Bharatpedia

Tiger: Difference between revisions

Article Talk

Tiger (edit)

Revision as of 13:25, 18 October 2022

132,369 bytes removed ,  18 October 2022
m
robot: Trimming article to decrease server load
(robot: Import missing articles)
 
m (robot: Trimming article to decrease server load)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Largest species of the cat family}}
{{redirect|Tigress|other uses|Tiger (disambiguation)|and|Tigress (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2020}}
{{Speciesbox
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Early Pleistocene | Present}}
| taxon = Panthera tigris
| image = Walking tiger female.jpg
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)
| image_caption = A [[Bengal tiger|Bengal tigress]] in [[Kanha Tiger Reserve]], India
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Early Pleistocene|Present}}
| image = Royal Bengal Tiger at Kanha National Park.jpg
| image_caption = A [[Bengal tiger]] (''P. t. tigris'') at [[Kanha National Park]], [[India]], Continental [[Asia]]
| status = EN
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref =<ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Panthera tigris'' |author=Goodrich, J. |author2=Lynam, A. |author3=Miquelle, D. |author4=Wibisono, H. |author5=Kawanishi, K. |author6=Pattanavibool, A. |author7=Htun, S. |author8=Tempa, T. |author9=Karki, J. |author10=Jhala, Y. |author11=Karanth, U. |name-list-style=amp |date=2015 |page=e.T15955A50659951 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T15955A50659951.en |access-date=15 January 2022}}</ref>
| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{Cite journal | author1 = Goodrich, J. | author2 = Lynam, A. | author3 = Miquelle, D. | author4 = Wibisono, H. | author5 = Kawanishi, K. | author6 = Pattanavibool, A. | author7 = Htun, S. | author8 = Tempa, T. | author9 = Karki, J. | author10 = Jhala, Y. & Karanth, U. | title = ''Panthera tigris'' | journal = [[The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] | volume = 2015 | page = e.T15955A50659951 | publisher = [[IUCN]] | date = 2015 | url = http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15955/0 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T15955A50659951.en | accessdate = 15 January 2018}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A1
| subdivision_ranks = [[Subspecies]]
| status2_system = CITES
| range_map = Tiger map.jpg
| status2_ref = <ref name=iucn/>
| range_map_caption = Tiger's historic range in about 1850 (pale yellow) and in 2006 (in green).<ref name="dinerstein07">{{cite journal|author=Dinerstein, E.|author2=Loucks, C.|author3=Wikramanayake, E.|author4=Ginsberg, Jo.|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=26558123|url=http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/issues/tiger_bioscience_cites.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425072057/http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/issues/tiger_bioscience_cites.pdf |archivedate=25 April 2012 }}</ref>
| taxon = Panthera tigris
| synonyms =
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)<ref name="Linn1758" />
{{center|'''''Felis tigris''''' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758</small><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}} {{in lang|la}}</ref> <br />
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
'''''Tigris striatus''''' <small>[[Nikolai Severtzov|Severtzov]], 1858</small><br />
| subdivision =
'''''Tigris regalis''''' <small>[[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1867</small>}}
:''[[Panthera tigris tigris|P. t. tigris]]''
:''[[Sunda Island tiger|P. t. sondaica]]''
:{{extinct}}''[[Panthera tigris acutidens|P. t. acutidens]]''
:{{extinct}}''[[Panthera tigris soloensis|P. t. soloensis]]''
:{{extinct}}''[[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 [[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 | [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Systema Naturae|1758]]
| Tigris striatus | [[Nikolai Severtzov|Severtzov]], 1858
| Tigris regalis | [[John Edward Gray|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>
}}
}}
[[File:Singapore Zoo Tigers.jpg|thumb|200px|White Tigers in the ''[[Singapore]] Zoological Gardens'']]The '''tiger''' (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living member of the cat [[family (biology)|family]], the [[Felidae]]. It feeds by hunting. It lives in [[Asia]], mainly [[India]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Bhutan]], [[Nepal]], [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]], [[Vietnam]], [[Malaysia]], [[Indonesia]], [[China]], [[Korea]] and [[Siberia]]n [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.corbett-national-park.com/blog/the-habitats-of-bengal-tiger-in-asia.html | title=The habitats of the Bengal tiger in Asia | date=9 December 2013 | publisher=corbett-national-park.com | accessdate=June 6, 2015}}</ref> Tigers are [[:wikt:solitary|solitary]] animals.


