View source for Biology:Tiger

{{Short description|Largest species of the cat family}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Early Pleistocene | Present}}
| image = Walking tiger female.jpg
| image_caption = A [[Biology:Bengal tiger|Bengal tigress]] in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref =<ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Panthera tigris'' |author=Goodrich, J. |author2=Wibisono, H. |author3=Miquelle, D. |author4=Lynam, A.J |author5=Sanderson, E. |author6=Chapman, S. |author7=Gray, T.N.E. |author8=Chanchani, P. |author9=Harihar, A. |name-list-style=amp |date=2022 |page=e.T15955A214862019 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T15955A214862019.en |access-date=31 August 2022}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A1
| status2_system = CITES
| status2_ref = <ref name=iucn/>
| taxon = Panthera tigris
| authority = ([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)<ref name="Linn1758" />
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision =
* ''P. t. tigris''
* ''[[Biology:Sunda Island tiger|P. t. sondaica]]''
* {{extinct}}''[[Biology:Panthera tigris acutidens|P. t. acutidens]]''
* {{extinct}}''[[Biology:Panthera tigris soloensis|P. t. soloensis]]''
* {{extinct}}''[[Biology:Panthera tigris trinilensis|P. t. trinilensis]]''
| range_map = Tiger map.svg
| range_map_caption = Tiger's historical range in about 1850 (pale yellow), excluding that of the [[Biology:Caspian tiger|Caspian tiger]], and in 2006 (in green).<ref name="dinerstein07">{{cite journal|author=Dinerstein, E. |author2=Loucks, C. |author3=Wikramanayake, E. |author4=Ginsberg, J. |author5=Sanderson, E. |author6=Seidensticker, J. |author7=Forrest, J. |author8=Bryja, G. |author9=Heydlauff, A. |title=The Fate of Wild Tigers |journal=BioScience |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=508–514 |year=2007 |doi=10.1641/B570608 |s2cid=85748043 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
| synonyms =
{{Species list
| Felis tigris | [[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Biology:Systema Naturae|1758]]
| Tigris striatus | Severtzov, 1858
| Tigris regalis | Gray, 1867
}}
| synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite book |first1=J.R. |last1=Ellerman |first2=T.C.S. |last2=Morrison-Scott |date=1951 |title=Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946 |location=London |publisher=British Museum |page=318 |chapter=''Panthera tigris'', Linnaeus, 1758 |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8722619}}</ref>
}}

The '''tiger''' ('''''Panthera tigris''''') is the largest living [[Biology:Felidae|cat]] species and a member of the genus ''[[Biology:Panthera|Panthera]]''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An [[Biology:Apex predator|apex predator]], it primarily preys on [[Biology:Ungulate|ungulate]]s, such as [[Biology:Deer|deer]] and wild boar. It is [[Biology:Territory (animal)|territorial]] and generally a solitary but social predator, requiring large contiguous areas of habitat to support its requirements for prey and rearing of its offspring. Tiger cubs stay with their mother for about two years and then become independent, leaving their mother's [[Earth:Home range|home range]] to establish their own.

The tiger was first scientifically described in 1758. It once ranged widely from the Eastern Anatolia Region in the west to the Amur River basin in the east, and in the south from the foothills of the Himalayas to Bali in the Sunda Islands. Since the early 20th century, tiger populations have lost at least 93% of their historic range and have been extirpated from [[Place:Western Asia|Western]] and [[Place:Central Asia|Central Asia]], the islands of Java and Bali, and in large areas of [[Place:Southeast Asia|Southeast]] and [[Place:South Asia|South Asia]] and {{wipe|China}}. What remains of the range where tigers still roam free is fragmented, stretching in spots from Siberian [[Earth:Temperate forest|temperate forest]]s to subtropical and [[Earth:Tropical forest|tropical forest]]s on the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]], [[Place:Indochina|Indochina]] and a single Indonesian island, Sumatra.

The tiger is listed as [[Biology:Endangered species|Endangered]] on the [[Organization:IUCN Red List|IUCN Red List]]. As of 2023, the global wild tiger population is estimated to number 5,574 individuals, with most populations living in small isolated pockets.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brigida |first=Danielle |date=September 11, 2023 |title=New Tiger Population Estimate |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/new-tiger-population-estimate-of-5-574-wild-tigers-announced-by-global-tiger-forum |access-date=September 23, 2023 |website=World Wildlife Fund}}</ref> India hosts the largest tiger population. Major reasons for population decline are [[Earth:Habitat destruction|habitat destruction]], [[Biology:Habitat fragmentation|habitat fragmentation]] and [[Biology:Poaching|poaching]]. Tigers are also victims of [[Biology:Human–wildlife conflict|human–wildlife conflict]], due to encroachment in countries with a high human population density.

The tiger is among the most recognisable and popular of the world's [[Biology:Charismatic megafauna|charismatic megafauna]]. It featured prominently in the ancient mythology and [[Social:Folklore|folklore]] of cultures throughout its historic range and continues to be depicted in modern films and literature, appearing on many flags, coats of arms and as [[Social:Mascot|mascot]]s for sporting teams. The tiger is the national animal of {{wipe|India}}, Bangladesh, Malaysia and {{wipe|South Korea}}.

== Etymology ==
The [[Social:Middle English|Middle English]] ''tigre'' and [[Social:Old English|Old English]] ''tigras'' derive from Old French ''tigre'', from [[Social:Latin|Latin]] ''tigris''. This was a borrowing of Classical Greek τίγρις 'tigris', a foreign borrowing of unknown origin meaning 'tiger' and the river [[Place:Tigris|Tigris]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Liddell, H. G. |author2=Scott, R. |name-list-style=amp |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |edition=Revised and augmented |year=1940 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |chapter=τίγρις |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dti%2Fgris}}</ref><!-- The origin may have been the [[Social:Persian language|Persian]] word ''tigra'' meaning 'pointed or sharp' and the Avestan word ''tigrhi'' meaning 'arrow', perhaps referring to the speed of the tiger's leap, although these words are not known to have any meanings associated with tigers.<ref>{{cite book |author=Harper, D. |year=2001–2011 |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tiger |title=Tiger |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline |access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref> -->
The generic name ''Panthera'' is derived from the [[Social:Latin|Latin]] word ''panthera'' and the [[Social:Ancient Greek|Ancient Greek]] word πάνθηρ ''pánthēr''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Liddell, H. G.  |last2=Scott, R. |name-list-style=amp |year=1940 |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |edition=Revised and augmented |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |chapter=πάνθηρ |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2377441}}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==
In 1758, [[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Carl Linnaeus]] described the tiger in his work ''[[Biology:Systema Naturae|Systema Naturae]]'' and gave it the scientific name ''Felis tigris''.<ref name="Linn1758">{{cite book |author=Linnaeus, C. |year=1758 |title=Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis |volume=Tomus I |edition=decima, reformata |location=Holmiae |publisher=Laurentius Salvius |page=41 |chapter=''Felis tigris'' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753000798865#page/41/mode/2up |language=la}}</ref> In 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus ''[[Biology:Panthera|Panthera]]'' using the scientific name ''Panthera tigris''.<ref name=pocock1929>{{cite journal |author=Pocock, R. I. |year=1929 |title=Tigers |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=505–541 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbomb33341929bomb/page/n133}}</ref><ref name=pocock1939>{{cite book |author=Pocock, R. I. |year=1939 |title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia: Volume 1 |location=London |publisher=T. Taylor and Francis, Ltd. |pages=197–210 |chapter=''Panthera tigris'' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/PocockMammalia1/pocock1#page/n247/mode/2up}}</ref>

=== Subspecies ===
{{anchor|Populations}}
Following Linnaeus's first descriptions of the species, several tiger [[Biology:Zoological specimen|zoological specimen]] were described and proposed as [[Biology:Subspecies|subspecies]].<ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Carnivora |id=14000259 |page=546 |heading=Species ''Panthera tigris''}}</ref> The [[Biology:Valid name (zoology)|validity]] of several tiger subspecies was questioned in 1999. Most putative subspecies described in the 19th and 20th centuries were distinguished on the basis of fur length and colouration, striping patterns and body size, hence characteristics that vary widely within populations. [[Biology:Morphology|Morphologically]], tigers from different regions vary little, and [[Biology:Gene flow|gene flow]] between populations in those regions is considered to have been possible during the [[Earth:Pleistocene|Pleistocene]]. Therefore, it was proposed to recognize only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely ''[[Biology:Mainland Asian tiger|P. t. tigris]]'' in mainland Asia, and ''[[Biology:Sunda Island tiger|P. t. sondaica]]'' in the Greater Sunda Islands. Mainland tigers are described has being larger in size with generally lighter fur and fewer stripes, while island tiger are smaller due to [[Biology:Insular dwarfism|insular dwarfism]], with darker coats and more numerous stripes on the sides.<ref name=Kitchener1999>{{cite book |last=Kitchener |first=A. |date=1999 |chapter=Tiger distribution, phenotypic variation and conservation issues |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbQ8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA19 |editor1-last=Seidensticker |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Christie |editor2-first=S. |editor3-last=Jackson |editor3-first=P. |title=Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human-Dominated Landscapes |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=19–39 |isbn=978-0521648356}}</ref> The stripes of island tigers may break up into spotted patterns.<ref name=Mazak1981/>

This two-subspecies proposal was reaffirmed in 2015 by a comprehensive analysis of morphological, ecological and molecular traits of all putative tiger subspecies using a combined approach. The authors proposed recognition of only two subspecies, namely ''P. t. tigris'' comprising the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South Chinese, Siberian and Caspian tiger populations of continental Asia, and ''P. t. sondaica'' comprising the Javan, Bali and Sumatran tiger populations of the Sunda Islands. The continental nominate subspecies ''P. t. tigris'' constitutes two [[Biology:Clade|clade]]s: a northern clade composed of the Siberian and Caspian tiger populations, and a southern clade composed of all other mainland populations. The authors noted that this two-subspecies reclassification will impact tiger conservation management.<ref name=Wilting2015>{{cite journal |title=Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation |last1=Wilting |first1=A. |last2=Courtiol |first2=A. |first3=P. |last3=Christiansen |first4=J. |last4=Niedballa |first5=A. K. |last5=Scharf |first6=L. |last6=Orlando |first7=N. |last7=Balkenhol |first8=H. |last8=Hofer |first9=S. |last9=Kramer-Schadt |first10=J. |last10=Fickel |first11=A. C. |last11=Kitchener |name-list-style=amp |date=2015 |volume=11 |issue=5 |page=e1400175 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.1400175 |pmid=26601191 |pmc=4640610 |journal=Science Advances |bibcode=2015SciA....1E0175W}}</ref> It would make captive breeding programs and future re-wilding of zoo-born tigers easier, as one tiger population could then be used to reinforce another. However, there is the risk that the loss of subspecies uniqueness could lead to less protection efforts for specific populations.<ref name=Kupferschmidt2015>{{cite journal |last1=Kupferschmidt |first1=K. |date=2015 |title=Controversial study claims there are only two types of tiger |journal=Science |doi=10.1126/science.aac6905 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy in accordance with the two-subspecies proposal of the comprehensive 2015 study, and recognized the tiger populations in continental Asia as ''P. t. tigris'', and those in the Sunda Islands as ''P. t. sondaica''.<ref name=catsg>{{cite journal |last1=Kitchener |first1=A. C. |last2=Breitenmoser-Würsten |first2=C. |last3=Eizirik |first3=E. |last4=Gentry |first4=A. |last5=Werdelin |first5=L. |last6=Wilting |first6=A. |last7=Yamaguchi |first7=N. |last8=Abramov |first8=A. V. |last9=Christiansen |first9=P. |last10=Driscoll |first10=C. |last11=Duckworth |first11=J. W. |last12=Johnson |first12=W. |last13=Luo |first13=S.-J. |last14=Meijaard |first14=E. |last15=O’Donoghue |first15=P. |last16=Sanderson |first16=J. |last17=Seymour |first17=K. |last18=Bruford |first18=M. |last19=Groves |first19=C. |last20=Hoffmann |first20=M. |last21=Nowell |first21=K. |last22=Timmons |first22=Z. |last23=Tobe |first23=S. |name-list-style=amp |date=2017 |title=A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group |journal=Cat News |issue=Special Issue 11 |pages=66–68 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/32616/A_revised_Felidae_Taxonomy_CatNews.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y#page=66}}</ref> This two-subspecies view is still disputed by researchers, since the currently recognized six living subspecies can be distinguished genetically.<ref name=Kupferschmidt2015/> Results of a 2018 whole-genome sequencing of 32 samples support six [[Biology:Monophyletic|monophyletic]] tiger [[Biology:Clade|clade]]s corresponding with the living subspecies and indicate they descended from a common ancestor around 110,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Y.-C. |first2=X. |last2=Sun |first3=C. |last3=Driscoll |first4=D. G. |last4=Miquelle |first5=X. |last5=Xu |first6=P. |last6=Martelli |first7=O. |last7=Uphyrkina |first8=J. L. D. |last8=Smith |first9=S. J. |last9=O’Brien |first10=S.-J. |last10=Luo |name-list-style=amp |title=Genome-wide evolutionary analysis of natural history and adaptation in the world's tigers |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=23 |date=2018 |pages=3840–3849 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.019 |pmid=30482605 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2021 study also affirmed the genetic distinctiveness of these subspecies.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Armstrong|first1=E. E.|last2=Khan|first2=A|last3=Taylor|first3=R. W.|last4=Gouy|first4=A|last5=Greenbaum|first5=G|last6=Thiéry|first6=A|last7=Kang|first7=J. T.|last8=Redondo|first8=S. A.|last9=Prost|first9=S|last10=Barsh|first10=G|last11=Kaelin|first11=C|last12=Phalke|first12=S|last13=Chugani|first13=A|last14=Gilbert|first14=M|last15=Miquelle|first15=D|last16=Zachariah|first16=A|last17=Borthakur|first17=U|last18=Reddy|first18=A|last19=Louis|first19=E|last20=Ryder|first20=O. A.|last21=Jhala|first21=Y. V.|last22=Petrov|first22=D|last23=Excoffier|first23=L|last24=Hadly|first24=E|last25=Ramakrishnan|first25=U|year=2021|title=Recent evolutionary history of tigers highlights contrasting roles of genetic drift and selection|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=38|issue=6|pages=2366–2379|doi=10.1093/molbev/msab032|pmid=33592092 |pmc=8136513 }}</ref>

