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Temporal range: early Pleistocene–Present
An Indian tiger in the wild. Royal, Bengal tiger (27466438332).jpg
A Bengal tiger (P. tigris tigris)
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: P. tigris
Binomial name
Panthera tigris
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Tiger map.jpg
Felis tigris Linnaeus, 1758[3]

Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858

Tigris regalis Gray, 1867


Tigers once ranged widely across eastern Eurasia, from the Black Sea in the west, to the Indian Ocean in the south, and from Kolyma to Sumatra in the east. Over the past 100 years, they have lost 93% of their historic range, and have been extirpated from Western and Central Asia, from the islands of Java and Bali, and from large areas of Southeast, Southern, and Eastern Asia. Today, they range from the Siberian taiga to open grasslands and tropical mangrove swamps. The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The global population in the wild is estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 individuals, down from around 100,000 at the start of the 20th century, with most remaining populations occurring in small pockets isolated from each other, in which about 2,000 tigers live on the Indian subcontinent.[5] A 2016 global census estimated the population of wild tigers at approximately 3,890 individuals.[6][7] Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching. The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1,184,911 km2 (457,497 sq mi), a 41% decline from the area estimated in the mid-1990s. In 2016, the WWF declared that the world's count of wild tigers has risen for the first time in a century.[8]


Taxonomy and etymology

In 1758, Linnaeus described the tiger in his work Systema Naturae and gave it the scientific name Felis tigris.[3] In 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris.[9][10]


The specific epithet, tigris, as well as the common name, tiger, come from the Middle English tigre and the Old English tigras (a plural word), both used for the animal.[12] These derive from the Old French tigre, itself a derivative of the Latin word tigris and the Greek word tigris. The original source may have been the Persian tigra meaning pointed or sharp and the Avestan tigrhi meaning an arrow, perhaps referring to the speed with which a tiger launches itself at its prey.[13] It is worth mentioning that Mesopotamia, where the Caspian tiger had occurred,[14] has a river called 'Tigris'.[15]


Tiger phylogenetic relationships

The tiger's closest living relatives were previously thought to be the lion, leopard and jaguar, all of which are classified under the genus Panthera. Genetic analysis indicates that the tiger and the snow leopard diverged from the other Panthera species about 2.88 million years ago, and that both species may be more closely related to each other than to the lion, leopard and jaguar.[16][17]



Tigers first reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern Beringia (but not the American Continent), Japan, and Sakhalin. As evidenced by Sandra Herrington, some fossil skulls that are morphologically distinct from lion skulls could indicate however that tigers might have been present in Alaska within the last 100,000 years during the last glaciation.[19] Fossils found in Japan indicate the local tigers were, like the surviving island subspecies, smaller than the mainland forms, an example of insular dwarfism. Until the Holocene, tigers also lived in Borneo, as well as on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.[20] As of the Middle Ages, Caspian tigers were noted to range in the Pontic-Caspian steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia.[21]


Fossil subspecies

The Wanhsien,[23] Ngandong,[24] Trinil and Japanese tigers became extinct in prehistoric times.[25]

Recent subspecies

Following Carl Linnaeus's first descriptions of the species, several tiger specimen were described and proposed as subspecies.[26] The validity of several tiger subspecies in continental Asia was questioned in 1999. Morphologically, tigers from different regions vary little, and gene flow between populations in those regions is considered to have been possible during the Pleistocene. Therefore, it was proposed to recognize only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely P. t. tigris in mainland Asia, and P. t. sondaica in the Greater Sunda Islands and possibly in Sundaland.[27]

Results of craniological analysis of 111 tiger skulls from Southeast Asian range countries indicate that Sumatran tiger skulls differ from Indochinese and Javan tiger skulls, whereas Bali tiger skulls are similar in size to Javan tiger skulls. The authors proposed to classify Sumatran and Javan tiger as distinct species, P. sumatrae and P. sondaica with Bali tiger as subspecies P. sondaica balica.[28]

In 2015, morphological, ecological and molecular traits of all putative tiger subspecies were analysed in a combined approach. Results support distinction of the two evolutionary groups continental and Sunda tigers. The authors proposed recognition of only two subspecies, namely P. t. tigris comprising the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South Chinese, Siberian and Caspian tiger populations, and P. t. sondaica comprising the Javan, Bali and Sumatran tiger populations. The authors also noted that this reclassification will affect tiger conservation management.[29] One conservation specialist welcomed this proposal as it would make captive breeding programmes and future rewilding of zoo-born tigers easier. One geneticist was sceptical of this study and maintained that the currently recognised nine subspecies can be distinguished genetically.[30]

In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and now recognizes the tiger populations in continental Asia as P. t. tigris, and those in the Sunda Islands as P. t. sondaica.[31]

At present, the ITIS and Catalogue of Life still recognise eight subspecies.[32][33] The remaining populations all survived at least into the mid-20th century; three of these are also considered extinct. Their core historical range in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan), Eastern Asia (China, Mongolia, North Korea, Siberia, South Korea) and South East Asia, including three Indonesian islands, is severely constricted today, notwithstanding key extinct populations in the Black Sea (Iran, Georgia, Southern Russia, Turkey) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan).