The '''tiger''' (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living [[Felidae|cat]] [[species]] and a member of the [[genus]] ''[[Panthera]]''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An [[apex predator]], it primarily preys on [[ungulate]]s, 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.
== Appearance  ==
 
The tiger was first [[Scientific description|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 [[Local extinction|extirpated]] from [[Western Asia|Western]] and [[Central Asia]], the islands of [[Java]] and Bali, and in large areas of [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]] and [[South Asia]] and [[China]]. Today, the tiger's range is fragmented, stretching from [[Siberia]]n [[temperate forest]]s to subtropical and [[tropical forest]]s on the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Indochina]] and [[Sumatra]].
 
The tiger is listed as [[Endangered species|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]], particularly in range countries with a high human population density.
 
The tiger is among the most recognisable 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 [[flag]]s, [[Coat of arms|coats of arms]] and as [[mascot]]s for sporting teams. The tiger is the [[national animal]] of [[India]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Malaysia]] and [[South Korea]].
 
== Etymology ==
The [[Middle English]] ''tigre'' and [[Old English]] ''tigras'' derive from Old French ''tigre'', from [[Latin]] ''tigris''.
This was a borrowing of [[Classical Greek]] τίγρις 'tigris', a foreign borrowing of unknown origin meaning 'tiger' and the river [[Tigris]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Liddell, H. G. |author2=Scott, R. |name-list-style=amp | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dti%2Fgris |title=τίγρις |work=A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented |year=1940 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press}}</ref>
The origin may have been the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''tigra'' meaning 'pointed or sharp', and the [[Avestan language|Avestan]] word ''tigrhi'' '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 web |author=Harper, D. |year=2001–2011 |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tiger |title=Tiger |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref>
 
The generic name ''Panthera'' is derived from the [[Latin]] word ''panthera'', and the [[Ancient Greek]] word πάνθηρ 'panther'.<ref>{{cite web|author=Harper, D. |year=2001–2011 |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=panther |title=Panther |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=[[Douglas Harper]]|access-date=24 October 2011}}</ref>
 
== Taxonomy==
In 1758, [[Carl Linnaeus]] described the tiger in his work ''[[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 ''[[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}}
[[File:Tiger phylogenetic relationships.png|thumb|Phylogenetic relationship of tiger populations based on Driscoll et al. (2009).<ref name="Driscoll2009" />]]
Following Linnaeus's first descriptions of the species, several tiger [[Zoological specimen|specimens]] were described and proposed as [[subspecies]].<ref name="MSW3">{{MSW3 Carnivora |id=14000259 |page=546 |heading=Species ''Panthera tigris''}}</ref> The [[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 basis of fur length and colouration, striping patterns and body size, hence characteristics that vary widely within populations. [[Morphology (biology)|Morphologically]], tigers from different regions vary little, and [[gene flow]] between populations in those regions is considered to have been possible during the [[Pleistocene]]. Therefore, it was proposed to recognize only two tiger subspecies as valid, namely ''[[Mainland Asian tiger|P. t. tigris]]'' in mainland Asia, and ''[[Sunda Island tiger|P. t. sondaica]]'' in the [[Greater Sunda Islands]].<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>
 
Results of [[craniology|craniological]] analysis of 111 tiger skulls from Southeast Asian range countries indicate that Sumatran tiger skulls differ from Indochinese and Javan tiger skulls, whereas Bali tiger skulls are similar in size to Javan tiger skulls. The authors proposed to classify the Sumatran and Javan tigers as distinct species, ''P. sumatrae'' and ''P. sondaica'', with the Bali tiger as subspecies ''P. sondaica balica''.<ref>{{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 – Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=268–287 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2006.02.007}}</ref>
 