The following tables are based on the [[Biology:Taxonomy|classification]] of the species ''Panthera tigris'' provided in ''Mammal Species of the World'',<ref name=MSW3/> and also reflect the classification used by the Cat Classification Task Force in 2017:<ref name=catsg/>
{{clear}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: centre;" | ''Panthera tigris tigris'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}}<ref name=Linn1758/>
! Populations !! Description !! Image
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Biology:Bengal tiger|Bengal tiger]]
| | This tiger inhabits the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]].<ref name=Jackson1996>{{Cite book |author1=Nowell, K. |author2=Jackson, P. |title=Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan |place=Gland, Switzerland |publisher=IUCN |year=1996 |isbn=2-8317-0045-0 |name-list-style=amp |pages=55–65 |chapter=Tiger, ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |chapter-url=https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/1996-008.pdf#page=80}}</ref> Linnaeus's scientific description of the tiger was based on descriptions by earlier naturalists such as Conrad Gessner and Ulisse Aldrovandi.<ref name=Linn1758/> Bengal tiger skins in the collection of the [[Biology:Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], London were described as bright orange-red with shorter fur and more spaced out stripes than northern-living tigers like the Siberian tiger.<ref name=pocock1939/>
| |<span style="{{MirrorH}}">[[File:Sher Khan (cropped).jpg|frameless]]</span>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| †[[Biology:Caspian tiger|Caspian tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. virgata'' (Illiger, 1815)}}<ref name="Illiger">{{cite journal |last1=Illiger |first1=C. |date=1815 |title=Überblick der Säugethiere nach ihrer Verteilung über die Welttheile |journal=Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin |volume=1804–1811 |pages=39–159 |url=http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh/18041811&seite:int=195 |access-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608070026/http://bibliothek.bbaw.de/bbaw/bibliothek-digital/digitalequellen/schriften/anzeige/index_html?band=07-abh%2F18041811&seite%3Aint=195 |archive-date=8 June 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| |This population lived in west-central Asia, reach as far west as Turkey.<ref name=Jackson1996/> Illiger's description was not based on a particular specimen, but he only assumed that tigers in the Caspian area differ from those elsewhere.<ref name=Illiger/> It was later described having a bright rusty-red coat with thin and closely spaced brownish stripes,<ref name=Geptner1972/> and a broad [[Biology:Occipital bone|occipital bone]].<ref name=Kitchener1999/>  According to genetic analysis, it was closely related to the Siberian tiger.<ref name=Driscoll2009>{{Cite journal |last1=Driscoll |first1=C. A. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Bar-Gal |first3=G. K. |last4=Roca |first4=A. L. |last5=Luo |first5=S. |last6=MacDonald |first6=D. W. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |title=Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates the Origin of the Extinct Caspian Tiger and Its Relationship to the Amur Tiger |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0004125 |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=e4125 |date=2009 |pmid=19142238 |pmc=2624500|bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.4125D |doi-access=free}}</ref> It went extinct in the 1970s.<ref name=Seidensticker1999/>
| |[[File:Panthera tigris virgata.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Biology:Siberian tiger|Siberian tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. altaica'' (Temminck, 1844)}}<ref name=Temminck>{{cite book |last=Temminck |first=C. J. |date=1844 |chapter=Aperçu général et spécifique sur les Mammifères qui habitent le Japon et les Iles qui en dépendent |title=Fauna Japonica sive Descriptio animalium, quae in itinere per Japoniam, jussu et auspiciis superiorum, qui summum in India Batava imperium tenent, suscepto, annis 1825–1830 collegit, notis, observationibus et adumbrationibus illustravit Ph. Fr. de Siebold |location=Leiden |publisher=Lugduni Batavorum |editor1=Siebold, P. F. v. |editor2=Temminck, C. J. |editor3=Schlegel, H. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/faunajaponicasi00sieb/page/43}}</ref>
| |The cat is found in the [[Place:Russian Far East|Russian Far East]], Northeast China and possibly North Korea.<ref name=Jackson1996/> Temminck's description was based on an unspecified number of tiger skins with long hairs and dense coats that were traded between Korea and Japan. He assumed they originated in the Altai Mountains.<ref name=Temminck/> The Siberian tiger was later described as having pale coats with few dark brown stripes.<ref name=Geptner1972/> The lighter colouration may be to due to longer exposure to sunlight during the summer. A Siberian tiger's coat becomes darker after molting.<ref name=Kitchener1999/> The skull is described as shorter and broader then southern-living tigers.<ref name="Mazák2010">{{cite journal|last1=Mazák|first1=J. H.|year=2010|title=Craniometric variation in the tiger (''Panthera tigris''): Implications for patterns of diversity, taxonomy and conservation|journal=Mammalian Biology|volume=75|issue=1|pages=45–68|doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2008.06.003}}</ref>
| |[[File:Amur Tiger 4d (5512743124).jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Biology:South China tiger|South China tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. amoyensis'' (Hilzheimer, 1905)}}<ref name=Hilzheimer>{{cite journal |last=Hilzheimer |first=M. |date=1905 |title=Über einige Tigerschädel aus der Straßburger zoologischen Sammlung |journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger |volume=28 |pages=594–599 |url=https://archive.org/details/zoologischeranze28deut/page/596}}</ref>
| |This tiger historically lived in south-central China.<ref name=Jackson1996/> Hilzheimer's description was based on five tiger skulls purchased in Hankou, China. These skulls had shorter [[Biology:Carnassial|carnassial]]s and molars than tigers from India with, a smaller cranium, [[Biology:Orbit (anatomy)|orbit]]s set closer together and larger postorbital processes. Skins of this tiger were described as being yellowish in colour with [[Rhombus|rhombus]]-like stripes.<ref name=Hilzheimer/> It was noted to have a unique mtDNA [[Biology:Haplotype|haplotype]].<ref name=catsg/> This tiger may be extinct in wild as there has not been a confirmed sighting since the 1970s.<ref name=iucn/>
| |[[File:2012 Suedchinesischer Tiger.JPG|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| |The tiger is found on the Indochinese Peninsula.<ref name=Jackson1996/> Mazák's description was based on 25 specimens in museum collections that were smaller than tigers from India and had smaller skulls.<ref name=Mazak1968/> It was also said to have a darker coat than the Bengal tiger more stripes; the stripes being narrower and having less "double stripes".<ref name=mazak06/>
| |<span style="{{MirrorH}}">[[File:Panthera tigris corbetti (Tierpark Berlin) 832-714-(118).jpg|frameless]]</span>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Biology:Malayan tiger|Malayan tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. jacksoni'' Luo et al., 2004}}<ref name=Luo04>{{cite journal |last1=Luo |first1=S.-J. |last2=Kim |first2=J.-H. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=van der Walt |first4=J. |last5=Martenson |first5=J. |last6=Yuhki |first6=N. |last7=Miquelle |first7=D. G. |last8=Uphyrkina |first8=O. |last9=Goodrich |first9=J. M. |last10=Quigley |first10=H. B. |last11=Tilson |first11=R. |last12=Brady |first12=G. |last13=Martelli |first13=P. |last14=Subramaniam |first14=V. |last15=McDougal |first15=C. |last16=Hean |first16=S. |last17=Huang |first17=S.-Q. |last18=Pan |first18=W. |last19=Karanth |first19=U. K. |last20=Sunquist |first20=M. |last21=Smith |first21=J. L. D. |last22=O'Brien |first22=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |date=2004 |title=Phylogeography and genetic ancestry of tigers (''Panthera tigris'') |journal=[[Biology:PLOS Biology|PLOS Biology]] |volume=2 |issue=12 |page=e442 |pmid=15583716 |pmc=534810 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020442 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
| |It was proposed as a distinct subspecies on the basis of [[Biology:Mitochondrial DNA|mtDNA]] and micro-satellite sequences that differ from the Indochinese tiger.<ref name=Luo04/> In pelage colour or skull size, it does not differ significantly from Indochinese tigers.<ref name=mazak06/> There is no clear geographical barrier between tiger populations in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand.<ref name=iucn />
| |<span style="{{MirrorH}}">[[File:Panthera tigris jacksoni at Parc des Félins 15.jpg|frameless]]</span>
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: centre;" | ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' {{small|(Temminck, 1844)}}<ref name=catsg/>
! Populations !! Description !! Image
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| †[[Biology:Javan tiger|Javan tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. sondaica'' (Temminck, 1944)}}<ref name=Temminck/>
| |Temminck based his description on an unspecified number of tiger skins with short and smooth hair.<ref name=Temminck/> Tigers from Java were small compared to tigers of the Asian mainland. The skull was relatively elongated and, compared to the Sumatran tiger, the stripes were longer, thinner and slightly greater in number.<ref name=mazak06>{{cite journal |last1=Mazák |first1=J. H. |last2=Groves |first2=C. P. |name-list-style=amp |date=2006 |title=A taxonomic revision of the tigers (''Panthera tigris'') of Southeast Asia|journal=Mammalian Biology |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=268–287 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2006.02.007 |url=http://www.dl.edi-info.ir/A%20taxonomic%20revision%20of%20the%20tigers%20of%20Southeast%20Asia.pdf}}</ref> Javan tiger went extinct by the 1980s.<ref name=Seidensticker1999/>
| |[[File:Panthera tigris sondaica 01 (cropped).jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| †[[Biology:Bali tiger|Bali tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. balica'' (Schwarz, 1912)}}<ref name=Schwarz>{{cite journal |last=Schwarz |first=E. |date=1912 |title=Notes on Malay tigers, with description of a new form from Bali |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |pages=324–326 |volume=Series 8 Volume 10 |issue=57 |doi=10.1080/00222931208693243 |url=https://archive.org/stream/annalsmagazineof8101912lond#page/324/mode/2up}}</ref>
| |[[File:Bali tiger zanveld.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Biology:Sumatran tiger|Sumatran tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. sumatrae'' Pocock, 1929}}<ref name=Pocock1929>{{cite journal |last=Pocock |first=R. I. |date=1929 |title=Tigers |journal=[[Organization:Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society]] |volume=33 |pages=505–541 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbomb33341929bomb/page/n185}}</ref>
| |Pocock described a dark skin of a tiger from Sumatra as the type specimen.<ref name=Pocock1929/> It has broader and smaller nasal region than other island tigers<ref name="Mazák2010"/><ref name=mazak06/> with many thick stripes.<ref name=mazak06/> This tiger has particularly long hairs around the face.<ref name=Jackson1996/>
| |[[File:Panthera tigris sumatrae (Sumatran Tiger) close-up.jpg|frameless]]
|}

=== Evolution ===
[[File:Two cladograms for Panthera.svg|thumb|upright=0.95|Two cladograms proposed for ''Panthera''. The upper cladogram is based on two studies published in 2006 and 2009,<ref name=Johnson2006/><ref name="werdelin2009">{{cite book |year=2010 |editor1=Macdonald, D. W. |editor2=Loveridge, A. J. |title=Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-923445-5 |last1=Werdelin |first1=L. |last2=Yamaguchi |first2=N. |last3=Johnson |first3=W. E. |last4=O'Brien |first4=S. J. |name-list-style=amp |chapter=Phylogeny and evolution of cats (Felidae) |pages=59–82 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |access-date=2018-10-21 |archive-date=2018-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925141956/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266755142 |url-status=live }}</ref> the lower one is based on studies published in 2010 and 2011.<ref name=Davies2010>{{cite journal |author1=Davis, B. W. |author2=Li, G. |author3=Murphy, W. J. |name-list-style=amp |year=2010 |title=Supermatrix and species tree methods resolve phylogenetic relationships within the big cats, ''Panthera'' (Carnivora: Felidae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=64–76 |pmid=20138224 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.036 |url=http://www.academia.edu/download/46328641/Supermatrix_and_species_tree_methods_res20160607-12326-st2bcr.pdf}}{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="Mazák"/>]]
The tiger's closest living relatives were previously thought to be the ''Panthera'' species [[Biology:Lion|lion]], [[Biology:Leopard|leopard]] and [[Biology:Jaguar|jaguar]]. Results of [[Biology:Genetic analysis|genetic analysis]] indicate that about 2.88&nbsp;million years ago, the tiger and the [[Biology:Snow leopard|snow leopard]] [[Biology:Lineage (evolution)|lineages]] diverged from the other ''Panthera'' species, and that both may be more closely related to each other than to the lion, leopard and jaguar.<ref name=Johnson2006>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=W. E. |last2=Eizirik |first2=E. |last3=Pecon-Slattery |first3=J. |last4=Murphy |first4=W. J. |last5=Antunes |first5=A. |last6=Teeling |first6=E. |last7=O'Brien |first7=S. J. |year=2006 |title=The Late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: A genetic assessment|journal=Science |volume=311 |issue=5757 |pages=73–77 |doi=10.1126/science.1122277 |pmid= 16400146|bibcode=2006Sci...311...73J |s2cid=41672825|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1230866 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=B. W. |last2=Li |first2=G. |last3=Murphy |first3=W. J. |title=Supermatrix and species tree methods resolve phylogenetic relationships within the big cats, ''Panthera'' (Carnivora: Felidae) |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |year=2010 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=64–76 |pmid=20138224 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.036 }}</ref> 

The fossil species ''[[Biology:Panthera palaeosinensis|Panthera palaeosinensis]]'' of early [[Earth:Pleistocene|Pleistocene]] northern China was described as a possible tiger ancestor when it was discovered in 1924, but modern cladistics place it as basal to modern ''Panthera''.<ref name=Tseng>{{cite journal |author1=Tseng, Z. J. |author2=Wang, X. |author3=Slater, G. J. |author4=Takeuchi, G. T. |author5=Li, Q. |author6=Liu, J. |author7=Xie, G. |date=2014 |title=Himalayan fossils of the oldest known pantherine establish ancient origin of big cats |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=281 |issue=1774 |page=20132686 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2013.2686|pmid=24225466 |pmc=3843846}}</ref><ref name="Mazák"/> ''[[Biology:Panthera zdanskyi|Panthera zdanskyi]]'', which lived around the same time and place, was suggested to be a sister taxon of the modern tiger when it was examined in 2014.<ref name="Mazák">{{cite journal |year=2011 |title=Oldest Known Pantherine Skull and Evolution of the Tiger |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=6 |issue=10 |page=e25483 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0025483 |pmid=22016768 |last1=Mazák |first1=J. H. |last2=Christiansen |first2=P. |last3=Kitchener |first3=A. C. |bibcode=2011PLoSO...625483M |pmc=3189913|doi-access=free}}</ref> However, as of 2023, at least two recent studies considered ''P. zdanskyi'' likely to be a synonym of ''P. palaeosinensis'', noting that its proposed differences from that species fell within the range of individual variation.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1007/s12549-023-00571-5 |title=The evolution of the palaeopantherine cats, Palaeopanthera gen. nov. Blytheae (Tseng et al., 2014) and Palaeopanthera pamiri (Ozansoy, 1959) comb. Nov. (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) |date=2023 |last1=Hemmer |first1=Helmut |journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=827–839 |bibcode=2023PdPe..103..827H |s2cid=257842190}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2034808 |title=Discovery of jaguar from northeastern China middle Pleistocene reveals an intercontinental dispersal event |date=2023 |last1=Jiangzuo |first1=Q. |last2=Wang |first2=Y. |last3=Ge |first3=J. |last4=Liu |first4=S. |last5=Song |first5=Y. |last6=Jin |first6=C. |last7=Jiang |first7=H. |last8=Liu |first8=J. |journal=Historical Biology |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=293–302 |bibcode=2023HBio...35..293J |s2cid=246693903}}</ref> The earliest appearance of the modern tiger species in the fossil record are jaw fragments from Lantion in China that are dated to the early Pleistocene.<ref name="Mazák"/> Middle to late Pleistocene tiger fossils were found throughout China, Sumatra and Java. Prehistoric subspecies include ''[[Biology:Panthera tigris trinilensis|Panthera tigris trinilensis]]'' and ''[[Biology:Panthera tigris soloensis|P. t. soloensis]]'' of Java and Sumatra, and ''[[Biology:Panthera tigris acutidens|P. t. acutidens]]'' of China; late Pleistocene and early Holocene fossils of tigers were also found in [[Biology:Bornean tiger|Borneo]] and Palawan, Philippines.<ref name=Kitchener2009>{{Cite book |author1=Kitchener, A. |author2=Yamaguchi, N. |name-list-style=amp |chapter=What is a Tiger? Biogeography, Morphology, and Taxonomy |pages=53–84 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFIbjBEQolMC&pg=PA53 |title=Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of ''Panthera tigris'' |editor=Tilson, R. |editor2=Nyhus, P. J. |date=2010 |publisher=Academic Press |edition=Second |location=London, Burlington |isbn=978-0-08-094751-8}}</ref> 

Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that all living tigers had a common ancestor 108,000 to 72,000 years ago.<ref name=Luo04/> A 2022 paleogenomic study of a Pleistocene tiger basal to living tigers concluded that modern tiger populations spread across Asia no earlier than 94,000 years ago. There is evidence of interbreeding between the lineage of modern mainland tigers and these ancient tigers.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hu|first1=J|last2=Westbury|first2=M. V.|last3=Yuan|first3=J|last4=Wang|first4=C|last5=Xiao|first5=B|last6=Chen|first6=S|last7=Song|first7=S|last8=Wang|first8=L|last9=Lin|first9=H|last10=Lai|first10=X|last11=Sheng|first11=G|year=2022|title=An extinct and deeply divergent tiger lineage from northeastern China recognized through palaeogenomics|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=289|issue=1979|doi=10.1098/rspb.2022.0617|pmid=35892215|pmc=9326283}}</ref> The potential tiger range during the late Pleistocene and Holocene was predicted applying ecological niche modelling based on more than 500 tiger locality records combined with [[Earth:Bioclimatology|bioclimatic]] data. The resulting model shows a contiguous tiger range at the [[Earth:Last Glacial Maximum|Last Glacial Maximum]], indicating [[Biology:Gene flow|gene flow]] between tiger populations in mainland Asia. The tiger populations on the Sunda Islands and mainland Asia were possibly separated during interglacial periods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=D. M. |last2=Dugmore |first2=A. J. |last3=Gittings |first3=B. M. |last4=Scharf |first4=A. K. |last5=Wilting |first5=A. |last6=Kitchener |first6=A. C. |year=2016 |title=Predicted Pleistocene–Holocene rangeshifts of the tiger (''Panthera tigris'') |journal=Diversity and Distributions |volume=22 |issue=11 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1111/ddi.12484 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2016DivDi..22.1199C }}</ref>

The tiger's full [[Biology:Genome|genome]] sequence was published in 2013. It was found to have repeat compositions much as other cat genomes and "an appreciably conserved [[Biology:Synteny|synteny]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The tiger genome and comparative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes |doi=10.1038/ncomms3433 |pmid=24045858 |pmc=3778509 |journal=Nature Communications |volume=4 |page=2433 |year=2013 |last1=Cho |first1=Y. S. |last2=Hu |first2=L. |last3=Hou |first3=H. |last4=Lee |first4=H. |last5=Xu |first5=J. |last6=Kwon |first6=S. |last7=Oh |first7=S. |last8=Kim |first8=H. M. |last9=Jho |first9=S. |last10=Kim |first10=S. |last11=Shin |first11=Y. A. |last12=Kim |first12=B. C. |last13=Kim |first13=H. |last14=Kim |first14=C. U. |last15=Luo | first15=S. J. |last16=Johnson |first16=W. E. |last17=Koepfli |first17=K. P. |last18=Schmidt-Küntzel |first18=A. |last19=Turner |first19=J. A. |last20=Marker |first20=L. |last21=Harper |first21=C. |last22=Miller |first22=S. M. |last23=Jacobs |first23=W. |last24=Bertola |first24=L. D. |last25=Kim |first25=T. H. |last26=Lee |first26=S. |last27=Zhou |first27=Q. |last28=Jung |first28=H. J. |last29=Xu |first29=X. |last30=Gadhvi |first30=P. |name-list-style=amp |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2433C |hdl=2263/32583}}</ref>

=== Hybrids ===
{{further|Biology:Felid hybrid|Biology:Panthera hybrid|Biology:Liger|Biology:Tigon}}

Captive tigers were bred with lions to create [[Biology:Hybrid|hybrids]] called [[Biology:Liger|liger]] and [[Biology:Tigon|tigon]]. The former born to a female tiger and male lion and the latter the result of a male tiger and female lion. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species.<ref name="natgeo"/> 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. By contrast, the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, hence tigons are around the same size as either species.<ref name="imprinting">{{cite web |title=Genomic Imprinting |publisher=Genetic Science Learning Center, Utah.org|access-date=26 August 2018 |url=https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/imprinting/}}</ref> Breeding hybrids is now discouraged due to the emphasis on conservation.<ref name="natgeo">{{cite web|author=Actman, Jani|date= 24 February 2017|title=Cat Experts: Ligers and Other Designer Hybrids Pointless and Unethical|website=National Geographic.com|access-date=27 August 2018 |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/wildlife-watch-liger-tigon-big-cat-hybrid/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227012640/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/wildlife-watch-liger-tigon-big-cat-hybrid/|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 February 2017}}</ref>

== Characteristics ==
{{multiple image |total_width=300 |direction=horizontal | image1=Siberian Tiger by Malene Th.jpg |caption1=Siberian tiger in Aalborg Zoo, Denmark |image2=Bengal Tiger Skeleton.jpg |caption2=Bengal tiger skeleton on display at the Museum of Osteology}}
The tiger has a typical felid morphology. It has a muscular body with strong forelimbs, a large head and a tail that is about half the length of the rest of its body. There are five digits on the front feet and four on the back, all of which have retractable claws which are compact and curved. The ears are rounded, while the eyes have a round pupil.<ref name=Mazak1981/> The tiger's skull is large and robust, with a constricted front region, proportionally small, elliptical [[Biology:Orbit (anatomy)|orbits]], long nasal bones, and a lengthened cranium with a large sagittal crest.<ref name=Geptner1972/><ref name=Mazak1981 /> It is similar to a lion's skull; with the structure of the lower jaw and length of the nasals being the most reliable indicators for species identification.<ref name=Geptner1972>{{cite book |author=Heptner, V. G. |author2=Sludskij, A. A. |name-list-style=amp |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation |location=Washington DC |chapter=Tiger |pages=95–202 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/94/mode/2up}}</ref> The tiger has fairly robust teeth and its somewhat curved [[Biology:Canine tooth|canines]] reach reach a [[Medicine:Crown (tooth)|crown]] height of up to {{cvt|90|mm}}.<ref name=Mazak1981 />

The fur tends to be short, expect in the northern-living Siberian tiger. It has a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males.<ref name=Mazak1981/> Its [[Biology:Animal coloration|colouration]] is generally orange, but can vary from light yellow to dark red.<ref name=Mazak1981/><ref name=Kitchener2009/> White fur covers the ventral surface, along with parts of the face.<ref name=Mazak1981 /><ref name=Geptner1972/> It also has a prominent white spot on the back of their ears which are surrounded by black.<ref name=Mazak1981 /> The tiger is marked with distinctive black or dark brown stripes; the patterns of which are unique in each individual.<ref name=Mazak1981>{{cite journal |author=Mazák, V. |year=1981 |title=''Panthera tigris'' |journal=Mammalian Species |issue=152 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.2307/3504004 |jstor=3504004 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Miquelle"/> The stripes are mostly vertical, but those on the limbs and forehead are horizonal. They are more concentrated towards the posterior and those on the trunk may or may not reach under the belly. The tips of stripes are generally sharp and some have gaps within them. Tail stripes are thick bands and a black tip marks the end.<ref name=Geptner1972/> 

Stripes are likely advantageous for [[Biology:Camouflage|camouflage]] in vegetation with vertical patterns of light and shade, such as trees and long grass.<ref name="Miquelle">{{cite book |author=Miquelle, D. |chapter=Tiger |pages=18–21 |year=2001 |title=The Encyclopedia of Mammals |edition=Second |editor=MacDonald, D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-7607-1969-5}}</ref> This is supported by a 1987 [[Fourier analysis]] study which concluded that the spatial frequencies of tiger stripes line up with their environment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Godfrey|first1=  D. |last2=Lythgoe|first2=  J. N. |last3=Rumball|first3=  D. A. |year=1987 |title=Zebra stripes and tiger stripes: the spatial frequency distribution of the pattern compared to that of the background is significant in display and crypsis |journal=[[Organization:Biological Journal of the Linnean Society|Biological Journal of the Linnean Society]] |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=427–433 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.1987.tb00442.x}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Allen, W. L. |author2=Cuthill, I. C. |author3=Scott-Samuel, N. E. |author4=Baddeley, R. |year=2010 |title=Why the leopard got its spots: relating pattern development to ecology in felids |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=278 |issue=1710 |pages=1373–1380 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1734 |pmid=20961899 |pmc=3061134}}</ref> The orange colour may also aid in concealment as the tiger's prey are dichromats, and thus may perceive the cat as green and blended in with the vegetation.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Fennell, J. G. |author2=Talas, L. |author3=Baddeley, R. J. |author4=Cuthill, I. C. |author5=Scott-Samuel, N. E. |name-list-style=amp |year=2019|title=Optimizing colour for camouflage and visibility using deep learning: the effects of the environment and the observer's visual system|journal=Journal of the Royal Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=154|doi=10.1098/rsif.2019.0183|doi-access=free |page=20190183 |pmid=31138092 |pmc=6544896}}</ref> The white dots on the ear may play a role in communication.<ref name=Mazak1981 />

=== Size ===
The tiger is considered to be the largest living felid species.<ref name=Mazak1981/> However, there is some debate over averages compared to the lion. Since tiger populations vary greatly in size, the "average" size for a tiger may be less than a lion, while the biggest tigers are bigger than their lions counterparts.<ref name=Kitchener2009/> The Siberian and Bengal tigers, along with the extinct Caspian are considered to be the largest of the species while the island tigers are the smallest.<ref name=Mazak1981/> The Sumatran tiger is the smallest living tiger while the extinct Bali tiger was even smaller.<ref name=Mazak1981/><ref name=mazak06/> It has been hypothesised that body size of different tiger populations may be correlated with climate and be explained by thermoregulation and [[Physics:Bergmann's rule|Bergmann's rule]].<ref name=Mazak1981/><ref name=Kitchener1999/> Male tigers are larger than females.<ref name=Mazak1981/>

{| class="wikitable"
! Average !!Female tigers !!Male tigers
|-
|Total length
||'''Bengal''': {{cvt|240|-|265|cm}}; '''Siberian''': {{cvt|240|-|275|cm}}; '''Sumatran''': {{cvt|215|-|230|cm}}<ref name=Mazak1981 /> 
||'''Bengal''': {{cvt|270|-|310|cm}}; '''Siberian''': {{cvt|270|-|330|cm}}; '''Sumatran''': {{cvt|220|-|255|cm}}<ref name=Mazak1981 />
|-
|Weight
||'''Bengal''': {{cvt|100|-|160|kg}}; '''Siberian''': {{cvt|100|-|167|kg}}; '''Sumatran''':{{cvt|75|-|115|kg}}<ref name=Mazak1981 /> 
||'''Bengal''': {{cvt|180|-|258|kg}}; '''Siberian''': {{cvt|180|-|306|kg}}; '''Sumatran''': {{cvt|100|-|140|kg}}<ref name=Mazak1981 />
|}

=== Colour variations ===
[[File:Standing white tiger.jpg|thumb|White tiger at the Singapore Zoo]]
There are three other [[Biology:Polymorphism|colour variants]] – white, golden and nearly stripeless snow white – that are now virtually non-existent in the wild due to the reduction of wild tiger populations, but continue in captive populations. The [[Biology:White tiger|white tiger]] has a white background colour with [[Sepia (color)|sepia]]-brown stripes. The [[Biology:Golden tiger|golden tiger]] is pale golden with reddish-brown stripes. The snow white tiger is a morph with extremely faint stripes and a pale reddish-brown ringed tail.
White and golden morphs are the result of an autosomal recessive trait with a white [[Biology:Locus (genetics)|locus]] and a [[Biology:Cat coat genetics#Wide band factors|wideband]] locus respectively. The snow white variation is a caused by [[Biology:Polygene|polygene]]s with both the white and wideband loci.<ref name=Xu_al2017>{{cite journal |author1=Xu, X. |author2=Dong, G. X. |author3=Schmidt-Küntzel, A. |author4=Zhang, X. L. |author5=Zhuang, Y. |author6=Fang, R. |author7=Sun, X. |author8=Hu, X.S. |author9=Zhang, T. Y. |author10=Yang, H. D. |author11=Zhang, D. L. |author12=Marker, L. |author13=Jiang, Z.-F. |author14=Li, R. |author15=Luo, S.-J. |name-list-style=amp |year=2017 |title=The genetics of tiger pelage color variations |journal=Cell Research |volume=27 |issue=7 |pages=954–957 |doi=10.1038/cr.2017.32 |pmid=28281538 |pmc=5518981 |url=https://www.luo-lab.org/publications/Xu17-CellRes-GoldenTiger.pdf}}</ref>

The breeding of white tigers is controversial, as they have no use for conservation. Only 0.001% of wild tigers have the genes for this colour morph, and the overrepresentation of white tigers in captivity is the result of [[Biology:Inbreeding|inbreeding]] among homozygous recessive cats. Hence their continued breeding will risk both [[Biology:Inbreeding depression|inbreeding depression]] and loss of [[Biology:Genetic variability|genetic variability]] in captive tigers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Xavier |first1=N. |year=2010 |title=A new conservation policy needed for reintroduction of Bengal tiger-white |journal=Current Science |volume=99 |issue=7 |pages=894–895 |url=https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/99/07/0894.pdf}}</ref> Inbreeding is the main reason for many health problems of captive white tigers, including mental disabilities, cleft palate, [[Medicine:Scoliosis|scoliosis]], [[Medicine:Strabismus|strabismus]], [[Medicine:Stillbirth|stillbirth]], immune deficiency, and premature death.<ref name=Begany>{{cite web|last1=Begany |first1=L. |last2=Criscuolo |first2=C. L. |url=http://bigcatrescue.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Accumulation-of-Deleterious-Mutations-Due-to-Inbreeding-in-Tiger-Population.pdf |title=Accumulation of Deleterious Mutations Due to Inbreeding in Tiger Population |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510230909/http://bigcatrescue.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Accumulation-of-Deleterious-Mutations-Due-to-Inbreeding-in-Tiger-Population.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2015}}</ref> 