The following table is based on the classification of the species Panthera tigris provided in Mammal Species of the World.[26] It also reflects the classification used by the Cat Classification Task Force:

Eurasian mainland
Subspecies Description Image
Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris) (Linnaeus, 1758)[31][26] The Bengal tiger's coat colour varies from light yellow to reddish yellow with black stripes.[34] Recorded body weights in the wild indicate that it is the heaviest subspecies.[35] Males attain a total nose-to-tail length of 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in) and weigh between 180 to 258 kg (397 to 569 lb), while females range from 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in) and 100 to 160 kg (220 to 350 lb).[36][37] In northern India and Nepal, the average is larger; males weigh up to 235 kilograms (518 lb), while females average 140 kilograms (310 lb).[38]

This population occurs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, foremost in alluvial grasslands, subtropical and tropical rainforests, scrub forests, wet and dry deciduous forests and mangrove habitats. It is extinct in Pakistan.[1] In 2014, the population in India was estimated at 2,226 mature individuals,[39] 163–253 in Nepal and 103 in Bhutan.[40]

Tiger in Ranthambhore.jpg
Caspian tiger (P. t. tigris),[31] formerly P. t. virgata Illiger, 1815[26] The Caspian tiger was described as having narrow and closely set stripes.[41] The size of its skull did not differ significantly from that of the Bengal tiger.[27] It is genetically closely related to the Siberian tiger.[42]

The population inhabited forests and riverine corridors south and east of the Black and Caspian Seas, from Eastern Anatolia into Central Asia, along the coast of the Aral Sea and the southern shore of Lake Balkhash to the Altai Mountains.[41] It had been recorded in the wild until the early 1970s and is considered extinct since the late 20th century.[43]

Panthera tigris virgata.jpg
Siberian tiger (P. t. tigris)[31], formerly P. t. altaica (Temminck, 1844)[26] The Siberian tiger has a thick coat with pale hues and few dark brown stripes.[41] Males have a head and body length of between 190 and 230 cm (75 and 91 in) and weigh between 180 and 306 kg (397 and 675 lb), while females average 160 to 180 cm (63 to 71 in) and 100 to 167 kg (220 to 368 lb). Tail length is about 60–110 cm (24–43 in).[36]

This population inhabits the Amur-Ussuri region of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai in far eastern Siberia, with a small population in Hunchun National Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve in northeastern China near the border to North Korea.[44][45] It is extinct in Mongolia, North Korea, and South Korea.[1] In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Siberian tigers in the region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals.[46] As of 2015, there was an estimated population of 480-540 individuals in the Russian Far East.[47]

Siberian Tiger sf.jpg
Indochinese tiger (P. t. tigris),[31], formerly P. t. corbetti Mazák, 1968[26] The Indochinese tiger was described as being smaller than the Bengal tiger and as having a smaller skull. Males average 108 inches (270 cm) in total length and weigh between 150 and 195 kg (331 and 430 lb), while females average 96 inches (240 cm) and 100–130 kg (220–290 lb).[36]

Their preferred habitat is forests in mountainous or hilly regions.

This population occurs in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, but has not been recorded in Vietnam since 1997. In 2010, the population in Indochina was estimated at about 350 individuals.[1]

Panthera tigris corbetti (Tierpark Berlin) 832-714-(118).jpg
Malayan tiger (P. t. tigris),[31] formerly P. t. jacksoni Luo et al., 2004 There is no clear difference between the Malayan and the Indochinese tiger in pelage or skull size.[48] It was proposed as a distinct subspecies on the basis of mtDNA and micro-satellite sequences that differs from the Indochinese tiger.[49]


The population was roughly estimated at 250 to 340 adult individuals in 2013, and likely comprised less than 200 mature breeding individuals at the time.[51] The geographic division between Malayan and Indochinese tigers is unclear as tiger populations in northern Malaysia are contiguous with those in southern Thailand.[1] In Singapore the last tiger was shot in 1932; tigers are considered extirpated since the 1950s.[50]

Tiger in the water.jpg
South China tiger (P. t. tigris)[31], formerly P. t. amoyensis (Hilzheimer, 1905)[26] The South China tiger is considered to be the most ancient of the tiger subspecies and is distinguished by a particularly narrow skull, long-muzzled nose, rhombus-like stripes and vivid orange colour. Males range in total length from 230–260 cm (91–102 in) and weigh between 130 to 180 kg (290 to 400 lb), while females range from 220–240 cm (87–94 in) and 100 to 110 kg (220 to 240 lb).[36]

The population is extinct in the wild.[1] Despite unconfirmed reports and some evidence of footprints, there has been no confirmed sighting in China since the early 1970s.[52] The captive population consists of about 65 individuals as of 2007.[53][54]

2012 Suedchinesischer Tiger.JPG
Sunda Islands
Subspecies Description Image
Javan tiger (P. t. sondaica) (Temminck, 1844)[31][26] The Javan tiger was small compared to tigers of the Asian mainland.[36] Males weighed 100–141 kg (220–311 lb) and females 75–115 kg (165–254 lb).[48]

This population was limited to the Indonesian island of Java, and had been recorded until the mid-1970s.[55] After 1979, no more sightings were confirmed in the region of Mount Betiri.[56] An expedition to Mount Halimun Salak National Park in 1990 did not yield any definite, direct evidence for the continued existence of tigers.[57]

