JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The tiger, the world's largest cat is facing extinction unless conservationists do something to preserve the big cat’s current predicament.

The world's tiger population has fallen significantly from 5,000 in 1998 to 3,200 at present. Of the remaining tiger species, only one third of them are females as narrated by John Robinson of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

And despite the millions of dollars in investment for these conservation efforts, over-hunting, habitat-loss and wildlife trade have negated these efforts.

The cats have been lost largely to poachers, who cash in on a huge market for tiger skins and a belief, prevalent in east Asia, that eating or applying tiger parts enhance health and virility.

The new study — to which researchers from the conservationist group Panthera, the World Bank, the University of Cambridge and others also contributed — identifies 42 key areas that have concentrations of tigers with the potential to grow and populate larger landscapes.

Eighteen are in India — the country with the most tigers — eight in Indonesia, six in Russia's Far East and the others scattered elsewhere in Asia.