Tigers live alone and move chiefly at night. If there are large animals to feed on, then they make a kill about twice a week, but they have to kill more often if only small animals are available. They prefer deer, wild pigs and wild oxen, but will also eat all kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish.

Tigers may cover an area of 20 miles in one night's search for food. They make every effort to avoid contact with humans, though hungry tigers may attack domestic cattle, and a sick or lame tiger may even attack a human if they are unable to catch swifter-moving prey.

Females only have cubs once every two and a half years, and there is no special mating time or breeding season. Female tigers start to breed between two and four years of age. Cubs remain with their mother until they are two years old. The tiger (Panther a Tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panther 'a'. It is most recognizable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ungulates, such as deer and wild boar. It is 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 home range to establish their own.

Tiger

Temporal range: Early Pleistocene 

A Bengal tigress in Kana Tiger Reserve, India

Conservation status

Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]

CITES Appendix I (CITES)[1]

Scientific classification Edit this classification

Domain:

Eukaryote

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Mammalian 

Order:

Carnivora

Suborder:

Feliformia

Family:

Elide

Subfamily:

Katherine 

Genus:

Panther a

Species:

P. Tigris 

Binomial name

Panther a Tigris

Tiger's historical range in about 1850 (pale yellow), excluding that of the Caspian tiger, and in 2006 (in green).[3]

Synonyms[4]

Felix Tigris, Linnaeus, 1758

Tigris, stratus, Everton, 1858

Tigris, regalia, Gray, 1867

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 Sunday Islands. Since the early 20th century, tiger populations have lost at least 93% of their historic range and have been extirpated from Western and Central Asia, the islands of Java and Bali, and in large areas of Southeast and South Asia and China. What remains of the range where tigers still roam free is fragmented, stretching in spots from Siberian temperate forests to subtropical and tropical forests on the Indian subcontinent, Indochina and a single Indonesian island, Sumatra.

The tiger is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. As of 2015, the global wild tiger population was estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 mature individuals, with most populations living in small isolated pockets. India currently hosts the largest tiger population. Major reasons for population decline are habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching. Tigers are also victims of human–wildlife conflict, due to encroachment in countries with a high human population density.

The tiger is among the most recognizable and popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. It featured prominently in the ancient mythology and 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 mascots for sporting teams. The tiger is the national animal of India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and South Korea.