There are also records of pseudo-melanic or black tigers, which have thick stripes that merge. In Simlipal National Park, 37% of the tiger population has this feature, which has been linked to isolation and inbreeding.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sagar, V. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Kaelin, C. B. |author3=Natesh, M. |author4=Reddy, P. A. |author5=Mohapatra, R. K. |author6=Chhattani, H. |author7=Thatte, P. |author8=Vaidyanathan, S. |author9=Biswas, S. |author10=Bhatt, S. |author11=Paul, S. |year=2021 |title=High frequency of an otherwise rare phenotype in a small and isolated tiger population |journal=PNAS |volume=118 |issue=39 |page=e2025273118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2025273118|pmid=34518374 |pmc=8488692 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11825273S |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Distribution and habitat ==
[[File:Historical tiger distribution PLoS 2009.png|thumb|Historical distribution of the tiger<ref name="Driscoll2009" />]]
The tiger historically ranged from eastern Pakistan to Indochina, and from southeastern Siberia to Sumatra, Java and Bali. The Caspian tiger lived from eastern Turkey and the [[Place:South Caucasus|South Caucasus]] to northern Afghanistan and western China. The [[Place:Tibetan Plateau|Tibetan Plateau]] and the Alborz acted as barriers to the species distribution.<ref name=Mazak1981/> As of 2022, it inhabits less than 7% of its historical distribution, and has a scattered range that includes the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]], the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumatra and the Russian Far East/Northeast China.<ref name="Miquelle"/><ref name=iucn/><ref>{{cite book |title=Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of Wild Tigers: 2005–2015: The Technical Assessment |author1=Sanderson, E. |author2=Forrest, J. |author3=Loucks, C. |author4=Ginsberg, J. |author5=Dinerstein, E. |author6=Seidensticker, J. |author7=Leimgruber, P. |author8=Songer, M. |author9=Heydlauff, A. |author10=O'Brien, T. |author11=Bryja, G. |author12=Klenzendorf, S. |author13=Wikramanayake, E. |date=2006 |url=http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/WWFBinaryitem9363.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118151415/http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/WWFBinaryitem9363.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 January 2012 |location=New York – Washington DC |publisher=WCS, WWF, Smithsonian, and NFWF-STF |access-date=7 August 2019}}</ref>

The tiger mainly lives in forest habitats and is highly adaptable.<ref name=Sunquist2010>{{cite book |author=Sunquist, M. |chapter=What is a Tiger? Ecology and Behaviour |year=2010 |title=Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of ''Panthera tigris'' |editor=R. Tilson |editor2=P. J. Nyhus |edition=Second |publisher=Academic Press |location=London, Burlington |isbn=978-0-08-094751-8 |page=19−34 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFIbjBEQolMC&pg=PA23}}</ref> In the Amur-Ussuri region, it inhabits [[Biology:Korean pine|Korean pine]] and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, where [[Biology:Riparian forest|riparian forest]]s provide food and water, and serve as dispersal corridors for both tiger and ungulates.<ref name=Miquelle_al1999>{{cite book |author1=Miquelle, D. G. |author2=Smirnov, E. N. |author3=Merrill, T. W. |author4=Myslenkov, A. E. |author5=Quigley, H. |author6=Hornocker, M. G. |author7=Schleyer, B. |year=1999 |chapter=Hierarchical spatial analysis of Amur tiger relationships to habitat and prey |title=Riding the Tiger. Tiger Conservation in Human-dominated Landscapes |editor1-last=Seidensticker |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Christie |editor2-first=S. |editor3-last=Jackson |editor3-first=P. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=London |chapter-url=http://www.panthera.org/node/342 |pages=71–99 |isbn=978-0521648356}}</ref> On the Indian subcontinent, it inhabits mainly [[Earth:Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests|tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests]], moist [[Earth:Evergreen forest|evergreen forest]]s, tropical dry forests, [[Earth:Alluvial plain|alluvial plain]]s and the swamp forests of the Sundarbans.<ref name=Wikramanayake_al1999/> In the [[Place:Eastern Himalaya|Eastern Himalaya]]s, tigers were documented in [[Earth:Temperate forest|temperate forest]] up to an elevation of {{cvt|4200|m}} in Bhutan and of {{cvt|3630|m}} in the Mishmi Hills.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Jigme, K. |author2=Tharchen, L. |name-list-style=amp |year=2012 |title=Camera-trap records of tigers at high altitudes in Bhutan |journal=Cat News |issue=56 |pages=14–15}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Adhikarimayum, A. S. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Gopi, G. V. |year=2018 |title=First photographic record of tiger presence at higher elevations of the Mishmi Hills in the Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot, Arunachal Pradesh, India |journal=Journal of Threatened Taxa |volume=10 |issue=13 |pages=12833–12836 |doi=10.11609/jott.4381.10.13.12833-12836 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In Thailand, it lives in deciduous and evergreen forests.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Simcharoen, S. |author2=Pattanavibool, A. |author3=Karanth, K. U. |author4=Nichols, J. D. |author5=Kumar, N. S. |name-list-style=amp |year=2007 |title=How many tigers ''Panthera tigris'' are there in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand? An estimate using photographic capture-recapture sampling |journal=Oryx |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=447–453 |doi=10.1017/S0030605307414107|doi-access=free}}</ref> In Sumatra, tiger populations range from lowland peat swamp forests to rugged montane forests.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Wibisono, H. T. |author2=Linkie, M. |author3=Guillera-Arroita, G. |author4=Smith, J. A. |author5=Sunarto |author6=Pusarini, W. |author7=Asriadi |author8=Baroto, P. |author9=Brickle, N. |author10=Dinata, Y. |author11=Gemita, E. |author12=Gunaryadi, D. |author13=Haidir, I. A. |author14=Herwansyah |year=2011 |title=Population Status of a Cryptic Top Predator: An Island-Wide Assessment of Tigers in Sumatran Rainforests |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=6 |issue=11 |page=e25931 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0025931 |pmid=22087218 |pmc=3206793 |bibcode=2011PLoSO...625931W|doi-access=free}}</ref> Records in Central Asia indicate that it occurred foremost in [[Earth:Tugay|Tugay]] riverine forests while in the Caucasus, it inhabited hilly and lowland forests.<ref name=Geptner1972/>

== Ecology and behaviour ==
=== Social and daily activities ===
{{multiple image |total_width=440 |direction=horizontal|perrow=2|image1=Do Not Move I Saw You (10915583).jpeg|caption1=Tigers are comfortable in water and frequently bathe.|image2=JenB Marking Territory.JPG|caption2=A tiger scent-marking his territory}}

When not subject to human disturbance, the tiger is mainly [[Biology:Diurnality|diurnal]].<ref name="publishers1992">{{cite book |author=Thapar, V. |year=1994 |title=The Tiger's Destiny |publisher=Kyle Cathie |location=London |isbn=978-1-85626-142-5 |pages=47, 174–175}}</ref> It does not often climb trees but cases have been recorded.<ref name="Miquelle" /> It is a strong swimmer and often bathes in ponds, lakes and rivers, thus keeping cool in the heat of the day.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Sunquist, M. |author2=Sunquist, F. |year=1991 |chapter=Tigers |title=Great Cats |editor1=Seidensticker, J. |editor2=Lumpkin, S.|publisher=Fog City Press |pages=97–98|isbn=978-1-875137-90-9}}</ref> Individuals can cross rivers up to {{cvt|7|km}} wide and can swim up to {{cvt|29|km}} in a day.<ref name=Walker>{{cite book |author1=Novak, R. M. |author2=Walker, E. P. |year=1999 |chapter=''Panthera tigris'' (tiger) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T37sFCl43E8C&pg=PA825 |title=Walker's Mammals of the World |edition=6th |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8 |pages=825–828}}</ref> During the 1980s, a tiger was observed frequently hunting prey through deep lake water in Ranthambhore National Park.<ref name="publishers1992"/>

The tiger is a long-ranging species, and individuals disperse over distances of up to {{cvt|650|km|mi}} to reach tiger populations in other areas.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Joshi, A. |author2=Vaidyanathan, S. |author3=Mondol, S. |author4=Edgaonkar, A. |author5=Ramakrishnan, U. |year=2013 |title=Connectivity of Tiger (''Panthera tigris'') Populations in the Human-Influenced Forest Mosaic of Central India |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages= e77980 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0077980 |pmid=24223132 |pmc=3819329 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...877980J |doi-access=free }}</ref> Radio-collared tigers in Chitwan National Park started dispersing from their natal areas earliest at the age of 19 months. Four females dispersed between {{cvt|0|and|43.2|km|mi}}, and 10 males between {{cvt|9.5|and|65.7|km|mi}}. None of them crossed open cultivated areas that were more than {{cvt|10|km|mi}} wide, but moved through forested habitat.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=J. L. D. |year=1993 |title=The role of dispersal in structuring the Chitwan tiger population |volume=124 |journal=Behaviour |issue=3 |pages=165–195 |doi=10.1163/156853993X00560}}</ref>

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.<ref name="McDougal1977">{{cite book |last=McDougal |first=Charles |year=1977 |title=The Face of the Tiger |pages=63–76 |publisher=Rivington Books and André Deutsch |location=London |isbn=9780233969466 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-EHAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, geographic area and sex of the individual.<ref name="Miquelle"/><ref name=Mazak1981 /> In India, home ranges appear to be {{cvt|50|to|1000|km2|sqmi}} while in Manchuria, they range from {{cvt|500|to|4000|km2|sqmi}}. In Nepal, defended territories are recorded to be {{cvt|19|to|151|km2|sqmi}} for males and {{cvt|10|to|51|km2|sqmi}} for females.<ref name = Walker />

Young female tigers establish their first territories close to their mother's. The overlap between the female and her mother's territory reduces with time. Males, however, migrate further than their female counterparts and set out at a younger age to mark out their own area. A young male acquires territory either by seeking out an area devoid of other male tigers, or by living as a transient in another male's territory until he is older and strong enough to challenge the resident male. Young males seeking to establish themselves thereby comprise the highest mortality rate (30–35% per year) amongst adult tigers.<ref name=Mills04 />

To identify his territory, the male marks trees by [[Biology:Urine spraying|spraying urine]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Burger|first1=B. V.|last2=Viviers|first2=M. Z.|last3=Bekker|first3=J. P. I.|last4=Roux|first4=M.|last5=Fish|first5=N.|last6=Fourie|first6=W. B.|last7=Weibchen|first7=G.|year=2008|title=Chemical Characterization of Territorial Marking Fluid of Male Bengal Tiger, ''Panthera tigris''|url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=586948b8396932dd13d9e5a880e77cb7618a273f|journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology|volume=34|issue=5|pages=659–671|doi=10.1007/s10886-008-9462-y|pmid=18437496|bibcode=2008JCEco..34..659B |hdl-access=free|hdl=10019.1/11220|s2cid=5558760}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=J. L. David|last2=McDougal|first2=C.|last3=Miquelle|first3=D.|year=1989|title=Scent marking in free-ranging tigers, ''Panthera tigris''|url=|journal=Animal Behaviour|volume=37|pages=1–10|doi=10.1016/0003-3472(89)90001-8|s2cid=53149100}}</ref> [[Biology:Anal gland|anal gland]] secretions, marking trails with [[Biology:Feces|feces]] and marking trees or the ground with their claws. Females also use these "scrapes", urine and fecal 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.<ref name="Miquelle" />

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 with unrelated tigers. [[Biography:George Schaller|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.<ref name=schaller1967 /> Stephen Mills described a social feeding event in Ranthambore National Park:

{{quote|A [[Dominance (ethology)|dominant]] tigress they called Padmini killed a {{cvt|250|kg}} male [[Biology:Nilgai|nilgai]] – a very large antelope. They found her at the kill just after dawn with her three 14-month-old cubs, and they watched uninterrupted for the next ten hours. During this period the family was joined by two adult females and one adult male, all offspring from Padmini's previous litters, and by two unrelated tigers, one female the other unidentified. By three o'clock there were no fewer than nine tigers round the kill.<ref name=Mills04>{{cite book | author=Mills, S. | year=2004 | title=Tiger | page=89 | publisher=BBC Books | location=London | isbn=978-1-55297-949-5}}</ref>}}

Male tigers are generally less tolerant of other males within their territories than females are of other females. Territory disputes are usually solved by intimidation rather than outright violence. Several such incidents have been observed in which the subordinate tiger yielded by rolling onto its back and showing its belly in a submissive posture.<ref name=Thapar1989>{{cite book | author=Thapar, V. | year=1989 | title=Tiger: Portrait of a Predator | publisher=Smithmark | location=New York | isbn=978-0-8160-1238-1}}</ref> Once [[Dominance (ethology)|dominance]] has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not live in too close quarters.<ref name="Mills04" /> The most serious disputes tend to occur between two males competing for a female in oestrus, sometimes fighting to the death.<ref name="Mills04" /><ref name=Thapar1989 />
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) vocalising.webm|
| caption1          =Captive Sumatran tiger roaring
| image2            =439280 schots angry-tiger.wav
| caption2         =Caged tiger growling and snarling
}}
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 [[Biology:Flehmen response|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.<ref name="Mazak1981" /> 

Tigers roar to signal their presence to other individuals over long distances. This vocalisation is forced through an open mouth as it closes and can be heard {{cvt|3|km}} away. They may roar three or four times in a row, and other tigers may respond in kind. When tense, tigers will moan, a sound similar to a roar but softer and made when the mouth is at least partially closed. Moaning can be heard {{cvt|400|m}} away.<ref name="Mazak1981" /><ref name=schaller1967/> Aggressive encounters involve [[Physics:Growling|growling]], snarling and hissing.<ref name=schaller1967/> During an attack, an explosive "coughing roar" or "coughing snarl" is emitted through an open mouth and exposed teeth.<ref name="Mazak1981" /><ref name=schaller1967/><ref name="WCW">{{Cite book |last1=Sunquist |first1=M. E. |year=2002 |last2=Sunquist |first2=F. |name-list-style=amp |title=Wild Cats of the World |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-77999-7 |chapter=Tiger ''Panthera tigris'' |page=356 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IF8nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA320}}</ref> Chuffing—soft, low-frequency snorting similar to purring in smaller cats—is heard in more friendly situations.<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1023/A:1020620121416| year = 1999| last1 = Peters | first1 = G. |last2 = Tonkin-Leyhausen | first2 = B. A. |title = Evolution of Acoustic Communication Signals of Mammals: Friendly Close-Range Vocalizations in Felidae (Carnivora)| journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution| volume = 6| issue = 2| pages=129–159| s2cid = 25252052}}</ref> Other vocalisations include grunts, woofs and miaows.<ref name="Mazak1981" />

