After a month to six weeks, they return, collect the cameras and develop the film. In one picture, a flesh wound in a tiger's flank is visible. In another, the tiger is so close to the lens that the frame is filled with its coat and distinctive stripes. No one knows how many tigers are left in the wild in Southeast Asia. The entire Asian continent is thought to have only 5,000, half of them in India.
Some experts estimate that one tiger dies a day.
Thailand is at the center of the tiger's global habitat. Ideally, the animals should be most numerous in the center, but a comparison with India underlines the reality. In one Thai reserve of 80 square miles, Lynam's team found a single tiger. There are 60 in an Indian reserve of 246 square miles. The Thai Royal Forestry Department is cooperating fully with the project.