In 2015, morphological, ecological, and molecular traits of all putative tiger subspecies were analysed in a combined approach. Results support distinction of the two evolutionary groups continental and Sunda tigers. The authors proposed recognition of only two subspecies, namely ''P. t. tigris'' comprising the Bengal, Malayan, Indochinese, South Chinese, Siberian and Caspian tiger populations, and ''P. t. sondaica'' comprising the Javan, Bali and Sumatran tiger populations. The authors also noted that this reclassification will affect tiger conservation management. The [[nominate subspecies]] ''P. t. tigris'' constitutes two [[clade]]s:<ref>{{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>
* a northern clade composed of the Siberian and Caspian tiger populations
* a southern clade composed of all other mainland populations.
One conservation specialist welcomed this proposal as it would make captive breeding programmes and future rewilding of zoo-born tigers easier. One [[geneticist]] was sceptical of this study and maintained that the currently recognised nine subspecies can be distinguished genetically.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kupferschmidt |first1=K. |date=2015 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/controversial-study-claims-there-are-only-two-types-tiger |title=Controversial study claims there are only two types of tiger |journal= Science |doi=10.1126/science.aac6905 |access-date=27 June 2015}}</ref>
 
In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy 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 has been largely rejected by researchers. Results of a 2018 [[whole-genome sequencing]] of 32 specimens support six [[monophyletic]] tiger [[clade]]s corresponding with the living subspecies and indicate that the most recent [[common ancestor]] lived about 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>
The following tables are based on the [[Taxonomy (biology)|classification]] of the species ''Panthera tigris'' provided in ''[[Mammal Species of the World]]''.<ref name="MSW3" /> It also reflects the classification used by the Cat Classification Task Force in 2017:
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: centre;" | ''Panthera tigris tigris'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}}<ref name="Linn1758" />
! Populations !! Description !! Image
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[Bengal tiger]]
||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 [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], London vary from light yellow to reddish yellow with black stripes.<ref name="pocock1939" />
||[[File:Tiger in Ranthambhore.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|†[[Caspian tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. virgata'' ([[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger|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>
||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 as having narrow and closely set stripes.<ref name="Geptner1972" /> The size of its skull did not differ significantly from that of the Bengal tiger.<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 had been recorded in the wild until the early 1970s and is considered extinct since the late 20th century.<ref name="iucn_CT">{{cite iucn |last1=Jackson |first1=P. |last2=Nowell |first2=K. |name-list-style=amp |date=2011 |title=''Panthera tigris'' ssp. ''virgata'' |page=e.T41505A10480967}}</ref>
||[[File:Panthera tigris virgata.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[Siberian tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. altaica'' ([[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|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>
||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" />
||[[File:Siberian Tiger sf.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[South China tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. amoyensis'' ([[Max Hilzheimer|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>
||Hilzheimer's description was based on five tiger skulls purchased in [[Hankou]], southern China. These skulls differed in the size of teeth and jaw bones by a few cm from skulls of tigers from India.<ref name="Hilzheimer" /> Skins of tigers from southern China in the fur trade were said to be vivid orange in colour with [[rhombus]]-like stripes. Because of differences in the shape of skulls, it was long thought to constitute the most ancient variety.<ref name="Mazak1981" /> It was noted to have a unique [[mtDNA]] [[haplotype]].<ref name="catsg" />
||[[File:2012 Suedchinesischer Tiger.JPG|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[Indochinese tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. corbetti'' [[Vratislav Mazák|Mazák]], 1968}}<ref name="Mazak1968">{{cite journal |last=Mazák |first=V. |author-link=Vratislav Mazák |date=1968 |title=Nouvelle sous-espèce de tigre provenant de l'Asie du sud-est |journal=Mammalia |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=104–112 |doi=10.1515/mamm.1968.32.1.104|s2cid=84054536 }}</ref>
||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" />
||[[File:Panthera tigris corbetti (Tierpark Berlin) 832-714-(118).jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[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=[[PLOS Biology]] |volume=2 |issue=12 |page=e442 |pmid=15583716 |pmc=534810 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020442}}</ref>
||It was proposed as a distinct subspecies on the basis of [[Mitochondrial DNA|mtDNA]] and [[DNA sequences|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 />
||[[File:Tiger in the water.jpg|frameless]]
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: centre;" | ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' {{small|([[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]], 1844)}}<ref name="catsg" />
! Populations !! Description !! Image
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|†[[Javan tiger]]
||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.<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'') |journal=Mammalian Biology |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=268–287 |doi=10.1016/j.mambio.2006.02.007 |url=http://arts.anu.edu.au/grovco/tiger%20SEAsia%20Mazak.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906122850/http://arts.anu.edu.au/grovco/tiger%20SEAsia%20Mazak.pdf}}</ref>
||[[File:Panthera tigris sondaica 01.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|†[[Bali tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. balica'' ([[Ernst Schwarz (zoologist)|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 |url=https://archive.org/stream/annalsmagazineof8101912lond#page/324/mode/2up |doi=10.1080/00222931208693243}}</ref>
||Schwarz based his description on a skin and a skull of an adult female tiger from [[Bali]]. He argued that its fur colour is brighter and its skull smaller than of tigers from Java.<ref name="Schwarz" /><ref name="der-tiger" /> A typical feature of Bali tiger skulls is the narrow [[occipital plane]], which is analogous with the shape of skulls of Javan tigers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mazák |first1=V. |author-link=Vratislav Mazák |last2=Groves |first2=C. P. |last3=Van Bree |first3=P. |date=1978 |title=Skin and Skull of the Bali Tiger, and a list of preserved specimens of ''Panthera tigris balica'' (Schwarz, 1912) |journal= Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde – International Journal of Mammalian Biology |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=108–113}}</ref>
||[[File:Bali tiger zanveld.jpg|frameless]]
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|[[Sumatran tiger]] {{small|formerly ''P. t. sumatrae'' [[Reginald Innes Pocock|Pocock]], 1929}}<ref name="Pocock1929">{{cite journal |last=Pocock |first=R. I. |date=1929 |title=Tigers |journal=[[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]] that had numerous and densely-set broad stripes. Its skull was a little larger than the skull of a Bali tiger.<ref name="Pocock1929" /> It is the smallest of all living tigers.<ref name="Mazak1981" /> The reasons for its small size compared to mainland tigers are unclear, but probably the result of [[insular dwarfism]], especially competition for limited and small prey.<ref name="Kitchener1999" /> The population is thought to be of mainland Asian origin and to have been isolated about 6,000 to 12,000 years ago after a rise in sea-level created Sumatra.<ref name="mazak06" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cracraft |first1=J. |last2=Feinstein |first2=J. |last3=Vaughn |first3=J. |last4=Helm-Bychowski |first4=K. |name-list-style=amp |title=Sorting out tigers (''Panthera tigris''): mitochondrial sequences, nuclear inserts, systematics, and conservation genetics |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=1 |issue=2 |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/ornithology/pdfs/1998c.%20tiger%20conservation.pdf |pages=139–150 |date=1998 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-1795.1998.tb00021.x|s2cid=34186394 }}</ref>
||[[File:Panthera tigris sumatran subspecies.jpg|frameless]]
|}
 
