Bali Tiger
A small dot in the vast Indian Ocean, the island of Bali is the former home of the Bali tiger. The unfortunate precursor of what is now an alarming trend, the Bali tiger was the first of the tiger species to become extinct.
There was a time when this, the smallest cat of the tiger subspecies, was exclusively known on the island. It is believed that the Bali tiger and the Java tiger could very well have been related, as they were both isolated on islands in close proximity. One theory is that at one time in early history the two islands of Bali and Java were connected; separated during the Ice Age by what is now known as the Bali Strait. The second thought is that one species swam from one island to the other at some point and took up residency from that point further. In either theory, the tigers would have adapted each to their own habitats to develop further.
The population of the Bali tiger could never have been in great numbers due to the small size of the island. Tigers in general require a great deal of space, as they travel distances in search of prey and mates. With such a cloistered environment, it is supposed that it would have been just a matter of time before the tigers would have faced endangerment. As human habitation increased and expanded into the domain of tigers, the cats were forced into mountainous regions where prey was limited. Hunting was rampant in those days, and even that sparse environment offered little sanctuary for the cats. Many of the Bali tigers ended up in trophy rooms of European hunters.
Little is known of the Bali tiger that is beneficial to scientists. The last reported sighting of one was in September of 1937, when an adult female was killed in West Bali and photographed. Between the start of the First World War and the end of the Second, the tiger population of Bali was wiped out.
A few reports of sightings of the Bali tiger were made, with the last sighting supposedly taking place in 1972. The sightings were unsubstantiated, and there have been no more since that time. Despite several searches over the next decade, no evidence has been found that any survivors of the Bali tiger subspecies have endured.
The Bali tiger was the first in three now extinct subspecies of tigers. The remaining six subspecies continue to be threatened; apparently any lessons learned from the Bali tiger have been forgotten. Conservation efforts now undertake the goal of eliminating the threat for the tiger species; sadly, it is too late for the Bali tiger.