=== Hunting and diet ===
{{multiple image |total_width=500 |align=left |direction=horizontal |image1=Panthera tigris -Franklin Park Zoo, Massachusetts, USA-8a (1).jpg |caption1=An adult tiger showing incisors, canines and part of the premolars and molars |image2=037tiger.jpg |caption2=Dentition of tiger above, and of Asian black bear below. The large canines are used for killing and the carnassials for tearing flesh.}}

Tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized mammals, particularly [[Biology:Ungulate|ungulate]]s weighing {{cvt|60|–|250|kg}}. Range-wide, the most selected prey are <!--Please do not add any more species to this sentence.--> [[Biology:Sambar deer|sambar deer]], Manchurian wapiti, barasingha and wild boar. Tigers are capable of taking down larger prey like adult [[Biology:Gaur|gaur]] and wild water buffalo,<ref name=Hayward>{{cite journal |last1=Hayward |first1=M. W. |last2=Jędrzejewski |first2=W. |last3=Jędrzejewska |first3=B.|year=2012|title=Prey preferences of the tiger ''Panthera tigris''|journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=286 |issue=3 |pages=221–231|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00871.x}}</ref> but opportunistically eat much smaller prey, such as [[Biology:Monkey|monkey]]s, [[Biology:Peafowl|peafowl]] and other ground-based birds, [[Biology:Hare|hare]]s, [[Biology:Porcupine|porcupine]]s and fish.<ref name=Miquelle/> They also prey on other predators, including [[Biology:Dog|dog]]s, leopards, bears, [[Biology:Snake|snake]]s and [[Biology:Crocodile|crocodile]]s.<ref name=Perry/> Tiger attacks on adult [[Biology:Asian elephant|Asian elephant]]s and [[Biology:Indian rhinoceros|Indian rhinoceros]] have also been reported.<ref>{{cite news |year=2008 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080313/jsp/northeast/story_9012303.jsp |title=Trouble for rhino from poacher and Bengal tiger |work=The Telegraph |access-date=3 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927093927/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080313/jsp/northeast/story_9012303.jsp |archive-date=27 September 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |year=2009 |title=Tiger kills elephant at Eravikulam park |work=The New Indian Express |url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/article103095.ece |access-date=3 June 2014 |archive-date=11 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511041022/http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/article103095.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tiger kills adult rhino in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve|date=2013 |newspaper=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/tiger-kills-adult-rhino-in-dudhwa-tiger-reserve/article4357638.ece}}</ref> More often, tigers take the more vulnerable small calves.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Karanth, K. U.|author2=Nichols, J. D.|name-list-style=amp|year=1998 |title=Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures |journal=Ecology |volume=79 |issue=8 |pages=2852–2862 |doi=10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[2852:EOTDII]2.0.CO;2 |jstor=176521 |url=http://erepo.usiu.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11732/758/Estimation%20of%20tiger%20densities%20in%20India%20using%20photographic%20captures%20and%20recaptures.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y}}</ref> When in close proximity to humans, tigers sometimes prey on domestic livestock like cattle, horses and donkeys. Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers occasionally eat vegetation for dietary fibre such as fruit of the [[Biology:Careya arborea|slow match tree]].<ref name=Perry>{{cite book | author=Perry, R. |title=The World of the Tiger |year=1965| page=260}}</ref>

The tiger is thought to be mainly a nocturnal predator.<ref name=Sunquist2010/> It generally hunts alone and overpowers its prey from any angle, using its 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.<ref name=Walker/> Some tigers can reach speeds of about {{cvt|49|-|65|km/h}} but only in short bursts; consequently, tigers must be close to their prey before they break cover. If the prey senses the tiger's presence before this, the tiger usually abandons the hunt rather than give chase or battle pre-alerted prey. Horizontal leaps of up to {{cvt|10|m}} 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.<ref name=Walker /><ref name=Sunquist2010/>

{{multiple image |total_width=500 |direction=horizontal |image1=Tiger's killing wild boar.jpg|caption1=Two tigers working together to kill an [[Biology:Indian boar|Indian boar]] in Kanha Tiger Reserve |image2=RANTHAMBORE TIGER RESERVE.jpg |caption2=Bengal tiger attacking a [[Biology:Sambar deer|sambar]] in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve}}

When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to [[Biology:Throat clamp|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.<ref name=schaller1967>{{cite book |author=Schaller, G. |year=1967 |title=The Deer and the Tiger: A Study of Wildlife in India |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.553304 |publisher=Chicago Press |location=Chicago}}</ref> By this method, tigers killed gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton.<ref>Sankhala, p. 17</ref> Although they can kill healthy adults, tigers often select the calves or infirm of very large species.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book |author=Hunter, L. |title=Carnivores of the World |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-691-15228-8}}</ref> 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 its own.<ref name=Geptner1972/><ref name=Sunquist>{{cite book |last1=Sunquist |first1=M. |last2=Sunquist |first2=F. |title=Wild Cats of the World |chapter=Tiger ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |year=2002 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |pages=343–372 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IF8nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA344 |isbn=978-0-22-677999-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/wildcatsofworld00sunq/page/343}}</ref>

With small prey such as monkeys and hares, the tiger bites the [[Medicine:Nape|nape]], often breaking the [[Biology:Spinal cord|spinal cord]], piercing the windpipe, or severing the jugular vein or common carotid artery.<ref>Sankhala, p. 23</ref> Rarely, tigers have been observed to kill prey by swiping with their paws, which are powerful enough to smash the skulls of domestic cattle,<ref name=Perry/> and break the backs of sloth bears.<ref name=Mills168>{{cite book |author=Mills, S. |title=Tiger |year=2004 |page=168 |isbn=978-1-55297-949-5 |publisher=Firefly Books |location=Richmond Hill, Ontario}}</ref>

After killing their prey, tigers sometimes drag it to conceal it in vegetation, grasping with their mouths at the site of the killing bite. This, too, can require great physical strength. In one case, after it had killed an adult gaur, a tiger was observed to drag the massive carcass over a distance of {{cvt|12|m}}. When 13 men simultaneously tried to drag the same carcass later, they were unable to move it.<ref name=Walker/> An adult tiger can go for up to two weeks without eating, then gorge on {{cvt|34|kg}} of flesh at one time. In captivity, adult tigers are fed {{cvt|3|to|6|kg}} of meat a day.<ref name=Walker/>

=== Enemies and competitors ===
[[File:Tigerdholes.jpg|thumb|left|An 1807 illustration of dholes attacking a tiger]]

Tigers usually prefer to eat self-killed prey, but eat [[Earth:Carrion|carrion]] in times of scarcity and also [[Biology:Kleptoparasitism|steal]] prey from other large carnivores. Although predators typically avoid one another, if a prize is under dispute or a serious competitor is encountered, displays of aggression are common. If these fail, the conflicts may turn violent; tigers may kill or even prey on competitors such as leopards, [[Biology:Dhole|dhole]]s, [[Biology:Striped hyena|striped hyena]]s, wolves, bears, [[Biology:Pythonidae|python]]s, and [[Biology:Mugger crocodile|mugger crocodile]]s on occasion.<ref name="der-tiger">{{cite book |author=Mazak, V. |year=2004 |title=Der Tiger |publisher=Westarp Wissenschaften Hohenwarsleben | isbn=978-3-89432-759-0 |language=de}}</ref><ref name=Mills168 /><ref>{{cite book |author1=Sunquist, F. |author2=Sunquist, M. |name-list-style=amp |year=2002 |title=Tiger Moon |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-77997-3}}</ref><ref>Mills, Gus; Hofer, Heribert (1998). [https://web.archive.org/web/20130506084714/http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/1998-013.pdf ''Hyaenas: status survey and conservation action plan'']. IUCN/SSC Hyena Specialist Group. {{ISBN|2-8317-0442-1}}.</ref><ref>Miquelle, D.G., Stephens, P.A., Smirnov, E.N., Goodrich, J.M., Zaumyslova, O.Yu. & Myslenkov, A.I. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ndb0QOvq2LYC&pg=PA179 ''Tigers and Wolves in the Russian Far East: Competitive Exclusion, Functional Redundancy and Conservation Implications'']. In ''Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity''. Ray, J.C., Berger, J., Redford, K.H. & Steneck, R. (eds.) New York: Island Press. pp. 179–207 {{ISBN|1-55963-080-9}}.</ref> Crocodiles, bears, and large packs of dholes may win conflicts with tigers, and crocodiles and bears can even kill them.<ref name="der-tiger" /><ref name="Geptner1972" /><ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the Earth, And Animated Nature, Volume 2 |first=O. |last=Goldsmith |publisher=Nabu Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-145-11108-0 |page=297}}</ref><ref name="DHOLE">{{cite book|author=Mills, S. |title=Tiger |year=2004 |page=168 |isbn=978-1-55297-949-5 |publisher=Firefly Books |location=Richmond Hill}}</ref><ref name="FAO2012">{{Cite journal |author=Pandit, P. K. |journal=Tigerpaper |volume=XXXIX |issue=1 |url=http://www.fao.org/3/a-am998e.pdf |date=2012 |title=Sundarban Tiger − a new prey species of estuarine crocodile at Sundarban Tiger Reserve, India |pages=1–5}}</ref>

The considerably smaller leopard avoids competition from tigers by hunting at different times of the day and hunting different prey.<ref name="Haemig">{{cite web |url=http://www.ecology.info/tiger-leopard.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213000715/http://www.ecology.info/tiger-leopard.htm |archive-date=13 February 2008 |title=Sympatric Tiger and Leopard: How two big cats coexist in the same area}} Ecology.info</ref> In India's Nagarhole National Park, most prey selected by leopards were from {{cvt|30|to|175|kg}} against a preference for heavier prey by tigers. The average prey weight in the two respective big cats in India was {{cvt|37.6|kg}} against {{cvt|91.5|kg}}.<ref name=Karanth>{{cite journal | last=Karanth | first=K. U. |author2=Sunquist, M. E. |name-list-style=amp |year=2000 | title=Behavioural correlates of predation by tiger (''Panthera tigris''), leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and dhole (''Cuon alpinus'') in Nagarahole, India | journal=Journal of Zoology | volume=250 | pages=255–265 | doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb01076.x | issue=2}}</ref><ref name=KaranthSunquist1995>{{cite journal |author1=Karanth, K. U. |author2=Sunquist, M. E. |name-list-style=amp |title=Prey Selection by Tiger, Leopard and Dhole in Tropical Forests |jstor=5647 |doi=10.2307/5647 |journal=Journal of Animal Ecology |volume=64 |issue=4 |year=1995 |pages=439–450|bibcode=1995JAnEc..64..439K }}</ref> 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 lives beside the lion.<ref name=Karanth /> [[Biology:Golden jackal|Golden jackal]]s may scavenge on tiger kills.<ref>Sillero-Zubiri, C., Hoffmann, M. and Macdonald, D.W. (eds). 2004. [http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/actionplans/canids.pdf Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan]. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. {{ISBN|2-8317-0786-2}}</ref> Tigers appear to inhabit the deep parts of a forest while smaller predators like leopards and dholes are pushed closer to the fringes.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Thinley, P. |author2=Rajaratnam, R. |author3=Lassoie, J. P. |author4=Morreale, S. J. |author5=Curtis, P. D. |author6=Vernes, K. |author7=Leki Leki |author8=Phuntsho, S. |author9=Dorji, T. |author10=Dorji, P. |name-list-style=amp |year=2018 |title=The ecological benefit of tigers (''Panthera tigris'') to farmers in reducing crop and livestock losses in the eastern Himalayas: Implications for conservation of large apex predators |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=219 |pages=119–125 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2018.08.007 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Reproduction and life cycle ===
{{multiple image |perrow=1|image1=Tigeress with cubs in Kanha Tiger reserve.jpg |caption1=Tiger family in Kanha Tiger Reserve |image2=Tigers of Tadoba.jpg |caption2=Tiger family in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve}}

The tiger [[Biology:Mating|mates]] all year round, but most cubs are born between March and June, with a second peak in September. Gestation ranges from 93 to 114 days, with an average of 103 to 105 days. A female is only receptive for three to six days.<ref name=Sankhala>{{cite journal |last1=Sankhala |first1=K. S. |year=1967 |title=Breeding behaviour of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' in Rajasthan |journal=International Zoo Yearbook |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=133–147 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-1090.1967.tb00354.x}}</ref> Mating is frequent and noisy during that time.<ref name=Guggisberg1975>{{cite book |last=Guggisberg |first=C. A. W. |year=1975 |chapter=Tiger ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |pages=180–215 |title=Wild Cats of the World |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wildcatsofworld00gugg/page/180 |chapter-url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Taplinger Pub. Co. |isbn=978-0-7950-0128-4}}</ref>The female gives birth in a sheltered location such as in tall grass, in a dense thicket, cave or rocky crevice. The father generally takes no part in rearing.<ref name=Geptner1972/> Litters consist of two or three cubs, rarely as many as six. Cubs weigh from {{cvt|780|to|1600|g}} each at birth, and are born with eyes closed. They open their eyes when they are six to 14 days old.<ref name=Sankhala/> Their milk teeth break through at the age of about two weeks. They start to eat meat at the age of eight weeks. At around this time, females usually shift them to a new den.<ref name=Guggisberg1975/> They make short ventures with their mother, although they do not travel with her as she roams her territory until they are older.  Females lactate for five to six months.<ref name=Sankhala/> Around the time they are weaned, they start to accompany their mother on territorial walks and are taught how to hunt.<ref name="publishers1992" />

A dominant cub emerges in most litters, usually a male. The dominant cub is more active than its siblings and takes the lead in their play, eventually leaving its mother and becoming independent earlier.<ref name="publishers1992" /> The cubs start hunting on their own earliest at the age of 11 months, and become independent around 18 to 20 months of age.<ref name=schaller1967 /> They separate from their mother at the age of two to two and a half years, but continue to grow until the age of five years.<ref name=Guggisberg1975/> Young females reach sexual maturity at three to four years, whereas males at four to five years.<ref name=Geptner1972/> Unrelated wandering male tigers often 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. The mortality rate of tiger cubs is about 50% in the first two years. Few other predators attack tiger cubs due to the diligence and ferocity of the mother. Apart from humans and other tigers, common causes of cub mortality are starvation, freezing, and accidents.<ref name= Sunquist /> [[Physics:Generation time|Generation length]] of the tiger is about eight years.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Generation length for mammals |last1=Pacifici |first1=M. |last2=Santini |first2=L. |last3=Di Marco |first3=M. |last4=Baisero |first4=D. |last5=Francucci |first5=L. |last6=Grottolo Marasini |first6=G. |last7=Visconti |first7=P. |last8=Rondinini |first8=C. |name-list-style=amp |journal=Nature Conservation |year=2013 |issue=5 |pages=87–94}}</ref> The oldest recorded captive tiger lived for 26 years.<ref name=Walker />

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 Nature Reserve. The photos show a male Amur tiger pass by, followed by a female and three cubs within the span of about two minutes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tiger dad: Rare family portrait of Amur tigers the first-ever to include an adult male |author=Wildlife Conservation Society |date=2015 |work=ScienceDaily |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150306143548.htm}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |work=Ranthambore National Park |url=https://www.ranthamborenationalpark.com/t-25.html |title=T-25 Dollar- The Famous Tiger of Ranthambore}}</ref>

== Conservation ==
{{Main|Biology:Tiger conservation}}

{| class="wikitable sortable floatright"
|+ Global wild tiger population
!Country
!Year
!Estimate
|-
| {{flagicon|India}} India || 2023 || align="right" |3682–3925<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-07-29 |title=India's tiger population rises, Madhya Pradesh has most big cats |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/indias-tiger-population-rises-madhya-pradesh-has-most-big-cats/article67136263.ece |access-date=2023-08-07 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/indias-tiger-population-reaches-3925-with-6-1-annual-growth-rate-holds-75-of-global-wild-tiger-population/|title=India's tiger population reaches 3925|date=31 July 2023 }}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Russia}} Russia || 2020 || align="right"|480–540<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tigers.panda.org/news_and_stories/stories/russia_announce_tiger_census_results/|title=Russia announces tiger census results}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesia || 2016 || align="right" |400–600<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fauna-flora.org/species/sumatran-tiger/|title=Sumatran Tiger}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Bangladesh}} Bangladesh || 2014 || align="right" |300–500<ref name="iucn" />
|-
| {{flagicon|Nepal}} Nepal || 2022 || align="right" |355<ref>{{cite report |author1=DNPWC |name-list-style=amp |author2=DFSC |year=2022 |title=Status of Tigers and Prey in Nepal 2022 |location=Kathmandu, Nepal |publisher=Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation & Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Forests and Environment |url=https://dnpwc.gov.np/media/files/Status_of_Tigers_Ic2ylSC.pdf}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Thailand}} Thailand || 2023 || align="right" |189<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-wild-tigers-have-doubled-in-number189-since-2014/|title=Thailand's Wild Tigers Have Doubled Since 2014}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Bhutan}} Bhutan || 2023 || align="right" |131<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bhutan's roaring success in tiger conservation steals the spotlight, numbers register a huge jump - South Asia News |url=https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bhutans-roaring-success-in-tiger-conservation-grows-spotlight-with-latest-numbers-620999/amp |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=www.wionews.com}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Malaysia}} Malaysia || 2022 || align="right" |<150<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wwf.org.my/tiger_facts/status_of_malayan_tigers/|title=Status Of Malayan Tigers}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|China}} China || 2018 || align="right"|55<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Qi, J. |author2=Gu, J. |author3=Ning, Y. |author4=Miquelle, D. G. |author5=Holyoak, M. |author6=Wen, D. |author7=Liang, X. |author8=Liu, S. |author9=Roberts, N. |author10=Yang, E. |author11=Lang, J. |author12=Wang, F. |author13=Li, C. |author14=Liang, Z. |author15=Liu, P. |author16=Ren, Y. |author17=Zhou, S. |author18=Zhang, M. |author19=Ma, J. |author20=Chang, J. |author21=Jiang, G. |year=2021 |title=Integrated assessments call for establishing a sustainable meta-population of Amur tigers in Northeast Asia |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=261 |issue=12 |page=109250 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109250 |bibcode=2021BCons.26109250Q |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Myanmar}} Myanmar || 2018 || align="right" |22<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wwf.org.mm/?350932/Announcement-of-Minimum-Tiger-number-in-Myanmar |title=PR: Announcement of Minimum Tiger number in Myanmar |website=WWF |date=2019 |access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref>
|-
| '''Total'''|| || align="right" |'''5,764–6,467'''
|}
 
In the 1990s, a new approach to tiger conservation was developed: Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs), which are blocks of habitat that have the potential to host tiger populations in 15 habitat types within five [[Earth:Bioregion|bioregion]]s. Altogether 143 TCUs were identified and prioritized based on size and integrity of habitat, poaching pressure and population status. They range in size from {{cvt|33|to|155829|km2}}.<ref name=Wikramanayake_al1999>{{cite book |last1=Wikramanayake |first1=E. D. |last2=Dinerstein |first2=E. |last3=Robinson |first3=J. G. |last4=Karanth |first4=K. U. |last5=Rabinowitz |first5=A. |last6=Olson |first6=D. |last7=Mathew |first7=T. |last8=Hedao |first8=P. |last9=Connor |first9=M. |last10=Hemley |first10=G. |last11=Bolze |first11=D. |year=1999 |chapter=Where can tigers live in the future? A framework for identifying high-priority areas for the conservation of tigers in the wild |pages=254–272 |title=Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human Dominated Landscape |editor1-last=Seidensticker |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Christie |editor2-first=S. |editor3-last=Jackson |editor3-first=P. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0521648356}}</ref>

In 2016, an estimate of a global wild tiger population of approximately 3,890 individuals was presented during the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation.<ref name=GTF>{{cite web |author=Global Tiger Forum |date=2016 |url=http://tigers.panda.org/wp-content/uploads/Background-Document-Wild-Tiger-Status-2016.pdf |title=Global wild tiger population status, April 2016 |publisher=Global Tiger Forum, WWF |access-date=22 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924185944/http://tigers.panda.org/wp-content/uploads/Background-Document-Wild-Tiger-Status-2016.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=Howard, B. C. |year=2016 |title=Tiger Numbers Rise for First Time in a Century |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160410-tiger-numbers-rise-wwf-conservation-double-population/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410215639/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160410-tiger-numbers-rise-wwf-conservation-double-population/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 April 2016 |magazine=National Geographic}}</ref> The WWF subsequently declared that the world's count of wild tigers had risen for the first time in a century.<ref>{{cite news|title=World's wild tiger count rising for first time in a century|url=http://phys.org/news/2016-04-world-wild-tiger-century.html |author=Daigle, K. |publisher=Phys Org |date=2016 |access-date=17 April 2016}}</ref>

Major threats to the tiger include [[Earth:Habitat destruction|habitat destruction]], [[Biology:Habitat fragmentation|habitat fragmentation]] and [[Biology:Poaching|poaching]] for fur and body parts, which have simultaneously greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild.<ref name=iucn/> In India, only 11% of the historical tiger habitat remains due to habitat fragmentation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sanderson |first1=E. W. |last2=Forrest |first2=J. |last3=Loucks |first3=C. |last4=Ginsberg |first4=J. |last5=Dinerstein |first5=E. |last6=Seidensticker |first6= J.|last7=Leimgruber |first7=P. |last8=Songer |first8=M. |last9=Heydlauff |first9=A. |last10=O'Brien |first10=T. |last11=Bryja |first11=G. |last12=Klenzendorf |first12=S. |last13=Wikramanayake |first13=E. |year=2010 |chapter=Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of Wild Tigers: 2005–2015 |chapter-url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11080/nzp_9_Sanderson.pdf?sequence=1 |pages=143–161 |title=Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of ''Panthera tigris'' |editor1-last=Tilson |editor1-first=R. |editor2-last=Nyhus |editor2-first=P. J. |publisher=Academic Press |location=London, Burlington |isbn=978-0-08-094751-8 |edition=Second}}</ref> Demand for tiger parts for use in [[Medicine:Traditional Chinese medicine|traditional Chinese medicine]] has also been cited as a major threat to tiger populations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=van Uhm |first1=D.P. |title=The Illegal Wildlife Trade: Inside the World of Poachers, Smugglers and Traders (Studies of Organized Crime) |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Traditional Chinese Medicine | url=http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/wildlifetrade/traditionalchinesemedicine.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511171427/http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/wildlifetrade/traditionalchinesemedicine.html |archive-date=11 May 2012 |publisher=World Wildlife Foundation |access-date=3 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Jacobs, A. | title=Tiger Farms in China Feed Thirst for Parts | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html?_r=1 |work=The New York Times| date=2010}}</ref> Some estimates suggest that there are fewer than 2,500 mature breeding individuals, with no subpopulation containing more than 250 mature breeding individuals.<ref name=iucn/>

India is home to the world's largest population of wild tigers.<ref name=GTF/> A 2014 census estimated a population of 2,226, a 30% increase since 2011.<ref name="Burke">{{cite news|title=India's tiger population increases by almost a third|newspaper=The Guardian|author=Burke, Jason|date=20 January 2015|access-date=3 May 2015|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/20/india-tiger-population-increases-endangered-species}}</ref> On International Tiger Day 2019, the 'Tiger Estimation Report 2018' was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report estimates a population of 2967 tigers in India with 25% increase since 2014. Modi said "India is one of the safest habitats for tigers as it has achieved the target of doubling the tiger population from 1411 in 2011 to 2967 in 2019".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/international-tiger-day-2019-pm-modi-releases-report-india-counts-2967-tigers-1564375425-1 |title=International Tiger Day 2019: PM Modi Releases Report, India counts 2967 Tigers|date=2019 |work=Jagran Josh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729094059/https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/international-tiger-day-2019-pm-modi-releases-report-india-counts-2967-tigers-1564375425-1|archive-date=29 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2022, India accounts for 75 percent of global tiger population.<ref>{{cite web |title=India almost doubled its tiger population, says Minister on International Tiger Day |url=https://newsonair.com/2022/07/29/india-almost-doubled-its-tiger-population-says-minister-on-international-tiger-day/ |website=News on AIR |date=29 July 2022 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref> The Tiger Census of 2023 reports tiger population in India at 3167.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-04-10 |title=Tiger census: India now has 3,167 tigers, numbers show |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65229322 |access-date=2023-04-21}}</ref>

In 1973, India's ''Project Tiger'', started by Indira Gandhi, established numerous tiger reserves. 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.<ref name="Over half of tigers lost in 5 years: census">{{cite news | url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/13/stories/2008021357240100.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220074725/http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/13/stories/2008021357240100.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=20 February 2008 | title=Front Page : Over half of tigers lost in 5 years: census | date=13 February 2008 | newspaper=The Hindu | access-date=10 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Foster, P. |date=2007|title=Why the tiger's future is far from bright |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=19 September 2018|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3642330/Why-the-tigers-future-is-far-from-bright.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3642330/Why-the-tigers-future-is-far-from-bright.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Tiger Reserves|publisher=ENVIS Centre on Wildlife & Protected Areas|access-date=19 September 2018|url=http://wiienvis.nic.in/Database/trd_8222.aspx}}</ref> Following the report, the Indian government pledged $153&nbsp;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,<ref>{{cite news |author=Page, J. |date=2008 |title=Tigers flown by helicopter to Sariska reserve to lift numbers in western India |newspaper=The Times |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4272945.ece |location=London |access-date=25 May 2010}}</ref> and set up eight new [[Biology:Tiger reserves of India|tiger reserves in India]].<ref>{{cite news |date=2008 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080213-AP-india-disap.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219013427/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080213-AP-india-disap.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 February 2008 | title=India reports sharp decline in wild tigers |publisher=National Geographic | access-date=10 June 2010}}</ref> India also reintroduced tigers to the Sariska Tiger Reserve<ref>{{cite news | url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Its-the-tale-of-a-tiger-two-tigresses-in-wilds-of-Sariska/rssarticleshow/4212845.cms | title=It's the tale of a tiger, two tigresses in wilds of Sariska |publisher=EconomicTimes | date=2009 | access-date=10 June 2010}}</ref> and by 2009 it was claimed that poaching had been effectively countered at Ranthambore National Park.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/11/stories/2009031152382000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311163809/http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/11/stories/2009031152382000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 March 2009 |title=Tigers galore in Ranthambhore National Park |date=2009 |work=The Hindu | access-date=10 June 2010}}</ref>

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 [[Place:Soviet Union|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 {{cvt|450|km}} needed by a single female and more for a single male.<ref>{{cite journal | author1=Goodrich, J.M. | author2=Miquelle, D.G. |author3=Smirnov, E.M. | author4=Kerley, L.L. |author5=Quigley, H.B. |author6=Hornocker, M.G. | year=2010 |title=Spatial structure of Amur (Siberian) tigers (''Panthera tigris altaica'') on Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik, Russia |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=737–748 |doi=10.1644/09-mamm-a-293.1 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Current conservation efforts are led by local governments and NGO's in concert with international organisations, such as the [[Organization:World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wide Fund for Nature]] and the Wildlife Conservation Society.<ref name=WWF>{{cite web | title=Amur (Siberian) tiger | url=http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/tigers/about_tigers/amur_tiger/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125060940/http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/tigers/about_tigers/amur_tiger/ | archive-date=25 November 2013 | publisher=[[Organization:World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wildlife Fund]]| access-date=19 December 2007}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book | author=Timothy, E. | author2=Fulbright, D. | author3=Hewitt, G. |year=2007 |title=Wildlife Science: Linking Ecological Theory and Management Applications | publisher=CRC Press | isbn=978-0-8493-7487-6}}</ref> In 2005, there were thought to be about 360 animals in Russia, though these exhibited little [[Biology:Genetic diversity|genetic diversity]].<ref name=iucn15956>{{cite iucn |publisher=IUCN |author=Miquelle, D. |author2=Darman, Y. |author3=Seryodkin, I. |year=2011 |title=''Panthera tigris'' ssp. ''altaica'' |page=e.T15956A5333650 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T15956A5333650.en |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15956/5333650}}</ref> However, in a decade later, the Siberian tiger census was estimated from 480 to 540 individuals.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Russia Announce Tiger Census Results |url=https://tigers.panda.org/news_and_stories/stories/russia_announce_tiger_census_results.cfm|access-date=2021-09-03|website=tigers.panda.org|language=en}}</ref>

In China, tigers became the target of large-scale 'anti-pest' campaigns in the early 1950s, where suitable habitats were fragmented following deforestation and resettlement of people to rural areas, who hunted tigers and prey species. Though tiger hunting was prohibited in 1977, the population continued to decline and is considered extinct in southern China since 2001.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Dramatic decline of wild South China tigers ''Panthera tigris amoyensis'': field survey of priority tiger reserves |author1=Tilson, R. |author2=Defu, H. |author3=Muntifering, J. |author4=Nyhus, P. J. |year=2004 |journal=Oryx |volume=38 |issue=1|pages=40–47 |doi=10.1017/S0030605304000079 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite iucn |author=Nyhus, P. |year=2008 |title=''Panthera tigris'' ssp. ''amoyensis'' |page=e.T15965A5334628 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T15965A5334628.en}}</ref> Having earlier rejected the Western-led environmentalist movement, China changed its stance in the 1980s and became a party to the [[Biology:CITES|CITES]] treaty. By 1993 it had banned the trade in tiger parts, and this diminished the use of tiger bones in [[Medicine:Traditional Chinese medicine|traditional Chinese medicine]].<ref name="Yeh">{{cite journal | title=Transnational Environmentalism and Entanglements of Sovereignty: The Tiger Campaign Across the Himalayas | first=Emily T. | last=Yeh | journal=Political Geography | volume=31 | issue=7 | year=2012 | pages=408–418 | doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2012.06.003}}</ref> The Tibetan people's trade in tiger skins has also been a threat to tigers. The pelts were used in clothing, tiger-skin ''chuba'' being worn as fashion. In 2006 the [[Biography:14th Dalai Lama|14th Dalai Lama]] was persuaded to take up the issue. Since then there has been a change of attitude, with some Tibetans publicly burning their chubas.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/27-animal-skin-clothes-burned-in-tibet-after-dalai-lamas-call | title=Animal Skin Clothes Burned in Tibet After Dalai Lamas Call | date=17 February 2006 | access-date=4 December 2010 | publisher=The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030121936/http://dalailama.com/news/post/27-animal-skin-clothes-burned-in-tibet-after-dalai-lamas-call |archive-date=30 October 2010}}</ref>

