. This knowledge is often passed from elders to younger generations through stories, daily activities, customary practices, and oral traditions.
For many communities, however, the tiger is more than a wild animal. Tigers may be understood as guardians of the forest, ancestral beings, spiritual entities, or messengers of nature. These beliefs have historically shaped how people perceive and respond to encounters with tigers. Cultural rules, stories, taboos, and traditional practices may have helped create boundaries between people and tigers and encouraged respect for the animal, even when conflicts occurred.
The project asks a central question: Can knowledge inherited from generations of living with tigers help us understand and strengthen coexistence today? We will explore how LEK and TEK influence people’s attitudes and responses toward tigers, particularly when encounters result in livestock losses, threats to livelihoods, or attacks on people. We will also examine how traditional understanding is changing across generations and whether younger people continue to recognize and value this knowledge.
This project does not seek to romanticize traditional beliefs or suggest that TEK and LEK can replace modern conservation science. Instead, it aims to bring different forms of knowledge into conversation. Scientific research can help us understand tiger populations, habitat use, and ecological change, while communities can provide generations of experience about tiger behavior, landscape changes, and human responses. Combining these perspectives can create a more complete understanding of human–tiger relationships.
The project is urgent because the cultural knowledge surrounding tigers is disappearing at the same time that human–tiger interactions are becoming increasingly complex. Habitat fragmentation, changing livelihoods, modernization, and declining transmission of traditional knowledge are transforming how communities perceive wildlife. At the same time, conservation efforts often emphasize surveillance, patrols, and enforcement, with less attention to the cultural values and experiences of people living closest to tiger habitat.
By documenting this knowledge now, while many stories are still remembered by elders and practiced in remote communities, the project will preserve an important part of Sumatra’s intangible cultural heritage. The findings will contribute to educational materials, storytelling, public awareness, and more culturally grounded conservation approaches.
Ultimately, this project seeks to preserve more than stories. It seeks to preserve a way of understanding the forest and living alongside one of its most powerful inhabitants. Protecting the Sumatran tiger requires protecting its habitat, but it also requires understanding the people who share that landscape. By bringing local voices into the conservation narrative, this project aims to strengthen coexistence while ensuring that the cultural knowledge connecting Sumatra’s communities with the tiger is not lost.