© ©Sebastian Kennerknecht
Panthera’s work protects wild cats and their habitats around the globe while building tolerance and fostering coexistence between cats and the people who live alongside them. Thanks to our supporters, Panthera and our partners have measurably stopped or reversed cat decline in key landscapes around the globe. Read on to learn about some of our groundbreaking accomplishments!
Operating across ten sites in five countries, this program impacts over 300 tigers—approximately 8% of the global wild tiger population—helping stabilize or increase populations in key areas.
Spanning 18 countries, this initiative connects jaguar habitats from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, ensuring these magnificent cats remain genetically diverse and free to roam.
We completed our three-year range-wide analyses alongside 224 collaborators to map puma distributions and the connectivity among puma populations across North and South America. This will inform where we work in the future and will be used to assess the success of future interventions. Through this project, we collectively built a coalition of more than 200 people who work on puma conservation across the region.
After half a century of poaching, leopard populations have begun rebounding in parts of Africa’s third largest national park, Kafue National Park, after four years of counter-poaching operations using advanced technologies, led by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). Life may be looking up for lions as well, with lion population density either remaining stable or increasing in two areas surveyed within the Park.
Since launching in 2022, our CWC Program has conducted 60 training events across Asia, Africa, and the Americas to combat illegal wildlife trade.
Over 26 million images from motion-activated cameras have been processed since 2012. These imagers come from 466 data set in 25 countries. From this collection, we have over 470 different species and over 5,000 different individually identified cats (i.e., leopards, jaguars, tigers, ocelots and more).
This cutting-edge tool has been implemented in numerous protected areas, leading to more effective patrols and significant reductions in poaching incidents.
Since 2009, we’ve educated over 1,300 children and youth about the importance of wild cats and conservation, fostering the next generation of conservationists.
Since Panthera’s founding in 2006, we’ve worked alongside more than 30 communities worldwide to protect biodiversity and landscapes critical to wild cats. Indigenous and local communities — stewards of nearly 40% of the world’s intact landscapes and 80% of global biodiversity — are strategic conservation partners and are essential to the long-term future of threatened and endangered wild cats.
Panthera’s groundbreaking studies on wild cat genetics, behavior, and ecology have shaped international conservation strategies and action plans, guiding efforts to protect these species worldwide.
Wild cats need three things to survive and thrive: safe space, plentiful prey and connection to other cats. Each day, wild cats face the dire threats of poaching, the illegal wildlife trade, human-cat conflict and habitat loss.
Panthera, our partners and our supporters are giving critically threatened cat populations a new chance at life. Panthera's programs are guided by the rigorous monitoring of wild cats, their prey and the most urgent threats to their survival. For instance, our Counter Wildlife Crime staff works across the globe to implement state-of-the-art solutions to mitigate poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.
On this page, you can learn more about those threats, how Panthera is making an impact and what you can do to help. To ensure a future filled with wild cats, we invite you to join our movement to protect and coexist with these iconic species.
Human-cat conflict is one of the gravest threats facing wild cats, big and small. Panthera implements a variety of collaborative solutions alongside partners worldwide to create a world where humans and wildlife share landscapes with minimal risk to both people and wildlife.
Panthera is helping to mitigate poaching, one of the biggest threats to wild cats. Learn more about our approach to ending cruel poaching tactics and how you can help.
The Illegal Wildlife Trade is a multi-billion-dollar market that is devastating wild cat populations. Join us to dismantle this malicious market.
Living alongside large carnivores like jaguars and pumas can be challenging, but coexistence is possible. Learn more about our proven model for success.
For wild cats, habitat disruption can lead to starvation, conflict with humans and genetic isolation. Help us save these wild areas, for cats and for our planet.
When wild cat prey populations are decimated by overhunting, poisoning or other threats, felines suffer the consequences. Learn more about how Panthera is addressing prey depletion in wild cat habitats.
Panthera is dedicated to protecting the world’s 40 wild cat species and the wild places in which they roam. Our core programs focus on implementing conservation strategies for some of the world’s most imperiled large cats — cheetahs, leopards, lions, jaguars, pumas, snow leopards and tigers. Panthera’s scientists also implement conservation and research initiatives on many of the 33 small wild cat species around the globe.
Our scientists and law enforcement specialists are on the front lines, fighting to stop poaching, prevent conflict with people, conserve wild cat habitats and more. Panthera’s proven strategies don't just protect wild cats — they also protect their vast landscapes and the endless variety of life within them.
While Panthera’s efforts are focused on saving wild cats, the impacts go far beyond. The presence of wild cats — our landscape guardians and apex predators — indicate healthy, intact ecosystems that support all life, including people around the world. The loss of apex predators has a cascading negative impact on ecosystems, influencing everything from soil and water quality to wildfires and infectious disease.
As umbrella species, wild cat conservation initiatives additionally protect other threatened wildlife. Anti-poaching patrols protecting lions, cheetahs and leopards also ultimately protect elephants, rhino and countless other wildlife species.
Found on five continents in some of the world’s most sacred and biodiverse landscapes, wild cats’ wide distribution allows Panthera to protect incredibly vast swaths of some of the world’s most iconic lands, from the Chilean Patagonia to the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia.
Ecotourism and wild cat viewing initiatives also support livelihoods and rural communities around the globe.
