IUCN Tiger Specialist Peter Jackson Earns His Stripes 07 June
2005 | News story IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Gland,
Switzerland (07.06.05) - Researchers plan to name the recently
identified Malayan tiger, a new subspecies, Panthera tigris
jacksoni to honour the career of tiger conservationist Peter
Jackson, former Chair and still active member of the Species
Survival Commission’s Cat Specialist Group. As with many
threatened species, tigers have been divided into subspecies –
natural geographically separate populations – for conservation
as well as recognition purposes. The discovery of this new
subspecies therefore has major conservation implications and is
highlighted in the most recent edition of CAT NEWS, the SSC Cat
Specialist Group newsletter. Tigers historically inhabited much
of Asia and may have numbered as many as 100,000 animals as
recently as a century ago. Unfortunately, they have declined
dramatically since then. Today’s remaining population is
estimated to be only 5,000 - 7,000 individu