Panthera tigris sondaica 01.jpg
Bali tiger (P. t. sondaica),[31] formerly P. t. balica (Schwarz, 1912)[26] The Bali tiger was the smallest tiger and limited to the Indonesian island of Bali. It had a weight of 90–100 kg (200–220 lb) in males and 65–80 kg (143–176 lb) in females.[58] Its skull was


Sumatran tiger (P. t. sondaica),[31] formerly P. t. sumatrae Pocock, 1929[26] It is the smallest of all living tigers. Males range in total length from 220 to 255 cm (87 to 100 in) and weigh between 100 to 140 kg (220 to 310 lb), while females range between 215 to 230 cm (85 to 91 in) and 75 to 110 kg (165 to 243 lb).[36] The reasons for its small size compared to mainland tigers are unclear, but probably the result of competition for limited and small prey.[27] The population is thought to be of Asia mainland origin and to have been isolated about 6,000 to 12,000 years ago after a rise in sea-level created the Indonesian island of Sumatra.[48][60]

The population is the last surviving of the three Indonesian island tiger populations. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. By 2008, the wild population was estimated at between 441 and 679 in 10 protected areas covering about 52,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi).[61]

Panthera tigris sumatran subspecies.jpg


Lions have been known to breed with tigers (most often the Amur and Bengal tigers) to create hybrids called ligers and tigons. Such hybrids were once commonly bred in zoos, but this is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conservation. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.[62]

The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress.[63] Because the lion sire passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female tiger is absent, ligers grow far larger than either parent species. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species (spots and stripes on a sandy background). Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile. Males have about a 50% chance of having a mane, but, even if they do, their manes will be only around half the size of that of a pure lion. Ligers are typically between 10 and 12 ft (3.0 and 3.7 m) in length, and can weigh between 800 and 1,000 lb (360 and 450 kg) or more.[63]

The less common tigon is a cross between a lioness and a male tiger.[64] Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 150 kg (330 lb), which is about 10–20% smaller than an average, male East African lion.[65] Like ligers, they have physical and behavioural traits from both parental species, and males are sterile. Females are sometimes fertile and have occasionally given birth to litigons when mated to a lion.[62]



Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful forelimbs, large heads and long tails. The pelage is dense and heavy; colouration varies between shades of orange and brown with white ventral areas and distinctive vertical black stripes, whose patterns are unique to each individual.[36][66] Their function is likely for camouflage in vegetation such as long grass with strong vertical patterns of light and shade.[66][67] The tiger is one of only a few striped cat species; it is not known why spotted patterns and rosettes are the more common camouflage pattern among felids.[68] A tiger's coat pattern is still visible when it is shaved. This is due not to skin pigmentation, but to the stubble and hair follicles embedded in the skin, similar to human beards (colloquially five o'clock shadow), and is in common with other big cats.[69] They have a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow irises. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black.[36] These false "eyespots", called ocelli, apparently play an important role in intraspecies communication.[70]




The Siberian tiger, the largest tiger in captivity, but not in the wilderness, and the tallest tiger at the shoulder, besides the Bengal tiger

Tigers are the most variable in size of all big cats, much more so than lions.[34] Barring hybrids like the liger,[62][63] the Bengal and Siberian tigers are the tallest felids at the shoulder,[72] and thus considered the largest living felids, ranking with the extinct Caspian tiger among the biggest felids that ever existed,[36] However, on average in the wilderness, an adult, male Siberian tiger (176.4 kilograms (389 lb)) is outweighed by both an adult, male Bengal tiger[35][73] and Southern African lion (189.6 kilograms (418 lb)).[65][74] Males vary in total length from 250 to 390 cm (98 to 154 in) and weigh between 90 to 306 kg (198 to 675 lb) with skull length ranging from 316 to 383 mm (12.4 to 15.1 in). Females vary in total length from 200 to 275 cm (79 to 108 in), weigh 65 to 167 kg (143 to 368 lb) with skull length ranging from 268 to 318 mm (10.6 to 12.5 in).[75] The heaviest wild tiger ever reported had a total body length of 3.38 m (11.1 ft) over curves.[72] In either sex, the tail represents about 0.6 to 1.1 m (24 to 43 in) of total length.[36]

Body size of different populations seems to be correlated with climate—Bergmann's rule—and can be explained by thermoregulation.[36] Large male Siberian tigers can reach a total length of more than 3.5 m (11.5 ft) over curves and 3.3 m (10.8 ft) between pegs, and can weigh up to 306 kg (675 lb). This is considerably larger than the weight of 75 to 140 kg (165 to 309 lb) reached by the smallest living subspecies, the Sumatran tiger. At the shoulder, tigers may variously stand 0.7 to 1.22 m (2.3 to 4.0 ft) tall.[58] The current record weight in the wild was 388.7 kg (857 lb) for a Bengal tiger shot in 1967.[72][76]

They are a notably sexually dimorphic species, females being consistently smaller than males. The size difference between males and females is proportionally greater in the larger tiger subspecies, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than females.[77] Males also have wider forepaw pads than females, enabling gender to be told from tracks.[77]

Colour variations

White tigers, this recessive colour variant is found only in the Bengal subspecies and with regular stripes and blue eyes. It is not albinism.
A golden tiger, another colour variant, results in thicker light-gold fur, pale legs and faint orange stripes