=== Evolution ===
[[File:Longdan tiger.png|thumb|upright|Restoration of a ''Panthera zdanskyi'' skull, an extinct tiger relative whose fossil remains were found in northwest China]]
The tiger's closest living relatives were previously thought to be the ''Panthera'' species [[lion]], [[leopard]] and [[jaguar]]. Results of [[genetic analysis]] indicate that about 2.88&nbsp;million years ago, the tiger and the [[snow leopard]] [[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 (journal)|Science]] |volume=311 |issue=5757 |pages=73–77 |doi=10.1126/science.1122277 |pmid= 16400146|bibcode=2006Sci...311...73J |s2cid=41672825 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/473f6d3685451ace84ebc51ac3ab21ab9923f54d }}</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 geographic origin of the ''Panthera'' is most likely northern Central Asia. The tiger–snow leopard lineage dispersed in Southeast Asia during the [[Miocene]].<ref>{{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>
 
''[[Panthera zdanskyi]]'' is considered to be a [[sister taxon]] of the modern tiger. It lived at the beginning of the [[Pleistocene]] about two million years ago, its [[fossil]] remains were [[Excavation (archaeology)|excavated]] in Gansu of northwestern China. It was smaller and more "[[Primitive (phylogenetics)|primitive]]", but functionally and ecologically similar to the modern tiger. It is disputed as to whether it had the striping pattern. Northwestern China is thought to be the origin of the tiger lineage. Tigers grew in size, possibly in response to [[adaptive radiation]]s of prey species like [[deer]] and [[bovid]]s, which may have occurred in Southeast Asia during the [[Early Pleistocene]].<ref>{{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>
 
