A recent genetic analysis of more than 130 tigers in several locations throughout Asia has proven that the tigers in peninsular Malaysia are different from others on the rest of the continent, different enough to be considered their own subspecies: the Malayan or Malaysian tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni. This means that there are nine tiger subspecies (instead of the previously recognized eight), three of which became extinct in the 20th Century mainly due to poaching and habitat loss.

The tigers at the San Diego Zoo were originally believed to be Indochinese tigers Panthera tigris corbetti. This new study, however, split the Indochinese subspecies into two: the Malayan tiger, found on the Malaysian Peninsula, and the Indochinese tiger, living in more northern areas from Myanmar (formerly Burma) to southwest China.

As it turns out, all six of our tigers are actually Malaysian tigers! Awang Relak and Mek Degong (the proud parents of cubs Mata and Rimba) came to the San Diego Zoo from Zoo Melaka in Malaysia. Belang and Danai, our other pair, are actually descendents of tigers brought to the United States from peninsular Malaysia as well.

The splitting of the Indochinese subspecies into two means that each of the subspecies only have numbers of wild tigers in the hundreds. Estimates of the Malaysian tiger population do vary, but the numbers could be anywhere between 600 and 900 animals left in the wild.

Bridget Mulholland is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo’s Tiger River exhibit.

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