A well-known allele found only in the Bengal subspecies produces the white tiger, a colour variant first recorded in the early 19th century and found in an estimated one in 10,000 natural births. Genetically, whiteness is recessive: a cub is white only when both parents carry the allele for whiteness.[78] It is not albinism, pigment being evident in the white tiger's stripes and in their blue eyes.[66] The causative mutation changes a single amino acid in the transporter protein SLC45A2.[79]


Another recessive gene creates the "golden" or "golden tabby" colour variation, sometimes known as "strawberry". Golden tigers have thicker than usual light-gold fur, pale legs, and faint orange stripes. Few golden tigers are kept in captivity; they are invariably at least part Bengal. Some golden tigers carry the white tiger gene,[81] and when two such tigers are mated, they can produce some stripeless white offspring. Although a "pseudo-melanistic" effect—wide stripes that partially obscure the orange background—has been seen in some pelts, no true black tigers have been authenticated, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846. These wholly or partially melanistic tigers, if they exist, are assumed to be intermittent mutations rather than a distinct species.[82][83] There are further unconfirmed reports of a "blue" or slate-coloured variant, the Maltese tiger. However, while some felids do exhibit this colouration as a solid coat, there is no known genetic configuration that would result in black stripes on a blue-gray background.[82]

Distribution and habitat

Historical distribution

The tiger was historically widespread throughout eastern Eurasia, with the Pontic Caspian steppe, Eastern Turkey and Mesopotamia serving as the westernmost fringe of their range, and the coasts between eastern Siberia and the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali and Sumatra acting as the frontier to the Pacific Ocean. In between, tigers roamed what is today Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, southern Russia, Syria, Turkey and eastern Ukraine (as part of the Black Sea region), Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal (comprising South Asia), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (composing Central Asia) China, Mongolia, North Korea, Siberia and South Korea (constituting East Asia) and South East Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam).

Fossil remains indicate tigers were also present in Beringia in the north, Japan to the east, and Borneo and Palawan in the Philippines in the south during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene.[19][25][84][85][86][87][88]

During the 20th century, tigers became extinct in Western and Central Asia, and were restricted to isolated pockets in the remaining parts of their range. They were extirpated on the island of Bali in the 1940s, around the Caspian Sea in the 1970s, and on Java in the 1980s. This was the result of habitat loss and the ongoing killing of tigers and tiger prey. Today, their significantly fragmented and depopulated range extends eastward from India to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, North Korea and Russia. The northern limit of their range is close to the Amur River in southeastern Siberia. The only large island they still inhabit is Sumatra.[1] Since the beginning of the 20th century, tigers' historical range has shrunk by 93%. In the decade from 1997 to 2007, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined by 41%.[2][89]


Biology and behavior

Tigers are comfortable in water and frequently bathe.

Social and daily activities

Adult tigers lead largely solitary lives. They establish and maintain territories but have much wider home ranges within which they roam. Resident adults of either sex generally confine their movements to their home ranges, within which they satisfy their needs and those of their growing cubs. Individuals sharing the same area are aware of each other's movements and activities.[83] The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of males, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi), while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60 to 100 km2 (23 to 39 sq mi). The range of a male tends to overlap those of several females, providing him with a large field of prospective mating partners.[90]

Unlike many felids, tigers are strong swimmers and often deliberately bathe in ponds, lakes and rivers as a means of keeping cool in the heat of the day. Among the big cats, only the jaguar shares a similar fondness for water.[91] They may cross rivers up to 7 km (4.3 mi) across and can swim up to 29 km (18 mi) in a day.[71] They are able to carry prey through or capture it in the water.


Male tiger marking his territory

To identify his territory, the male marks trees by spraying urine[93][94] and anal gland secretions, as well as marking trails with scat and marking trees or the ground with their claws. Females also use these "scrapes", as well as urine and scat markings. Scent markings of this type allow an individual to pick up information on another's identity, sex and reproductive status. Females in oestrus will signal their availability by scent marking more frequently and increasing their vocalisations.[66]

Although for the most part avoiding each other, tigers are not always territorial and relationships between individuals can be complex. An adult of either sex will sometimes share its kill with others, even those who may not be related to them. George Schaller observed a male share a kill with two females and four cubs. Unlike male lions, male tigers allow females and cubs to feed on the kill before the male is finished with it; all involved generally seem to behave amicably, in contrast to the competitive behaviour shown by a lion pride.[70] In his book Tiger, Stephen Mills describes a social eating event witnessed by Valmik Thapar and Fateh Singh Rathore in Ranthambhore National Park thus:


A captive tiger swimming and playing with a piece of wood in a pool.