''[[Panthera tigris trinilensis]]'' lived about {{mya|1.2}} and is known from fossils excavated near [[Trinil]] in [[Java]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hemmer, H. |title=Fossil mammals of Java. II. Zur Fossilgeschichte des Tigers (''Panthera tigris'' (L.)) in Java |journal =Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen |series=B |volume=74 |number=1 |year=1971 |pages=35–52}}</ref> The [[Wanhsien tiger|Wanhsien]], [[Ngandong tiger|Ngandong]], Trinil, and Japanese tigers became extinct in [[prehistoric]] times.<ref name="PBDB">{{Cite journal |author=Hasegawa, Y. |author2=Tomida, Y. |author3=Kohno, N. |author4=Ono, K. |author5=Nokariya, H. |author6=Uyeno, T. |year=1988 |title=Quaternary vertebrates from Shiriya area, Shimokita Pininsula, northeastern Japan |journal=Memoirs of the National Science Museum |volume=21 |pages=17–36}}</ref> Tigers reached India and northern Asia in the late Pleistocene, reaching eastern [[Bering land bridge|Beringia]], Japan, and [[Sakhalin]]. Some fossil skulls are morphologically distinct from lion skulls, which could indicate tiger presence in Alaska during the [[last glacial period]], about 100,000 years ago.<ref name="TurnerAntón1997">{{cite book |title=The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives: An Illustrated Guide to Their Evolution and Natural History |author=Turner, A. |author2=Antón, M. |date=1997 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-10228-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66mRJSxIAfoC |author2-link=Mauricio Antón }}</ref>
 
In the [[Ille Cave]] on the [[Palawan (island)|island of Palawan]], two articulated [[phalanx bone]]s were found amidst an assemblage of other animal bones and stone tools. They were smaller than mainland tiger fossils, possibly due to [[insular dwarfism]].<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> It has been speculated that the tiger parts were either imported from elsewhere, or that the tiger colonised Palawan from Borneo before the Holocene.<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=[[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=[[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> Fossil remains of tigers were also excavated in Sri Lanka, China, Japan and [[Sarawak]] dating to the [[Late Pliocene]], [[Pleistocene]] and Early [[Holocene]].<ref name="TurnerAntón1997" /><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> The [[Bornean tiger]] was apparently present in Borneo between the [[Late Pleistocene]] and the Holocene, but whether it went extinct in prehistoric or recent times has not been resolved.<ref name=Kitchener2009/><ref name="PiperRabett2007">{{cite journal |author=Piper, P. J. |author2=Rabett, R. J. |name-list-style=amp |title=Confirmation of the presence of the tiger ''Panthera tigris'' (L.) in Late Pleistocene and Holocene Borneo |journal=Malayan Nature Journal |year=2007 |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=259–267 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284506355 |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>
 
Results of a [[Phylogeography|phylogeographic]] study indicate that all living tigers had a common ancestor 108,000 to 72,000 years ago.<ref name=Luo04/> 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 [[bioclimatology|bioclimatic]] data. The resulting model shows a contiguous tiger range at the [[Last Glacial Maximum]], indicating [[gene flow]] between tiger populations in mainland Asia. The Caspian tiger population was likely connected to the Bengal tiger population through corridors below elevations of {{convert|4000|m|abbr=on}} in the [[Hindu Kush]]. The tiger populations on the Sunda Islands and mainland Asia were possibly separated during [[interglacial period]]s.<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}}</ref>
 
The tiger's full [[genome]] sequence was published in 2013. It was found to have similar repeat composition to other cat genomes and an appreciably conserved [[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|Felid hybrid|Panthera hybrid|Liger|Tigon}}
Captive tigers were bred with lions to create [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids]] called liger and tigon. They share physical and behavioural qualities of both parent species. 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/}}</ref>
The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress. Ligers are typically between {{convert|10|and|12|ft|m|abbr=on}} in length, and weigh between {{convert|800|and|1000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} or more.<ref name="liger">{{cite book |last=Markel |first=S. |author2=León, D. |year=2003 |title=Sequence Analysis in a Nutshell: a guide to common tools and databases |publisher=O'Reily |location=Sebastopol, California |isbn=978-0-596-00494-1 |url=http://ommolketab.ir/aaf-lib/d5qzewcba1wb4sk6u293rv2y15u9oa.pdf |access-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827005316/http://ommolketab.ir/aaf-lib/d5qzewcba1wb4sk6u293rv2y15u9oa.pdf |archive-date=27 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<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>
 