In 1994, the Indonesian Sumatran Tiger Conservation Strategy addressed the potential crisis that tigers faced in Sumatra. The Sumatran Tiger Project (STP) was initiated in June 1995 in and around the Way Kambas National Park to ensure the long-term viability of wild Sumatran tigers and to accumulate data on tiger life-history characteristics vital for the management of wild populations.<ref name=Franklin>Franklin, N., Bastoni, Sriyanto, Siswomartono, D., Manansang, J. and R. Tilson (1999). ''Last of the Indonesian tigers: a cause for optimism'', pp. 130–147 in: Seidensticker, J., Christie, S. and Jackson, P. (eds). ''Riding the tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, {{ISBN|0-521-64835-1}}.</ref> By August 1999, the teams of the STP had evaluated 52 sites of potential tiger habitat in Lampung Province, of which only 15 these were intact enough to contain tigers.<ref name=Tilson1999>Tilson, R. (1999). ''Sumatran Tiger Project Report No. 17 & 18: July − December 1999''. Grant number 1998-0093-059. Indonesian Sumatran Tiger Steering Committee, Jakarta.</ref> In the framework of the STP a community-based conservation program was initiated to document the tiger-human dimension in the park to enable conservation authorities to resolve tiger-human conflicts based on a comprehensive database rather than anecdotes and opinions.<ref name=Nyhus1999>Nyhus, P., Sumianto and R. Tilson (1999). ''The tiger-human dimension in southeast Sumatra'', pp. 144–145 in: Seidensticker, J., Christie, S. and Jackson, P. (eds). ''Riding the tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, {{ISBN|0-521-64835-1}}.</ref>

The Wildlife Conservation Society and [[Organization:Panthera Corporation|Panthera Corporation]] formed the collaboration ''Tigers Forever'', with field sites including the world's largest tiger reserve, the {{cvt|21756|km2}} Hukaung Valley in Myanmar. Other reserves were in the Western Ghats in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, the Russian Far East covering in total about {{cvt|260000|km2}}.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rabinowitz |first=A. |date=2009 |url=http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/Rabinowitz_2009_Stop_the_Bleeding_Tiger_Conservation_Protocol.pdf |title=Stop the bleeding: implementing a strategic Tiger Conservation Protocol |journal=Cat News |issue=51 |pages=30–31 |issn=1027-2992 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109124216/http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/Rabinowitz_2009_Stop_the_Bleeding_Tiger_Conservation_Protocol.pdf |archive-date=9 November 2012}}</ref>

Tigers have been studied in the wild using a variety of techniques. Tiger population have been estimated using plaster casts of their [[Biology:Pugmark|pugmark]]s, although this method was criticized as being inaccurate.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Karanth, K.U. |author2=Nichols, J.D. |author3=Seidensticker, J. |author4=Dinerstein, E.|author5=Smith, J.L.D. |author6=McDougal, C.|author7=Johnsingh, A.J.T.|author8= Chundawat, R.S. | year=2003 | title=Science deficiency in conservation practice: the monitoring of tiger populations in India |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=141–146 |doi=10.1017/S1367943003003184 |bibcode=2003AnCon...6..141K |s2cid=55280343 |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/338/Karanth2003.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref> More recent techniques include the use of [[Biology:Camera trap|camera trap]]s and studies of [[Biology:DNA|DNA]] from tiger scat, while radio-collaring has been used to track tigers in the wild.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Density estimation in tiger populations: combining information for strong inference |author1=Gopalaswamy, A. M. |author2=Royle, J. A. |author3=Delampady, M. |author4=Nichols, J. D. |author5=Karanth, K. U. |author6=Macdonald, D. W. |journal=Ecology |date=2012 |volume=93 |issue=7 |pages=1741–1751 |jstor=23225238 |doi=10.1890/11-2110.1|pmid=22919919 |bibcode=2012Ecol...93.1741G }}</ref> Tiger spray has been found to be just as good, or better, as a source of DNA than scat.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Caragiulo, A. |author2=Pickles, R. S. A.|author3=Smith, J. A. |author4= Smith, O. |author5=Goodrich, J. |author6=Amato, G. |year=2015 |title=Tiger (''Panthera tigris'') scent DNA: a valuable conservation tool for individual identification and population monitoring |journal=Conservation Genetics Resources |doi=10.1007/s12686-015-0476-9 |volume=7 |issue=3|pages=681–683 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2015ConGR...7..681C }}</ref>

== Relationship with humans ==
=== Tiger hunting ===
[[File:ElephantbackTigerHunt.jpg|thumb|Tiger hunting on elephant-back in India, 1808]]

The tiger has been one of the most sought after 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, 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.<ref name = Walker /> Over 80,000 tigers were slaughtered in just 50 years spanning from 1875 to 1925 in British-ruled India.<ref name="MR">{{cite book |author1=Mahesh Rangarajan |title=India's Wildlife History: An Introduction |date=2005 |publisher=Permanent Black |location=New Delhi |isbn=8178241404 |page=32 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249292987 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref> Tiger hunting was done by some hunters on foot; others sat up on ''[[Engineering:Hunting blind|machans]]'' with a goat or buffalo tied out as bait; yet others on elephant-back.<ref name="Tiger-hunting">{{cite book |year=2005 |title=The Treasures of Indian Wildlife |location=Mumbai |publisher=Bombay Natural History Society |pages=22–27 |chapter=The Manpoora Tiger (about a Tiger Hunt in Rajpootanah) |editor1=Kothari, A.S. |editor2=Chhapgar, B.S. |editor3=Chhapgar, B.F. |isbn=0195677285 }}</ref> King George V on his visit to Colonial India in 1911 killed 39 tigers in a matter of 10 days<ref name="LODH">{{cite journal |author1=Lodh, S. |title=Portrayal of 'Hunting' in Environmental History of India |journal=Altralang Journal |date=2020 |volume=2 |issue=02 |page=199 |doi=10.52919/altralang.v2i02.84 |s2cid=238134573 |url=https://www.univ-oran2.dz/revuealtralang/index.php/altralang/article/view/84|doi-access=free }}</ref> One of these is on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.<ref name="RM">{{cite web |author1=Mitra, R. |title=Shooting Tigers in Early 20th-Century India |url=https://imperialglobalexeter.com/2018/09/17/shooting-tigers-in-early-20th-century-india/ |access-date=1 August 2022 |date=2018}}</ref>

Historically, tigers have been hunted at a large scale so their famous striped skins could be collected. The trade in tiger skins peaked in the 1960s, just before international conservation efforts took effect. By 1977, a tiger skin in an English market was considered to be worth US$4,250.<ref name = Walker />

=== Body part use ===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een groep mannen en kinderen poseert bij een pas geschoten tijger te Malingping in Bantam West-Java TMnr 10006636.jpg|thumb|right|A hunting party poses with a killed Javan tiger, 1941]]

Tiger parts are commonly used as amulets in [[Place:South Asia|South]] and Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, the fossils in Palawan were found besides stone tools. This, besides the evidence for cuts on the bones, and the use of fire, suggests that early humans had accumulated the bones.<ref name="Piper_al2008">{{cite journal |last1=Piper |first1=P. J. |last2=Ochoa |first2=J. |last3=Lewis |first3=H. |last4=Paz |first4=V. |last5=Ronquillo |first5=W. P. |title=The first evidence for the past presence of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' (L.) on the island of Palawan, Philippines: extinction in an island population |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |year=2008 |volume=264 |issue=1–2 |pages=123–127 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.003|bibcode=2008PPP...264..123P}}</ref> and the condition of the tiger subfossils, dated to approximately 12,000 to 9,000 years ago, differed from other fossils in the assemblage, dated to the [[Earth:Upper Paleolithic|Upper Paleolithic]]. The tiger subfossils showed longitudinal fracture of the [[Biology:Cortical bone|cortical bone]] due to weathering, which suggests that they had post-mortem been exposed to light and air. Tiger canines were found in Ambangan sites dating to the 10th to 12th centuries in Butuan, Mindanao.<ref name="VanDerGeer_al 02-2011">{{cite book |last1=Van der Geer |first1=A. |last2=Lyras |first2=G. |last3=De Vos |first3=J. |last4=Dermitzakis |first4=M. |title=Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands |publisher=[[Company:Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons]] |chapter=15 (The Philippines); 26 (Carnivores) |pages=220–347 |isbn=9781444391282 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmSsNuwMAxgC&pg=PT219 |date=2011}}</ref><ref name="Monks 03-2017">{{cite book |editor-last=Monks |editor-first=G. |title=Climate Change and Human Responses: A Zooarchaeological Perspective |publisher=[[Company:Springer Publishing|Springer]] |chapter=Tiger |last1=Ochoa |first1=J. |last2=Piper |first2=P. J. |pages=79–80 |isbn=978-9-4024-1106-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-hyDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |date=2017}}</ref>

Many people in China and other parts of Asia have a belief that various tiger parts have [[Medicine:Traditional Chinese medicine|medicinal properties]], including as pain killers and aphrodisiacs.<ref>{{cite news | author=Harding, Andrew | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5371500.stm | title=Beijing's penis emporium | work=BBC News | date=23 September 2006 | access-date=7 March 2009}}</ref> 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|date=December 2016|reason=I can't see any relevant offences at Capital offences in China except "Production or sale of counterfeit medicine"}} Furthermore, all trade in tiger parts is illegal under the [[Biology:CITES|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.<ref>{{cite web | author=Nowell, K. | year=2007 | url= http://www.felidae.org/KNOWELLPUBL/abc_report.pdf | title=Asian big cat conservation and trade control in selected range States: evaluating implementation and effectiveness of CITES Recommendations | publisher=TRAFFIC International | access-date=3 April 2014}}</ref>

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.<ref name = Walker /> Almost all black marketers engaged in the trade are based in China and have either been shipped and sold within their own country or into Taiwan, {{wipe|South Korea}} or Japan.<ref name = Walker /> 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.<ref name = Walker /> Contributing to the illegal trade, there are a number of tiger farms in the country specialising in breeding them for profit. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 captive-bred, semi-tame animals live in these farms today.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000003865.asp | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705040424/http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000003865.asp | archive-date=5 July 2007 | title=Chinese tiger farms must be investigated | publisher=WWF | date=24 April 2007 | access-date=7 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/asia_pacific/where/bhutan/index.cfm?uNewsID=106740 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317005011/http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/asia_pacific/where/bhutan/index.cfm?uNewsID=106740 | archive-date=17 March 2008 | title=WWF: Breeding tigers for trade soundly rejected at CITES | date=13 June 2007 | publisher=Panda.org | access-date=7 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8487122.stm | title=Tigers and other farmyard animals | author=Jackson, Patrick | date=29 January 2010 | work=BBC News | access-date=29 January 2010}}</ref> However, many tigers for traditional medicine black market are wild ones shot or snared by [[Biology:Poaching|poacher]]s and may be caught anywhere in the tiger's remaining range (from Siberia to India to the [[Biology:Malay Peninsula|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&nbsp;million products with tiger derivatives were found.<ref name=Walker /> In July 2014 at an international convention on endangered species in [[Place:Geneva|Geneva]], {{wipe|Switzerland}}, a Chinese representative admitted for the first time his government was aware trading in tiger skins was occurring in China.<ref name="TigersChina">{{cite news|title=Conservationists shocked by Chinese admission of tiger skin selling|url=http://www.shanghaisun.com/index.php/sid/223750073/scat/b8de8e630faf3631/ht/Conservationists-shocked-by-Chinese-admission-of-tiger-skin-selling|access-date=12 July 2014|publisher=Shanghai Sun|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714140141/http://www.shanghaisun.com/index.php/sid/223750073/scat/b8de8e630faf3631/ht/Conservationists-shocked-by-Chinese-admission-of-tiger-skin-selling|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Man-eating tigers ===
{{Main|Biology:Tiger attack}}
Wild tigers that have had no prior contact with humans actively avoid interactions with them. However, tigers cause more human deaths through direct attack than any other wild mammal.<ref name=Walker /> 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,<ref>{{cite book | author=Singh, Kesri | year=1959 | title=The tiger of Rajasthan | publisher=Hale}}</ref> or as in a case in rural India when a postman startled a tiger, used to seeing him on foot, by riding a bicycle.<ref>{{cite book | author=Byrne, Peter | year=2002 | title=Shikari Sahib | publisher=Pilgrims Publishing | isbn=978-81-7769-183-2 | pages=291–292}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Miquelle" /> 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.<ref name="Wood1983">{{cite book |author=Wood, G. |title=The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats |publisher=Guinness Superlatives |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-85112-235-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofan00wood}}</ref> According to Corbett, tiger attacks on humans are normally in daytime, when people are working outdoors and are not keeping watch.<ref>{{cite book |author=Corbett, J. |year=1944 |title=Man-Eaters of Kumaon |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.458957 |location=Bombay |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Early writings tend to describe man-eating tigers as cowardly because of their ambush tactics.<ref name="KA">The Man-Eater of Segur", from ''Nine Man-Eaters and One Rogue'', Kenneth Anderson, Allen & Unwin, 1954</ref>

Man-eaters have been a particular problem in recent decades in India and Bangladesh, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of [[Place:Bengal|Bengal]], where some healthy tigers have hunted humans. Because of rapid habitat loss attributed to [[Earth:Climate change|climate change]], tiger attacks have increased in the Sundarbans.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38442 | date=20 October 2008 | title=Climate change linked to Indian tiger attacks | work=Environmental News Network | access-date=27 October 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Walker /> Unusually, in some years in the Sundarbans, more humans are killed by tigers than vice versa.<ref name=Walker /> In 1972, India's production of [[Chemistry:Honey|honey]] and beeswax dropped by 50% when at least 29 people who gathered these materials were devoured.<ref name = Walker /> 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, did not work as well.<ref>{{cite book | author=Montgomery, Sy | year=2009 | title=Spell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans | publisher=Chelsea Green Publishing | pages=[https://archive.org/details/spelloftigermane00mont/page/37 37–38] | isbn=978-0-395-64169-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/spelloftigermane00mont/page/37 }}</ref>