Occasionally, male tigers participate in raising cubs, usually their own, but this is extremely rare and not always well understood. In May 2015, Amur tigers were photographed by camera traps in the Sikhote-Alin Bioshpere Reserve. The photos show a male Amur tiger pass by, followed by a female and three cubs within the span of about two minutes.[95] In Ranthambore, a male Bengal tiger raised and defended two orphaned female cubs after their mother had died of illness. The cubs remained under his care, he supplied them with food, protected them from his rival and sister, and apparently also trained them.[96]

Male tigers are generally more intolerant of other males within their territories than females are of other females. Territory disputes are usually solved by displays of intimidation rather than outright aggression. Several such incidents have been observed in which the subordinate tiger yielded defeat by rolling onto its back and showing its belly in a submissive posture.[97] Once dominance has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not live in too close quarters.[92] The most aggressive disputes tend to occur between two males when a female is in oestrus, and may rarely result in the death of one of the males.[92][97]

Young male showing flehmen response while sniffing urine marking

Facial expressions include the "defense threat", where an individual bares its teeth, flattens its ears and its pupils enlarge. Both males and females show a flehmen response, a characteristic grimace, when sniffing urine markings but flehmen is more often associated with males detecting the markings made by tigresses in oestrus. Like other Panthera, tigers roar, particularly in aggressive situations, during the mating season or when making a kill. There are two different roars: the "true" roar is made using the hyoid apparatus and forced through an open mouth as it progressively closes, and the shorter, harsher "coughing" roar is made with the mouth open and teeth exposed. The "true" roar can be heard at up to 3 km (1.9 mi) away and is sometimes emitted three or four times in succession. When tense, tigers will moan, a sound similar to a roar but more subdued and made when the mouth is partially or completely closed. Moaning can be heard 400 m (1,300 ft) away.[36] Chuffing, soft, low-frequency snorting similar to purring in smaller cats, is heard in more friendly situations.[98] Other vocal communications include grunts, woofs, snarls, miaows, hisses and growls.[36]

Tigers have been studied in the wild using a variety of techniques. The populations of tigers have been estimated using plaster casts of their pugmarks, although this method was criticised as being inaccurate.[99] More recent attempts have been made using camera trapping and studies on DNA from their scat, while radio collaring has been used to track tigers in the wild.[100] Tiger spray has been found to be just as good, or better, as a source of DNA as scat.[101]

Hunting and diet

An adult tiger showing incisors, canines and part of the premolars and molars, while yawning.

In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized animals, preferring native ungulates weighing at least 90 kg (200 lb).[102][103] They typically have little or no deleterious effect on their prey populations.[71] Sambar deer, chital, barasingha, wild boar, gaur, nilgai and both water buffalo and domestic buffalo, in descending order of preference, are the tiger's favoured prey in Tamil Nadu, India,[102] while gaur and sambar are the preferred prey and constitute the main diet of tigers in other parts of India.[104][105] They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, sloth bears, and crocodiles.

In Siberia, the main prey species are Manchurian wapiti and wild boar (the two species comprising nearly 80% of the prey selected) followed by sika deer, moose, roe deer, and musk deer.[106] Asiatic black bears and Ussuri brown bears may also fall prey to tigers,[58][107][108] and they constitute up to 40.7% of the diet of Siberian tigers depending on local conditions and the bear populations.[109] In Sumatra, prey include sambar deer, muntjac, wild boar, Malayan tapir and orangutan.[110][111] In the former Caspian tiger's range, prey included saiga antelope, camels, Caucasian wisent, yak, and wild horses. Like many predators, tigers are opportunistic and may eat much smaller prey, such as monkeys, peafowl and other ground-based birds, hares, porcupines, and fish.[102][66]

Tiger attacking a sambar in Ranthambore
Tiger attacking a sambar in Ranthambore

Tigers generally do not prey on fully grown adult Asian elephants and Indian rhinoceros but incidents have been reported.[112][113] More often, it is the more vulnerable small calves that are taken.[114] Tigers have been reported attacking and killing elephants ridden by humans during tiger hunts in the 19th century.[115] When in close proximity to humans, tigers will also sometimes prey on such domestic livestock as cattle, horses, and donkeys.[116] Old or wounded tigers, unable to catch wild prey, can become man-eaters; this pattern has recurred frequently across India. An exception is in the Sundarbans, where healthy tigers prey upon fishermen and villagers in search of forest produce, humans thereby forming a minor part of the tiger's diet.[117] Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre such as fruit of the slow match tree.[116]

Tiger dentition (above) and Asian black bear (below). The large canines make the killing bite; the carnassials tear flesh.

Tigers are thought to be mainly nocturnal predators,[118] but in areas where humans are typically absent, they have been observed via remote-controlled, hidden cameras, hunting in daylight.[119] They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth.[71] Despite their large size, tigers can reach speeds of about 49–65 km/h (30–40 mph) but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover. If the prey catches wind of the tiger's presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than chase prey or battle it head-on. Horizontal leaps of up to 10 m (33 ft) have been reported, although leaps of around half this distance are more typical. One in 2 to 20 hunts, including stalking near potential prey, ends in a successful kill.[71][120][121]

When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to bite the throat and use their powerful forelimbs to hold onto the prey, often simultaneously wrestling it to the ground. The tiger remains latched onto the neck until its target dies of strangulation.[70] By this method, gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much.[122] Although they can kill healthy adults, tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species.[123] Healthy adult prey of this type can be dangerous to tackle, as long, strong horns, legs and tusks are all potentially fatal to the tiger. No other extant land predator routinely takes on prey this large on their own.[124][125] Whilst hunting sambars, which comprise up to 60% of their prey in India, tigers have reportedly made a passable impersonation of the male sambar's rutting call to attract them.[102][116]