The less common tigon is a cross between a lioness and a male tiger.<ref name="natgeo"/> Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are around the same size as their parents.<ref name="imprinting"/> Some females are fertile and have occasionally given birth to [[litigon]]s when mated to a male [[Asiatic lion]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Singh|first=A. |title=Okapis and litigons in London and Calcutta|journal=New Scientist |date=1985 |issue=1453 |page=7}}</ref>
 
== Description ==
{{multiple image |perrow=1
|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 muscular body with strong forelimbs, a large head and a tail that is about half the length of its body. Its [[pelage]] [[animal coloration|colouration]] varies between shades of orange with a white underside and distinctive vertical black stripes; the patterns of which are unique in each individual.<ref name=Guggisberg1975>{{cite book |last=Guggisberg |first=C. A. W. |year=1975 |chapter=Tiger ''Panthera tigris'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wildcatsofworld00gugg/page/180 180–215] |title=Wild Cats of the World |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wildcatsofworld00gugg |chapter-url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Taplinger Pub. Co. |isbn=978-0-7950-0128-4}}</ref><ref name=Mazak1981>{{cite journal |author=Mazák, V. |year=1981 |title=''Panthera tigris'' |journal=Mammalian Species |volume=152 |issue=152 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.2307/3504004 |jstor=3504004 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Stripes are likely advantageous for [[camouflage]] in vegetation such as long grass with strong vertical patterns of light and shade.<ref name="Miquelle">{{cite book |author=Miquelle, D. |contribution=Tiger |pages=18–21 |year=2001| title=The Encyclopedia of Mammals |edition=2nd | editor=MacDonald, D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-7607-1969-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Godfrey, D. |author2=Lythgoe, J. N. |author3=Rumball, 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=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 [[Rosette (zoology)|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 camouflage as the tiger's prey are [[dichromat]]s, 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>
 
A tiger's coat pattern is still visible when it is [[shaving|shaved]]. This is not due to skin pigmentation, but to the stubble and [[hair follicle]]s embedded in the skin.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/animals-skin-colors-zebras-big-cats/ |title=Do Zebras Have Stripes on Their Skin? |first=L. |last=Langley |date=2017 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]}}</ref> It has a mane-like heavy growth of fur around the neck and jaws and long whiskers, especially in males. The pupils are circular with yellow [[iris (anatomy)|irises]]. The small, rounded ears have a prominent white spot on the back, surrounded by black.<ref name=Mazak1981 /> These spots are thought to play an important role in [[intraspecific]] communication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leyhausen |first1=P. |year=1979 |title=Cat behavior: the predatory and social behavior of domestic and wild cats |location=Berlin |publisher=Garland Publishing, Incorporated |page=281 |isbn=9780824070175}}</ref>


The tiger's [[skull]] is similar to a lion's skull, with the frontal region usually less depressed or flattened, and a slightly longer [[postorbital]] region. The lion skull shows broader [[Nose|nasal]] openings. Due to the variation in skull sizes of the two species, the structure of the lower jaw is a reliable indicator for their 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 stout teeth; its somewhat curved [[Canine tooth|canines]] are the longest among living felids with a [[Crown (tooth)|crown]] height of up to {{cvt|90|mm}}.<ref name=Mazak1981 />


=== Size ===
There are tigers with different colors. Most tigers have orange fur with black stripes, and a white [[belly]]. The black stripes usually extend to the white underside. The stripes are used to keep them [[camouflage]]d while [[hunt]]ing. No two tigers have the same [[pattern]] of stripes.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Information about tigers|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Tiger|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124153830/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Tiger|archive-date=November 24, 2010|accessdate=May 27, 2012|website=|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> Most Bengal tigers have orange fur, but some Bengal tigers have white fur with black stripes, or that even have pure white fur. These white tigers are not [[albino]]s with red eyes. The white coat only appears once in every 100
There is notable [[sexual dimorphism]] between male and female tigers, with the latter being consistently smaller. The size difference between them is proportionally greater in the large tiger subspecies, with males weighing up to 1.7 times more than females. Males also have wider forepaw pads, enabling sex to be identified from tracks.<ref name="Tigersnow" /> It has been [[hypothesis]]ed that body size of different tiger populations may be correlated with climate and be explained by [[thermoregulation]] and [[Bergmann's rule]], or by distribution and size of available prey species.<ref name=Mazak1981 /><ref>{{cite journal |author=McNab, B. K. |year=1971 |title=On the ecological significance of Bergmann's rule |journal=Ecology |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=845–854 |doi=10.2307/1936032 |jstor=1936032}}</ref>
births. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India.
                                                             