=== In captivity ===
[[File:Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus Gunther Gebel-Williams 1969.jpg|thumb|right|Publicity photo of animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams with several of his trained tigers, {{circa}} 1969]]

In Ancient Roman times, tigers were kept in menageries and amphitheatres to be exhibited, trained and paraded, and were often provoked to fight gladiators and other exotic beasts.<ref>{{cite book |author=Auguet, R. |year=1994 |title=Cruelty and civilization: the Roman games |publisher=Psychology Press |pages=83–85 |isbn=978-0-415-10453-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Baker, W. |year=1988 |title=Sports in the Western World |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=33 |isbn=978-0-252-06042-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/sportsinwesternw00bake/page/33}}</ref> Since the 17th century, tigers were sought after to be kept at European castles as symbols of their owners' power. Tigers became [[Biology:Zoo|zoo]] and circus exhibits in the 18th century: a tiger could cost up to 4,000 [[Finance:French franc|francs]] in France.<ref name="bartay">{{cite book |author=Baratay, E. | year=2004 |title=Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=19 |isbn=978-1-86189-208-9}}</ref>

In 2007, over 4,000 captive tigers lived in China, of which 3,000 were held by about 20 larger facilities, with the rest held by some 200 smaller facilities.<ref name=Nowell2007>{{cite book |author1=Nowell, K. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Ling, X. |year=2007 |title=Taming the tiger trade: China's markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban |publisher=TRAFFIC East Asia |location=Hong Kong |url=http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/WWFBinaryitem15400.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117222507/http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/WWFBinaryitem15400.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 January 2012}}</ref> In 2011, 468 facilities in the USA kept 2,884 tigers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wildlife Watch Group |year=2011 |title=Less than 3,000 Pet Tigers in America |url=http://www.citesnepal.org/download.php?id=18 |journal=Wildlife Times |volume=5 |issue=37 |pages=12–13}}</ref> Nineteen US states banned private ownership of tigers, a license is required in 15 states, and 16 states have no regulation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_summary.php |title=Summary of State Laws Relating to Private Possession of Exotic Animals |publisher=Born Free USA |access-date=12 December 2010}}</ref> Many captive tigers are actually the result of crosses between Siberian and Bengal tigers.<ref name="SandersonMoulton1998">{{cite book |last1=Sanderson |first1=J. |last2=Moulton |first2=M. |name-list-style=amp |title=Wildlife Issues in a Changing World |edition=Second |date=1998 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4398-3262-2 |page=133}}</ref>

== Cultural depictions ==
Tigers and their superlative qualities have been a source of fascination for humans since ancient times, and they are routinely visible as important cultural and media motifs. They are also considered one of the [[Biology:Charismatic megafauna|charismatic megafauna]], and are used as the face of conservation campaigns worldwide. In a 2004 online poll conducted by cable television channel Animal Planet, involving more than 50,000 viewers from 73 countries, the tiger was voted the world's favourite animal with 21% of the vote, narrowly beating the dog.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20041206/ai_n12814678|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080120222416/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20041206/ai_n12814678|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 20, 2008|title=Endangered tiger earns its stripes as the world's most popular beast|work=The Independent|date=December 6, 2004|access-date=March 7, 2009}}</ref>

=== Mythology and legend ===
[[File:Bronze Tiger Tally "Jie" with Gold Inlay from Tomb of Zhao Mo.jpg|thumb|left|Tiger-shaped ''jie'' (badge of authority) with gold inlays, from the tomb of Zhao Mo]]

In Chinese mythology and culture, the [[Unsolved:Tiger (zodiac)|tiger]] is one of the 12 animals of the [[Philosophy:Chinese astrology|Chinese zodiac]]. In Chinese art, the tiger is depicted as an earth symbol and equal rival of the [[Unsolved:Chinese dragon|Chinese dragon]] – the two representing matter and spirit respectively. The Southern Chinese martial art Hung Ga is based on the movements of the tiger and the crane. In Imperial China, a tiger was the personification of war and often represented the highest army General Officer,<ref name="Cooper92"/> while the emperor and empress were represented by a [[Unsolved:Dragon|dragon]] and phoenix, respectively. The White Tiger ({{zh|c=白虎|p=Bái Hǔ}}) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is sometimes called the White Tiger of the West ({{zh|c=西方白虎|link=no}}), and it represents the west and the autumn season.<ref name="Cooper92"/>

The tiger's tail appears in stories from countries including China and Korea, it being generally inadvisable to grasp a tiger by the tail.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.cultural-china.com/Wise/wise173.html |title=Tiger's Tail |publisher=Cultural China |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329215619/http://history.cultural-china.com/Wise/wise173.html |archive-date=29 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Curry, L. S. |author2=Chan-Eun, P. |name-list-style=amp |year=1999 |title=A Tiger by the tail and other Stories from the heart of Korea |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |place=Englewood |isbn=9780313069345}}</ref> In Korean mythology and culture, the tiger is regarded as a guardian that drives away evil spirits and a sacred creature that brings good luck – the symbol of courage and absolute power. For the people who live in and around the forests of Korea, the tiger considered the symbol of the Mountain Spirit or King of mountain animals.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

In [[Religion:Buddhism|Buddhism]], the tiger is one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolising anger, with the monkey representing greed and the deer lovesickness.<ref name=Cooper92>{{cite book |last=Cooper |first=J. C. |title=Symbolic and Mythological Animals |pages=161–162 |year=1992 |publisher= Aquarian Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-85538-118-6}}</ref> 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 people considered the Siberian tiger as "Hu Lin", the king.<ref name=Tigersnow>{{cite book |last=Matthiessen |first=P. |author2=Hornocker, M. |year=2008 |title=Tigers in the Snow |publisher=Paw Prints |edition=reprint |isbn=9781435296152}}</ref> In [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]], the god [[Religion:Shiva|Shiva]] wears and sits on tiger skin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sivkishen |year=2014 |title=Kingdom of Shiva |location=New Delhi |publisher=Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd. |pages=301}}</ref> The ten-armed warrior goddess [[Religion:Durga|Durga]] rides the tigress (or lioness) Damon into battle. In southern India the god Ayyappan was associated with a tiger.<ref>{{cite conference |last=Balambal |first=V. |title=19. Religion – Identity – Human Values – Indian Context | conference=Bioethics in India: Proceedings of the International Bioethics Workshop in Madras: Biomanagement of Biogeoresources, 16–19 January 1997 |publisher=Eubios Ethics Institute |year=1997 |url=http://www.eubios.info/india/BII19.HTM |access-date=8 October 2007}}</ref> Dingu-Aneni is the god in North-East India is also associated with tiger.<ref name=SAOI>{{cite book |author1=Nanditha, K. |title=Sacred Animals of India |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-8184751826 |url=https://penguin.co.in/book/sacred-animals-of-india/ |access-date=5 August 2022}}</ref> The [[Unsolved:Werecat|weretiger]] replaces the [[Unsolved:Werewolf|werewolf]] in [[Unsolved:Shapeshifting|shapeshifting]] folklore in Asia;<ref name=summers66>{{cite book |last=Summers |first=M. |title=The Werewolf in Lore and Legend |publisher=Dover Publications |location=Mineola |year=1933 |edition=2012 |page=21 |isbn=978-0-517-18093-8}}</ref> in India they were evil sorcerers, while in Indonesia and Malaysia they were somewhat more benign.<ref>{{cite book |title=Tracking the Weretiger: Supernatural Man-Eaters of India, China and Southeast Asia |last=Newman |first=P. |year=2012 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7218-5 |pages=96–102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdPTM6NitwoC&q=weretiger&pg=PA97}}</ref>
In Taiwanese folk beliefs, ''Aunt Tiger'' portrays the story of a tiger, which turns into an old woman, abducts children at night and devours them to satisfy her appetite.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hulick |first1=J. |title=Review of Auntie Tiger |journal=Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=267 |date=2009 |doi=10.1353/bcc.0.0662|s2cid=144937417 }}</ref> In the [[History:Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman world]], the tiger was depicted being ridden by the god [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dunbabin |first=K. M. D.|title=Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World |year=1999 |location=Cambridge |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |pages=32, 44|isbn=978-0-521-00230-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C}}</ref>

=== Literature and media ===
[[File:The Tyger BM a 1794.jpg|thumb|right|Blake's original printing of ''The Tyger'', 1794]]
In the Hindu epic [[Religion:Mahabharata|Mahabharata]], the tiger is fiercer and more ruthless than the lion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07065.htm |work=The Mahabharata |access-date=15 June 2016 |author=Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa |translator=Ganguli, K. M. |title=SECTION LXVIII |via=Internet Sacred Text Archive}}</ref> [[Biography:William Blake|William Blake]]'s poem "The Tyger" portrays the tiger as a menacing and fearful animal, and the tiger Shere Khan in Rudyard Kipling's 1894 ''The Jungle Book'' is the mortal enemy of the human protagonist.<ref>{{cite book|author=Green, S. |year=2006 |title=Tiger |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1861892768 |pages=72–73, 125–27 |url-access=limited |url=https://archive.org/details/tigerreaktionboo00gree/page/n73}}</ref> Yann Martel's novel ''Life of Pi'' features the title character surviving shipwreck for months on a small boat with a large Bengal tiger while avoiding being eaten. The story was adapted in Ang Lee's feature film of the same name in 2012.<ref>{{cite book |author=Castelli, J.-C. |year=2012 |title=The Making of Life of Pi: A Film, a Journey |publisher=Harper Collins |place=London |isbn=978-0062114136}}</ref>

Friendly tiger characters include Tigger in A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and Hobbes of the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes'', both represented as stuffed animals come to life.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kuznets, L. R. |year=1994 |title=When Toys Come Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development|publisher=Yale University Press |page=54 |url=https://archive.org/details/whentoyscomealiv00kuzn/page/54 |isbn=978-0300056457}}</ref> [[Biology:Tony the Tiger|Tony the Tiger]] is a famous mascot for [[Company:Kellogg's|Kellogg's]] [[Engineering:Breakfast cereal|breakfast cereal]] Frosted Flakes.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gifford, C. |year=2005 |title=Advertising & Marketing: Developing the Marketplace |publisher=Heinemann-Raintree Library |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-1403476517 |url=https://archive.org/details/advertisingmarke0000giff/page/34}}</ref>

=== Heraldry and emblems ===

The tiger is one of the animals displayed on the [[Religion:Pashupati seal|Pashupati seal]] of the Indus Valley civilisation. The tiger was the emblem of the Chola Dynasty and was depicted on coins, seals and banners.<ref>Hermann Kulke, K Kesavapany, Vijay Sakhuja (2009) ''Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia'', Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, p. 84.</ref> The seals of several Chola copper coins show the tiger, the Pandyan emblem fish and the [[History:Chera dynasty|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=U. |year=2008 |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |location=Delhi, Chennai |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=9788131711200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PAfront}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Somasundaram  |first1=D. |year=2013 |title=Scarred Communities: Psychosocial Impact of Man-made and Natural Disasters on Sri Lankan Society |location=New Delhi |publisher=Sage Publications India |isbn=9789353881054}}</ref> The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Animal |url=http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_symbols.php?id=11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511130405/http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_symbols.php?id=11 |archive-date=11 May 2012 |work=Government of India Official website}}</ref> The Malaysian tiger is the national animal of Malaysia.<ref name="DiPiazza2006">{{cite book |last=DiPiazza |first=F. |title=Malaysia in Pictures |url=https://archive.org/details/malaysiainpictur0000dipi/page/14}}</ref> The Siberian tiger is the national animal of {{wipe|South Korea}}.{{Citation needed|reason=Official source needed|date=August 2023}} The Tiger is featured on the logo of the Delhi Capitals Indian Premier League team.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

In European heraldry, the [[Unsolved:Tyger (heraldry)|tyger]], a depiction of a tiger as imagined by European artists, is among the creatures used in charges and supporters. This creature has several notable differences from real tigers, lacking stripes and having a leonine tufted tail and a head terminating in large, pointed jaws. A more realistic tiger entered the heraldic armory through the [[Place:British Empire|British Empire]]'s expansion into Asia, and is referred to as the Bengal tiger to distinguish it from its older counterpart. The Bengal tiger is not a common creature in heraldry, but is used as a supporter in the arms of Bombay and emblazoned on the shield of the University of Madras.<ref>{{cite book |first=A. |last=Fox-Davies |title=A Complete Guide to Heraldry|publisher=T. C. and E. C. Jack |location=London |year=1909 |pages=191–192 |url= https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft}}</ref>

== See also ==
* Siegfried & Roy, two famous tamers of tigers
* List of largest cats
* ''Tiger King'', a 2020 crime documentary series on the exotic pet trade

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite magazine |author=Marshall, A. |magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}} |date=2010 |title=Tale of the Cat |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1964894-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226173448/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1964894-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 February 2010}}
* {{cite news |author=Millward, A. |date=2020 |title=Indian tiger study earns its stripes as one of the world's largest wildlife surveys |publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/7/indian-tiger-study-earns-its-stripes-as-one-of-the-world%E2%80%99s-largest-wildlife-surve-624966}}
* {{cite news |author=Mohan, V. |date=2015 |title=India's tiger population increases by 30% in past three years; country now has 2,226 tigers |work=The Times of India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Indias-tiger-population-increases-by-30-in-past-three-years-country-now-has-2226-tigers/articleshow/45950634.cms}}
* {{cite book |author=Porter, J. H. |title=Wild beasts: a study of the characters and habits of the elephant, lion, leopard, panther, jaguar, tiger, puma, wolf, and grizzly bear |chapter=The Tiger |pages=196–256 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/wildbeastsstud00port#page/239 |year=1894 |location=New York |publisher=C. Scribner's sons}}
* {{cite book |author=Sankhala, K. |title=Indian Tiger |year=1997 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Roli Books Pvt Limited |isbn=978-81-7437-088-4 |ref=Sankhala}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Schnitzler |first1=A. |last2=Hermann |first2=L. |title=Chronological distribution of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' and the Asiatic lion ''Panthera leo persica'' in their common range in Asia |journal=Mammal Review |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=340–353 |doi=10.1111/mam.12166 |date=2019|s2cid=202040786 }}
* {{cite news |author=Yonzon, P. |date=2010 |title=Is this the last chance to save the tiger? |work=The Kathmandu Post |url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/11/19/features/is-this-the-last-chance-to-save-the-tiger/215040/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109123729/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/11/19/features/is-this-the-last-chance-to-save-the-tiger/215040/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 November 2012 }}

== External links ==
* {{Commons and category-inline|Panthera tigris|linktext=''Panthera tigris''}}
* {{Wikivoyage-inline|Tigers}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=124|publisher=IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group|title=Tiger ''Panthera tigris''}}


{{Taxonbar|from1=Q19939|from2=Q41083521}}



[[Category:Big cats]]
[[Category:Conservation-reliant species]]
[[Category:EDGE species]]
[[Category:Panthera]]

{{Sourceattribution|Tiger}}