Tigers

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is one of the cat Felidae family and lives only in Asia. Fossils indicate that it evolved in eastern Asia and could once be found from eastern Turkey to the Sea of Okhotsk, in India, continental Southeast Asia, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Bali. Today tigers live no further west than India, and have vanished completely from Bali and Java.

The tiger needs a good supply of prey, especially deer and wild boar, plenty of water throughout the year, and cover for hunting and breeding. Otherwise it is very adaptable and inhabits extremely varied climatic zones. The tiger has evolved into eight subspecies, each adapted to a different habitat and climate. Tigers are found in the coniferous forests and winter snows of Siberia; the oak forests of northeast China; grasslands and monsoon, bamboo, and mangrove forests, in India and Bangladesh; and tropical jungles in Malaysia, Thailand, and other countries of Southeast Asia.

The tiger generally lives and hunts alone although the territories of a male overlap those of several females. In areas of India rich in prey, male tigers can have home ranges of about 60km2 and females about 25km2. But in Siberia, where prey is sparse, male home ranges can be as big as 1,000km2.

Tigers sleep and rest under cover for much of the day. When it is hot they often lie in water, for, unlike other cats, tigers are happy to swim. In the late afternoon the tiger starts its silent hunt for prey, and may cover 30km or more in a night. Its sharp eyesight and sensitive hearing guide it to likely prey. Having located its victim, the tiger begins a slow, silent stalk. Its striped coat provides perfect camouflage in the forest and grasslands. Suddenly, like the release of a coiled spring, the tiger leaps forward in long bounds and lands on its victim.

Tigers also lurk near water holes or game tracks to ambush passing animals. They cannot hunt in open country because they have little endurance: if the initial burst of speed fails and the prey flees they have to give up. As well as larger prey, tigers eat rodents, birds, porcupines, frogs, and fish.

Tigers usually avoid humans, but may kill if taken by surprise when resting, or when a tigress is defending her cubs. They seldom eat people except when injured and unable to hunt, or when their teeth become too worn to eat other prey. In these circumstances a hungry tiger which has felled a human may be tempted to take a bite and, realizing that humans are easy prey, start on the road to man­eating. If natural prey becomes scarce, a tiger may start to hang around villages and take livestock. However, research with radio­collared tigers has shown that tigers frequently live in close proximity to humans without any clashes.

Despite its wide range and adaptability to varying habitats and climates the tiger is severely threatened today. It is so dependent on cover, that it cannot survive where people have cleared the land. Many of the forests and grasslands which were its home have been turned over to agriculture, and prey is in short supply. Being regarded as a pest, the tiger is still widely poached and hunted down, despite being legally protected in almost every country where it is found. In Chinese popular medicine every part of a tiger's body is valued and this has been an added incentive to hunting.

At the beginning of this century there may have been 100,000 tigers, but now fewer than 6,000 live in the wild, most of them scattered in small isolated populations, according to the IUCN-The World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission. Three of the eight subspecies have already been wiped out and a fourth is very near extinction.

The Siberian or Manchurian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is the largest of all cats and grows a thick, light­coloured coat. Only about 350 Siberian tigers survive in the wild, including nearly 300 in the far east of the ex­Soviet Union where there are reserves north of Vladivostock. A few remain in northeast China, where reserves also exist, and there may be a few in North Korea. There are about 600 Siberian tigers in zoos.

The Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), is thought to be the stem species from which other tiger subspecies evolved, but hunting has brought it to the brink of extinction: fewer than 50 animals survive. Until quite recently, the Chinese tiger was listed as a pest to be hunted down but it is now protected. There are about 35 Chinese tigers in zoos in China.

About 2,000 Indo­Chinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) live in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, eastern Myanmar and peninsular Malaysia. WWF and IUCN have assisted Thailand to help protect this subspecies, and Malaysia, which has about 250 tigers, also has good reserves. Myanmar, where the Indian tiger is found in western areas, is the only country where tigers are not protected by law.

The Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), also called the Royal Bengal tiger, is the most numerous subspecies. There are up to 4,000 in India, about 350 in Bangladesh, 300 in Nepal, and 50 in Bhutan. In this area there have been intensive conservation programmes, which have received substantial help from governments and assistance from WWF and IUCN. India's late Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and Prince Gyanendra of Nepal, have given strong support to the programmes. Reserves have been established in almost all types of tiger habitat in the sub­continent, and regeneration of the forests there has served to improve water supplies to surrounding agricultural areas in India. There are several hundred Indian tigers in zoos, but many have been crossbred with other subspecies.

The population of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrea) is now estimated at about 400. Although the animals are protected by law, they are still hunted as trophies and poached for their skins which fetch high prices. WWF and IUCN have been helping the Indonesian government for over 15 years to protect the tiger and other wildlife and it is hoped a specific tiger reserve will be created. There are about 170 in zoos.

No trace of the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) has been found since the late 1970s when up to five were believed to survive. Java is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and habitat is scarce.

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), which once ranged from eastern Turkey through the Caucasus and Iran to Afghanistan and north to Lake Balkash in ex­Soviet Central Asia, is now thought to be extinct. The last time a living specimen was seen was in Afghanistan in 1967. A fresh skin was examined by zoologists in eastern Turkey in 1973.

The last known Bali tiger (Panthera tigris balica) was shot in 1937.

Recommended further reading:

  1. Jackson, P. Endangered Species: Tigers, Apple Press, 1990.
  2. Mountfort, G. Saving the Tiger, Michael Joseph, 1981
  3. Sankhala, K. Tiger, Collins, 1978.
  4. Schaller, G. The Deer and the Tiger, Chicago, 1967.
  5. Thapar, V. Tigers: Portrait of a Predator, Collins, 1986.
  6. Thapar, V. Tigers: The Secret Life, Elm Tree Books, 1989.
  7. Tilson & Seal (eds) Tigers of the World: The Biology, Biopolitics, Management and Conservation of an Endangered Species, Noyes Publications, 1987.
A WWF International quarterly Publications list is available on request.

May 1993
This fact sheet has been jointly produced by WWF and IUCN-The World Conservation Union


WWF continues to be known as World Wildlife Fund in Canada and the United States

Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature