What extinct tiger subspecies from Java was last sighted in the 1970s?

The extinct tiger subspecies from Java that was last sighted in the 1970s was the Javan tiger. It was native to the Indonesian island of Java and is traditionally identified by the scientific name Panthera tigris sondaica.

The Javan tiger once occupied much of Java, but agricultural expansion, roads, habitat loss, and the decline of prey pushed it into isolated mountain and forest areas. By around 1970, the last known population survived near Meru Betiri in southeastern Java. Tracks and sightings suggested that only a few animals remained, with the final reported sightings occurring in 1976.

Searches using field teams and camera traps during the 1980s and 1990s found no reliable evidence. The tiger was assessed as extinct in 2008. Occasional reports, photographs, and a later hair sample have renewed speculation, but none has produced dependable proof that a living Javan tiger survives.

The Javan tiger is commonly mixed up with the Sumatran tiger, which still survives, and the extinct Bali tiger. Modern cat taxonomy sometimes groups the Javan, Bali, and Sumatran populations within one subspecies, but “Javan tiger” remains the standard historical name for Java’s extinct population.