Tigers vary in size depending on their subspecies. [[Siberian tiger]]s are the largest. Males can grow to at least {{convert|9|ft|m|abbr=off}} long (body length) and [[weight|weigh]] about {{convert|900|lb|kg|abbr=on}}. Females are a bit smaller. Record weight for males is claimed as 890&nbsp;lbs (318&nbsp;kg), but this cannot be confirmed.


Generally, males vary in total length from {{cvt|250|to|390|cm}} and weigh between {{cvt|90|and|300|kg}} with skull length ranging from {{cvt|316|to|383|mm}}. Females vary in total length from {{cvt|200|to|275|cm}}, weigh {{cvt|65|to|167|kg}} with skull length ranging from {{cvt|268|to|318|mm}}. In either sex, the tail represents about {{cvt|0.6|to|1.1|m}} of the total length. The Bengal and Siberian tigers are amongst the tallest cats in shoulder height. They are also ranked among the biggest cats that have ever existed reaching weights of more than {{cvt|300|kg}}.<ref name=Mazak1981 /> The tigers of the Sunda islands are smaller and less heavy than tigers in mainland Asia, rarely exceeding {{cvt|142|kg}} in weight.<ref name=mazak06/>
==Where they live==
Tigers can live in a variety of [[habitat]]s. Mostly they need to hide, to be near a water source, and have enough prey to eat. Tigers are solitary and they all control large amounts of territory, the size of which depends on the availability of  various food for tigers and prey.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tigers: The Largest Cats in the World {{!}} Live Science|url=https://www.livescience.com/amp/27441-tigers.html|access-date=2021-03-26|website=www.livescience.com|date=4 June 2019}}</ref> According to Tigers-World, a male tiger may live and hunt in an area of 60 to 100 square kilometers (23 to 39 square miles). A female tiger may have 20 square kilometers (8 square miles).<ref name=world>{{cite web|url=https://www.tigers-world.com/tiger-habitat/|accessdate=April 30, 2021|title=Tiger Distribution and Habitat|publisher=Tigers-World|date=January 16, 2014}}</ref>  According to the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]], a single tiger can live in a territory as small as 21 square kilometers (8 square miles) to as large as 995 square kilometers (385 square miles).<ref name=USFW>{{cite web|url=https://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/factsheet-tiger-conservation.pdf|publisher=United States Fish and Wildlife Service|accessdate=April 30, 2021|title=World Without Borders: Tiger Conservation Program|archive-date=March 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323205357/https://fws.gov/international/pdf/factsheet-tiger-conservation.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests. These include the wet, [[evergreen]] of [[Assam]] and eastern [[Bengal]]; the [[Mangrove|swampy mangrove forest]] of the [[Ganges]] Delta; the [[deciduous forest]] of [[Nepal]], and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats.


=== Colour variations ===
== Subspecies ==
[[File:Haifa White Tigers-9129-13.jpg|thumb|White tigers in Haifa Zoo]]
As previously thought, the tiger had five living [[subspecies]]. In this context, 'recently' means in the last two centuries. Three tiger subspecies are [[extinct]] (†).
There are three other [[Polymorphism (biology)|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 [[white tiger]] has white fur and [[Sepia (color)|sepia]]-brown stripes. The [[golden tiger]] has a pale golden pelage with a blond tone and reddish-brown stripes. The snow white tiger is a morph with extremely faint stripes and a pale reddish-brown ringed tail.  Both snow white and golden tigers are homozygous for [[CORIN]] [[gene mutation]]s.<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. |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>
* Subspecies of Tiger (''Panthera tigris'')
** [[Bali tiger]] (''Panthera tigris balica'') †
** [[Bengal tiger]] (''Panthera tigris tigris'')
** [[Caspian tiger]] (''Panthera tigris virgata'') †
** Chinese tiger (''Panthera tigris corbetti'')
** [[Javan tiger]] (''Panthera tigris sondaica'') †
** [[Malayan tiger]] (''Panthera tigris jacksoni'')
** [[Siberian tiger]] (''Panthera tigris altaica'')
** [[South China tiger]] (''Panthera tigris amoyensis'')
** [[Sumatran tiger]] (''Panthera tigris sumatrae'')