Tiger subduing an Indian boar

With smaller prey, such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the nape, often breaking the spinal cord, piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery.[126] Though rarely observed, some tigers have been recorded to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle,[116] and break the backs of sloth bears.[127]



Enemies and competitors


Tigers usually prefer to eat prey they have caught themselves, but are not above eating carrion in times of scarcity and may even pirate prey from other large carnivores. Although predators typically avoid one another, if a prey item is under dispute or a serious competitor is encountered, displays of aggression are common. If these are not sufficient, the conflicts may turn violent; tigers may kill competitors as leopards, dholes, striped hyenas, wolves, bears, pythons, and crocodiles on occasion. Tigers may also prey on these competitors.[58][127][129][130][131][132] Attacks on smaller predators, such as badgers, lynxes, and foxes, are almost certainly predatory.[102] Crocodiles, bears, and large packs of dholes may win conflicts against tigers and in some cases even kill them.[58][133][134][135]

The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey.[136] In India's Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from 30 to 175 kg (66 to 386 lb) against a preference for prey weighing over 176 kg (388 lb) in the tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was 37.6 kg (83 lb) against 91.5 kg (202 lb).[137] With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies dominance hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna, where the leopard exists with the lion.[137] Golden jackals may feed on the tiger's kills.[138]


Tigress with her cub

Mating can occur all year round, but is more common between November and April.[71] A female is only receptive for three to six days. Mating is frequent and noisy during that time. Gestation can range from 93 to 112 days, the average being 105 days.[71] The litter is usually two or three cubs, occasionally as few as one or as many as six. Cubs weigh from 680 to 1,400 g (1.50 to 3.09 lb) each at birth, and are born blind and helpless.[71] The females rear them alone, with the birth site and maternal den in a sheltered location such as a thicket, cave or rocky crevice. The father generally takes no part in rearing them. Unrelated wandering male tigers may kill cubs to make the female receptive, since the tigress may give birth to another litter within five months if the cubs of the previous litter are lost.[71] The mortality rate of tiger cubs is about 50% in the first two years.[71] Few other predators attack tiger cubs due to the diligence and ferocity of the mother tiger. Apart from humans and other tigers, common causes of cub mortality are starvation, freezing, and accidents.[125]


Conservation efforts

Tiger populations (2016)[139]
Country Estimate
Bangladesh Bangladesh 106
Bhutan Bhutan 103
Cambodia Cambodia 0
China China >7
India India 2,226
Indonesia Indonesia 371
Laos Laos 2
Malaysia Malaysia 250
Myanmar Myanmar no data
Nepal Nepal 198
North Korea North Korea no data
Russia Russia 433
Thailand Thailand 189
Vietnam Vietnam <5
Total 3,890+

The tiger is an endangered species.[140] Poaching for fur and body parts and destruction of habitat have simultaneously greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the wild, but the population has dwindled outside of captivity to between 1,500 and 3,500.[141][142] Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching.[1] Demand for tiger parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine has also been cited as a major threat to tiger populations.[143][144] Some estimates suggest that there are fewer than 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals.[1] The global wild tiger population was estimated by the World Wide Fund for Nature at 3,200 in 2011 and 3,890 in 2015—Vox reported that this was the first increase in a century.[145][146] The exact number of wild tigers is unknown, as many estimates are outdated or are educated guesses; few estimates are based on reliable scientific censuses. The table shows estimates per country according to IUCN and range country governments.[140] The Wildlife Conservation Society and Panthera Corporation formed the collaboration Tigers Forever, with field sites including the world's largest tiger reserve, the 21,756 km2 (8,400 sq mi) Hukaung Valley in Myanmar. Other reserves were in the Western Ghats in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, the Russian Far East covering in total about 260,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi).[147]

India is home to the world's largest population of wild tigers[148] but only 11% of the original Indian tiger habitat remains, and it has become fragmented.[149][150] From 1973, India's Project Tiger, started by Indira Gandhi, established over 25 tiger reserves in reclaimed land, where human development was forbidden. The project was credited with tripling the number of wild Bengal tigers from some 1,200 in 1973 to over 3,500 in the 1990s, but a 2007 census showed that numbers had dropped back to about 1,400 tigers because of poaching.[151] Following the report, the Indian government pledged $153 million to the initiative, set up measures to combat poaching, promised funds to relocate up to 200,000 villagers in order to reduce human-tiger interactions,[152] and set up eight new tiger reserves.[153] India also reintroduced tigers to the Sariska Tiger Reserve[154] and by 2009 it was claimed that poaching had been effectively countered at Ranthambore National Park.[155] A 2014 census estimated a population of 2,226, a 30% increase since 2011.[39]

In the 1940s, the Siberian tiger was on the brink of extinction with only about 40 animals remaining in the wild in Russia. As a result, anti-poaching controls were put in place by the Soviet Union and a network of protected zones (zapovedniks) were instituted, leading to a rise in the population to several hundred. Poaching again became a problem in the 1990s, when the economy of Russia collapsed. The major obstacle in preserving the species is the enormous territory individual tigers require (up to 450 km2 needed by a single female and more for a single male).[156] Current conservation efforts are led by local governments and NGO's in concert with international organisations, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Wildlife Conservation Society.[157] The competitive exclusion of wolves by tigers has been used by Russian conservationists to convince hunters to tolerate the big cats. Tigers have less impact on ungulate populations than do wolves, and are effective in controlling the latter's numbers.[158] In 2005, there were thought to be about 360 animals in Russia, though these exhibited little genetic diversity.[46] However, in a decade later, the Siberian tiger census was estimated from 480 to 540 individuals.

