Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Researcher The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) recently revealed signs of life Javanese tiger or Panthera tigris sondaica. This tiger species was previously declared extinct.
Wirdateti, a researcher at the BRIN Biosystematics and Evolution Research Center, revealed that this finding emerged from a strand of hair thought to belong to a Javanese tiger that was found on the fence dividing a resident’s garden in Cipeundeuy Village, Sukabumi Regency, West Java.
“The hair was found by Kalih Reksasewu based on reports from Ripi Yanuar Fajar who encountered an animal resembling a Javanese tiger which was reportedly extinct, on the evening of 19 August 2019,” said Wirdateti, quoting Press conference BRIN, Yours (25/3).
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Wirdateti and friends’ findings have been published in magazine Onyx published by Cambridge Universit Press entitled “Is the Javan tiger Panthera tigris sondaica extent? DNA analysis of a recent hair sample” published March 21 2024.
From a series of DNA analyses, Wirdateti and his team concluded that the tiger hair samples found in South Sukabumi were of the species Panthera tigris sondaica or Javanese Tiger. This is included in the same group as the Javanese tiger specimen collected by the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB) in 1930.
Apart from hair, scratch marks similar to those of a tiger were also found from this location, which further strengthened the team to carry out research.
Teti explained that during the initial identification, he and his team carried out a comparative study of tiger hair samples found in South Sukabumi with Javanese tiger specimens from the MZB collection. Then several other tiger subspecies were sampled, namely the Bengal, Amur and Sumatran tigers, as well as the Javan leopard.
“Comparative results between Sukabumi tiger hair samples show a similarity of 97.06 percent to the Sumatran tiger, and 96.87 percent to the Bengal tiger. Meanwhile, the Javanese tiger specimen from the MZB collection has a 98.23 percent similarity to the Sumatran tiger,” he explained.
The results of the phylogenetic tree study also show that the Sukabumi tiger hair samples and the MZB collection tiger specimens are in the same group, but separate from other tiger subspecies groups.
To strengthen observations, the research team also conducted in-depth interviews with Ripi as a resident who saw the tiger. Interviews were conducted during a survey on 15-19 June 2022 at the location where the sample was found.
The hair found is thought to belong to a Javanese tiger. (Photo: doc. BRIN)
Teti explained that DNA genetic analysis has the level of sensitivity needed to answer conservation questions and clarify taxonomic uncertainties. Next, reconstruct the phylogeography and demography to investigate the genetic ancestry of the subspecies.
According to him, the total DNA was carried out using the Dneasy Blood & Tissue Kit according to protocol. The protocol was modified by adding proteinase, due to the high protein content of hair.
“PCR amplification of all cytochrome b mtDNA was carried out with special primers for tigers. Next, all nucleotide sequence results were saved using BioEdit and submitted to GenBank,” said Teti.
“The complementary sequence between the forward and reverse primers was edited using Chromas Pro. All suspected Javanese tiger nucleotide sequences were compared with National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Genbank sequence data. DNA alignment was carried out using Clustal X and the data was analyzed using MEGA,” he added.
The Javan tiger was previously declared extinct in the 1980s and was on the red list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This animal was last seen in Meru Betiri National Park, East Java in 1976.
The research results of Teti and his friends may show signs of the Javanese tiger’s life. However, according to researchers, to answer whether Javanese tigers still exist in the wild or not, further genetic and field studies are needed.
[Gambas:Video CNN]
(tim/dmi)
[Gambas:Video CNN]