The national animal of Malaysia is the Malayan tiger. This is a subspecies of tiger that is found in Peninsular Malaysia and are sadly critically endangered today. They are vital national symbols of the beauty and power of the natural world while also being vitally important to the country’s history and culture.
Big cats and large predators in general tend to play an important role in human culture and folklore.
When it comes to tigers, though, this is even truer of tigers.
They are iconic animals and in Malaysia they are deeply intertwined with both literal ecology and metaphorical, symbolic importance and national identity.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Malaysia?
The national animal of Malaysia Is the Malayan tiger.
This subspecies of tiger lives in what is called Peninsular Malaysia, the region of Malaysia which occupies the south half of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia.
The Malayan tiger is native to this region and is found more or less exclusively there in the central region.
They are known as harimau in the Malay language, and are also sometimes called the southern Indochinese tiger, as they are genetically distinct from the tiger populations of northern Indochina.
Carl Linnaeus, prolific naturalist of the 18th Century, first described this animal in modern taxonomical terms in his book of 1758.
They are, though, a subspecies of tigers as a whole rather than a distinct species in their own right, and so belong to the P. tigris species.
There is, in fact, not much clear difference between Malayan and Indochinese tigers, at least when compared cranially or in pelage.
They prey on a wide variety of animals, primarily ungulates such as sambar and barking deer, wild boar, Bornean bearded pigs and serow.
They are even known to prey on sun bears as well as the calves of elephants and rhinos.
They sometimes target livestock although this is not very common and tigers in general tend to prefer to avoid human contact where possible.
They occur in very low densities as they are solitary animals and also due to the fact that there are low prey densities in their natural range.
We know precious little about this species, and information on all sorts of aspects of its morphology and behavior are lacking.
Their social structure, communication, demographic parameters, dispersal capabilities and more are all sorely lacking.
Why, then, are they Malaysia’s national animal?
Why is the Malayan tiger the national animal of Malaysia?
The Malayan tiger is the national animal of Malaysia for a variety of reasons.
Tigers are, obviously, important symbols of many different things in the modern world and historically.
To Malaysia they represent power, strength, bravery and beauty.
They are incredibly strong and capable hunters, yet at the same time they embody the grace and mystery in the national rainforests. In any country with populations of tigers, it is hard to imagine any decision other than to make them the national animal!
Of course, though, there is the other aspect of the tiger’s position in Malaysia today: their conservation status.
Their populations are dwindling for a great many reasons, including poaching and hunting, destruction of their habitat and the overhunting of their natural prey species.
They are officially recognized as being critically endangered, and thus very much on the brink of extinction.
By making them the national animal, Malaysia also hopes to draw attention to this problem and their plight.
While in itself it is of course not enough to help them, bringing awareness to the issue is a great way to help promote efforts to improve their lot and bump up population numbers.
So, there are multiple aspects to the decision.
Is a Malayan tiger bigger than a Bengal tiger?
Malayan tigers are smaller than Bengal tigers.
Malayan tigers are, on average, around 8ft long in males and just under that in females.
The largest male Bengal tigers can be as long as 10.5 feet, and can weigh almost 300 kilograms.
A Bengal tiger this big, though, while not unheard of, is hardly representative of the whole species.
In general, then, there’s not a great deal of difference between the two species, though Bengal tigers are slightly bigger.
This may be in part due to the fact that Malayan tigers essentially inhabit a large island, which often makes a species become slightly smaller.
How many tigers are left in Malaysia?
Numbers of naturally roaming tigers in Malaysia have dwindled and hang on by a thread today; the estimated population figure for Malayan tigers is between 80 and 120 individuals in the whole of the Peninsula.
While there are never going to be huge figures for a solitary animal that roams such a large territory, these numbers are certainly worrying.
Unless drastic measures are taken, these numbers will continue to fall and the Malayan tiger is in real danger of going extinct.
But there is hope for the animal in modern conservation efforts and success in increasing tiger numbers has been seen elsewhere.
These animals hang on by a thread, then, and their total loss would be an unimaginable tragedy.
Malaysia hopes to address this in part through its recognition of the tiger as the country’s official national animal, though of course much more will need to be done to preserve these haunting creatures.
We can hope that the tides will turn for Malayan tigers and that their beauty can be preserved for future generations.