Camera trap image of wild Sumatran tiger



A rewilded South China tiger hunting blesbok in South Africa

Rewilding and reintroducing

In 1978, the Indian conservationist Billy Arjan Singh attempted to rewild a tiger in Dudhwa National Park; this was the captive-bred tigress Tara.[164] Soon after the release, numerous people were killed and eaten by a tigress that was subsequently shot. Government officials claimed it was Tara, though Singh disputed this. Further controversy broke out with the discovery that Tara was partly Siberian tiger.[165][166][167][168]

The organisation Save China's Tigers has attempted to rewild the South China tigers, with a breeding and training programme in a South African reserve known as Laohu Valley Reserve (LVR) and eventually reintroduce them to the wild of China.[169]

A future rewilding project was proposed for Siberian tigers set to be reintroduced to northern Russia's Pleistocene park. The Siberian tigers sent to Iran for a captive breeding project in Tehran are set to be rewilded and reintroduced to the Miankaleh peninsula, to replace the now extinct Caspian tigers.[170][171][172]

Relation with humans

Tiger hunting on elephant-back, India, 1808

Tiger as prey

The tiger has been one of the big five game animals of Asia. Tiger hunting took place on a large scale in the early 19th and 20th centuries, being a recognised and admired sport by the British in colonial India as well as the maharajas and aristocratic class of the erstwhile princely states of pre-independence India. A single maharaja or English hunter could claim to kill over a hundred tigers in their hunting career.[71] Tiger hunting was done by some hunters on foot; others sat up on machans with a goat or buffalo tied out as bait; yet others on elephant-back.[173]

Man-eating tigers

Wild tigers that have had no prior contact with humans actively avoid interactions with humans. However, tigers cause more human deaths through direct attack than any other wild mammal.[71] Attacks are occasionally provoked, as tigers lash out after being injured while they themselves are hunted. Attacks can be provoked accidentally, as when a human surprises a tiger or inadvertently comes between a mother and her young,[174] or as in a case in rural India when a postman startled a tiger, used to seeing him on foot, by riding a bicycle.[175] Occasionally tigers come to view people as prey. Such attacks are most common in areas where population growth, logging, and farming have put pressure on tiger habitats and reduced their wild prey. Most man-eating tigers are old, missing teeth, and unable to capture their preferred prey.[66] For example, the Champawat Tiger, a tigress found in Nepal and then India, had two broken canines. She was responsible for an estimated 430 human deaths, the most attacks known to be perpetrated by a single wild animal, by the time she was shot in 1907 by Jim Corbett.[72] According to Corbett, tiger attacks on humans are normally in daytime, when people are working outdoors and are not keeping watch.[176] Early writings tend to describe man-eating tigers as cowardly because of their ambush tactics.[177]

Stereographic photograph (1903), captioned "Famous 'man-eater' at Calcutta—devoured 200 men, women and children before capture—India"[178]

Man-eaters have been a particular problem in recent decades in India and Bangladesh, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal, where some healthy tigers have hunted humans. Because of rapid habitat loss attributed to climate change, tiger attacks have increased in the Sundarbans.[179] The Sundarbans area had 129 human deaths from tigers from 1969 to 1971. In the 10 years prior to that period, about 100 attacks per year in the Sundarbans, with a high of around 430 in some years of the 1960s.[71] Unusually, in some years in the Sundarbans, more humans are killed by tigers than vice versa.[71] In 1972, India's production of honey and beeswax dropped by 50% when at least 29 people who gathered these materials were devoured.[71] In 1986 in the Sundarbans, since tigers almost always attack from the rear, masks with human faces were worn on the back of the head, on the theory that tigers usually do not attack if seen by their prey. This decreased the number of attacks only temporarily. All other means to prevent attacks, such as providing more prey or using electrified human dummies, worked less well.[180]

At least 27 people were killed or seriously injured by captive tigers in the United States from 1998 to 2001.[181][181]


Commercial hunting and traditional medicine

A hunting party poses with a killed Javan tiger, 1941.


Many people in China and other parts of Asia have a belief that various tiger parts have medicinal properties, including as pain killers and aphrodisiacs.[183] There is no scientific evidence to support these beliefs. The use of tiger parts in pharmaceutical drugs in China is already banned, and the government has made some offences in connection with tiger poaching punishable by death.[which?] Furthermore, all trade in tiger parts is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and a domestic trade ban has been in place in China since 1993.[184]

However, the trading of tiger parts in Asia has become a major black market industry and governmental and conservation attempts to stop it have been ineffective to date.[71] Almost all black marketers engaged in the trade are based in China and have either been shipped and sold within in their own country or into Taiwan, South Korea or Japan.[71] The Chinese subspecies was almost completely decimated by killing for commerce due to both the parts and skin trades in the 1950s through the 1970s.[71] Contributing to the illegal trade, there are a number of tiger farms in the country specialising in breeding the cats for profit. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 captive-bred, semi-tame animals live in these farms today.[185][186][187] However, many tigers for traditional medicine black market are wild ones shot or snared by poachers and may be caught anywhere in the tiger's remaining range (from Siberia to India to the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra). In the Asian black market, a tiger penis can be worth the equivalent of around $300 U.S. dollars. In the years of 1990 through 1992, 27 million products with tiger derivatives were found.[71] In July 2014 at an international convention on endangered species in Geneva, Switzerland, a Chinese representative admitted for the first time his government was aware trading in tiger skins was occurring in China.[188]

