BALI TIGER (Panthera tigris sondaica), population of tiger inhabiting the Indonesian island of Bali from the last glacial period (11,000–12,000 years ago) until it was hunted to extinction in the 1940s.
The Bali tiger was thought to be the smallest tiger in the Sunda Islands; preserved skins of males measure roughly 90 inches long, with those of females slightly shorter. A distinguishing feature of the skull was its narrow occipital plane, a trait it shared with other species of Indonesian tiger. The Bali tiger mainly inhabited the western half of the island, which was rich with mangrove forests, dunes, savannah vegetation, and its main prey, the Javan rusa, a large native deer species. The tigers were prized for their skins, some of which remain preserved in predominantly European museums. The British Museum in London holds the largest collection: two skins and three skulls.
Bali-tiger hunting began in earnest during the Dutch colonial period in the early twentieth century. European sportsmen equipped with high-powered rifles would frequently travel from Java to Bali specifically to hunt tigers, luring them into heavy steel foot traps and then shooting them at close range. Though a game reserve was established in western Bali in 1941, efforts to conserve the tiger population proved futile.
Though extinct, the Bali tiger still plays an important role in Indonesian folklore and culture. In folktales such as “The Tiger and the Kantjil,” in which a tiger is tricked by a clever mouse-deer, the tiger is portrayed as powerful but easily undone by his own hubris. The tiger also makes frequent appearances in the traditional Kamasan paintings of the Klungkung kingdom in southern Bali and in the wayang kulit shadow-puppet tradition. In Balinese ritual and myth, tiger teeth, bones, and claws are used as protective amulets, and the Barong Macan character in the ancient Barong animal-mask dance has the head and body of a tiger.