In a DNA study released lastweek, scientists at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) ofIndonesia said a strand of tiger hair sighted in a West Java village in 2019matched some characteristics of the tiger, which is native to the SoutheastAsian nation.
Satyawan Pudyatmoko, theministry official who oversees conservation, said the research has sparkedspeculation that the Javan tiger is still in the wild, adding that the ministryis making efforts to verify that.
Measures include setting cameratraps around the area and seeking advice from genetics experts, he said.
Previously, the Javan and Bali tigers have been declared extinct by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority onwildlife extinction risk. Only the Sumatran tiger remains, and it is consideredendangered. Researchers have cited poaching and deforestation are among the causesdriving the extinction of these species of tiger.
However, in 2019, villagers spotted what they thought was a Javan tigerand collected its hair from a fence and found scratch marks./.