In captivity

Tigers made to perform at Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus

In Ancient Roman times, tigers were kept in menageries and amphitheatres to be exhibited, trained and paraded, and were often provoked to fight humans and exotic beasts.[189][190] Since the 17th century, tigers, being rare and ferocious, were sought after to keep at European castles as symbols of their owners' power.[191] Tigers became central zoo and circus exhibits in the 18th century: a tiger could cost up to 4,000 francs in France (for comparison, a professor of the Beaux-Arts at Lyons earned only 3,000 francs a year),[192] or up to $3,500 in the United States where a lion cost no more than $1,000.[193]

China (2007) had over 4,000 captive tigers, of which 3,000 were held by about twenty larger facilities, with the rest held by some 200 smaller facilities.[194] The USA (2011) had 2,884 tigers in 468 facilities.[195] Nineteen states have banned private ownership of tigers, fifteen require a license, and sixteen states have no regulation.[196] Genetic ancestry of 105 captive tigers from fourteen countries and regions showed that forty-nine animals belonged distinctly to five subspecies; fifty-two animals had mixed subspecies origins.[197] As such, "many Siberian tigers in zoos today are actually the result of crosses with Bengal tigers."[198]

The Tiger Species Survival Plan has condemned the breeding of white tigers, alleging they are of mixed ancestry and of unknown lineage. The genes responsible for white colouration are represented by 0.001% of the population. The disproportionate growth in numbers of white tigers points to inbreeding among homozygous recessive individuals. This would lead to inbreeding depression and loss of genetic variability.[199]

Cultural depictions

Chinese headrest with tiger from the 12th century. Hallwyl Museum


The Hindu goddess Durga riding a tiger. Guler school, early 18th century

In myth and legend

19th-century painting of a tiger by Kuniyoshi Utagawa


The tiger's tail appears in stories from countries including China and Korea, it being generally inadvisable to grasp a tiger by the tail.[202][203]

In Buddhism, the tiger is one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolising anger, with the monkey representing greed and the deer lovesickness.[201] The Tungusic peoples considered the Siberian tiger a near-deity and often referred to it as "Grandfather" or "Old man". The Udege and Nanai called it "Amba". The Manchu considered the Siberian tiger as "Hu Lin," the king.[77] In Hinduism, the god Shiva wears and sits on tiger skin.[204] The ten-armed warrior goddess Durga rides the tigress (or lioness) Damon into battle. In southern India the god Ayyappan was associated with a tiger.[205]

The weretiger replaces the werewolf in shapeshifting folklore in Asia;[206] in India they were evil sorcerers, while in Indonesia and Malaysia they were somewhat more benign.[207] In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, tigers are fiercer and more ruthless than lions.[208]

In literature, art and film

William Blake's first printing of The Tyger, c. 1795



The tiger appears in heraldry but is distinct from the heraldic beast tyger, a wolflike, snouted creature which has its roots in European Medieval bestiaries.

Political symbolism


The tiger is one of the animals displayed on the Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The tiger was the emblem of the Chola Dynasty and was depicted on coins, seals and banners.[211] The seals of several Chola copper coins show the tiger, the Pandyan emblem fish and the Chera emblem bow, indicating that the Cholas had achieved political supremacy over the latter two dynasties. Gold coins found in Kavilayadavalli in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh have motifs of the tiger, bow and some indistinct marks.[212] The tiger symbol of Chola Empire was later adopted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the tiger became a symbol of the unrecognised state of Tamil Eelam and Tamil independence movement.[213]

The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh.[214] The Malaysian tiger is the national animal of Malaysia.[215] The Siberian tiger is the national animal of South Korea. Since the successful economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore were described as the Four Asian Tigers, a tiger economy is a metaphor for a nation in rapid development.

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  • John Hampden Porter (1894). "The Tiger". Wild beasts; a study of the characters and habits of the elephant, lion, leopard, panther, jaguar, tiger, puma, wolf, and grizzly bear. pp. 196–256. 
  • Sankhala, Kailash (1997). Indian Tiger. Roli Books Pvt Limited, India. ISBN 978-81-7437-088-4. 

External links

  • Species portrait Tiger; IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library bibliography for Panthera tigris
  • Tiger Stamps: Tiger images on postage stamps from many different countries
  • Year of the tiger. Video collection on occasion of the Year of the Tiger, 2010. BBC.
  • Video clips. BBC archive on Wildlife Finder.
  • "Is this the last chance to save the tiger?". 19 November 2010. By Pralad Yonzon. The Kathmandu Post.
  • Tale of the Cat at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 February 2010). 1 March 2010. By Andrew Marshall. TIME Magazine
  • "India's tiger population increases by 30% in past three years; country now has 2,226 tigers". 20 January 2015. By Vishwa Mohan. Times of India. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
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