Scientists initially classified wild cats based on their ability to purr, leading to the categorization of the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar as “big cats” and other wild cat species as “small cats.” Since then, genetic analysis has unveiled eight distinct wild cat lineages.
Utilizing a hybrid model of classification, Panthera considers the seven largest species to be big cats and the remaining 33 wild cat species as small cats, conserved through Panthera’s Small Cats Program.
Founded in 2006, Panthera is devoted to the conservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats and the vast ecosystems they inhabit. Our team of biologists, data scientists, law enforcement experts and wild cat advocates studies and protects the seven species of big cats: cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, pumas, snow leopards and tigers. Panthera also creates targeted conservation strategies for the world’s most threatened and overlooked small cats.
With our supporters around the world, we inform the public about the plight of wild cats, work closely with communities living alongside these iconic species, protect wild cats and their prey from poaching, fight the illegal wildlife trade and safeguard the precious landscapes wild cats need to survive.
If you love wild cats, then you’re in our pride. Welcome to the movement to protect these captivating creatures and secure them for future generations.
Celebrating 15+ years of protecting wild cats and the wild lands they call home.
Learn more about our mission to conserve the world’s 40 wild cat species and why we focus on cats.
Known worldwide for its distinctive stripes and imposing size, the tiger (Panthera tigrisem) is one of the world’s most iconic wildlife species. While tigers are ubiquitous in culture, sports and entertainment, they are much rarer in the wild and are now close to extinction, with only about 4,500 wild individuals remaining. But tiger habitat remains, giving us hope for a dramatic recovery if we rally behind tigers and protect them from poachers, human-cat conflict and habitat fragmentation.
Through our Tigers Forever Program, we are monitoring populations of tigers and their prey, supporting counter-poaching efforts to secure protected areas and connecting and protecting tiger habitats alongside our partners in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand.
Recover tiger source sites.
Support a 50% increase in tiger numbers within ten years.
Create a network of functionally connected source populations.
Countries: Malaysia and Thailand. We also work with organizations and government entities in India, Indonesia and Nepal.
Tigers live mainly in the forests of tropical Asia, though they also roam colder climates like those in Northeast Asia. Breeding populations can still be found in 10 countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, China and Russia.
Is there still hope for tigers?
Yes, there is hope for tigers. Despite losing 93% of their historic range in the past two centuries, a few populations have recovered in the last decade thanks to conservation efforts. The 2022 Panthera-led IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Assessment estimated 4,500 wild tigers worldwide, compared to 3,200 in 2015. This potential increase reflects a better understanding of tiger populations, as well as the first potential climb in decades. Further, the assessment indicates that nearly 1 million km2 of potential tiger habitat remain vacant and capable of hosting recoveries in the future.
Conservation organizations have discovered and are implementing the “recipe” for successful tiger conservation: increasing protected tiger habitats, preventing poaching, and collaborating with tiger range governments and communities. However, several challenges still need to be addressed to ensure tigers' long-term survival and inclusive and collaborative conservation initiatives are key to better outcomes for tigers.
Why do tigers have stripes?
Tigers’ stripes allow them to blend into their environment and sneak up on prey, whether in tall grass, lush forests or another type of environment. Tigers’ main prey, deer, can’t see red so they appear green and black, further helping them camouflage.
What do tigers eat and how do tigers hunt?
Tigers prefer wild pigs, deer and wild cattle (including gaur, which can weigh up to 3,300 lbs!) across their habitats. They also opportunistically hunt birds, fish, reptiles and other smaller mammals like monkeys and porcupines. Tigers usually hunt during morning and evening when their prey are most active, stalking prey and then ambushing them with an explosive burst of energy.
Do tigers purr or roar?
Tigers cannot purr continually. Instead, they can roar thanks to unique modifications of the larynx and an elastic hyoid structure. To communicate amongst themselves, tigers are also known to chuff, which is a non-threatening vocalization.
Why are tigers Endangered and what is threatening them?
Poaching and habitat loss have driven the significant decline in tigers over the last century. Additionally, tigers are illegally killed for their body parts, usually sold for use in Traditional Medicine as part of the Illegal Wildlife Trade. The species is also threatened by conflict with humans and overhunting of prey species.
How many cubs do tigers have? How long do cubs stay with their mother?
Tigers usually have litters of two to five cubs. After three to five months, the cubs are weaned off their mother’s milk. By 18 to 24 months, they are fully independent. Males disperse widely, while females tend to stay closer to their mother’s territory.
What is the average lifespan of a tiger?
The average lifespan of a tiger in the wild is between 10 and 15 years.
What does Panthera do to protect tigers?
Panthera protects tigers by preventing poaching, disrupting the illegal wildlife trade and protecting the places where tigers breed. In partnership with national governments and local communities, we help train and equip anti-poaching rangers to deter and respond to poaching incidents safely and effectively. We work with local judiciary members to increase prosecutions and penalties for members of the criminal syndicates who are devastating tiger habitats and populations. We are also increasing the size and connectivity of crucial tiger habitats by advocating for expanded or new protected areas. Finally, supporting sustainable livelihoods for local communities helps reduce their dependence on unsustainable resource extraction (like prey hunting and wood harvesting) from tiger habitats.
How can I help tigers?
The top ways to support tigers are to donate to Panthera, learn more about the issues facing tigers (including illegal wildlife trade, biodiversity loss and poaching) and support government representatives that protect nature and endangered species.
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© Sebastian Kennerknecht