The white tiger lacks [[pheomelanin]] (which creates the orange colour), and has dark sepia-brown stripes and blue eyes. This altered pigmentation is caused by a [[mutant]] gene that is inherited as an [[autosomal recessive]] trait, which is determined by a white [[Locus (genetics)|locus]]. It is not an [[albinism|albino]], as the [[eumelanin|dark pigments]] are scarcely affected.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=R. |year=1969 |title=The white tigers of Rewa and gene homology in the Felidae |journal=Genetica |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=198–200 |doi=10.1007/BF01787350|pmid=5806538 |s2cid=40514283 }}</ref><ref name="Xu_al2017" /> The mutation changes a single [[amino acid]] in the transporter protein [[SLC45A2]]. Both parents need to have the [[allele]] for whiteness to have white cubs.<ref name=Xu2013>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.054 |pmid=23707431 |title=The Genetic Basis of White Tigers |journal=Current Biology |volume=23 |issue=11 |pages=1031–5 |year=2013 |last1=Xu |first1=X. |last2=Dong |first2=G. X. |last3=Hu |first3=X. S. |last4=Miao |first4=L. |last5=Zhang |first5=X. L. |last6=Zhang |first6=D. L. |last7=Yang |first7=H. D. |last8=Zhang |first8=T. Y. |last9=Zou |first9=Z. T. |last10=Zhang |first10=T. T. |last11=Zhuang |first11=Y. |last12=Bhak |first12=J. |last13=Cho |first13=Y. S. |last14=Dai |first14=W. T. |last15=Jiang |first15=T. J. |last16=Xie |first16=C. |last17=Li |first17=R. |last18=Luo |first18=S. J.|doi-access=free }}</ref>
However, in 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the [[IUCN Species Survival Commission#Cat Specialist Group|IUCN Cat Specialist Group]] revised felid taxonomy 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 |author=Kitchener A.C. & others|year=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>
Between the early and mid 20th century, white tigers were recorded and shot in the Indian states of [[Odisha]], Bihar, [[Assam]] and in the area of [[Rewa, Madhya Pradesh]]. The local maharaja started breeding tigers in the early 1950s and kept a white male tiger together with its normal-coloured daughter; they had white cubs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gee |first1=E. P. |year=1959 |title=Albinism and Partial Albinism in Tigers |journal=The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=56 |pages=581–587 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofbombay561959bomb/page/580}}</ref>
To preserve this recessive trait, only a few white individuals were used in captive breeding, which led to a high degree of [[inbreeding]]. [[Inbreeding depression]] is the main reason for many health problems of captive white tigers, including [[strabismus]], [[stillbirth]], [[cripple|deformities]] and premature death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guillery |first1=R. W. |last2=Kaas |first2=J. H. |year=1973 |title=Genetic abnormality of the visual pathways in a "white" tiger |journal=Science |volume=180 |issue=4092 |pages=1287–1289 |doi=10.1126/science.180.4092.1287|pmid=4707916 |bibcode=1973Sci...180.1287G |s2cid=28568341 }}</ref>
Other physical defects include [[cleft palate]] and [[scoliosis]].<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>


The Tiger [[Species Survival Plan]] has condemned the breeding of white tigers, alleging they are of mixed ancestry and of unknown lineage. The [[gene]]s responsible for white colouration are represented by 0.001% of the population. The disproportionate growth in numbers of white tigers points to [[inbreeding]] among [[homozygous]] [[recessive]] individuals. This would lead to [[inbreeding depression]] and loss of [[genetic variability]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Xavier | first1=N. | year=2010 | title=A new conservation policy needed for reintroduction of Bengal tiger-white | url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/opinions/54571689/new-conservation-policy-needed-reintroduction-bengal-tiger-white | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330113244/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/opinions/54571689/new-conservation-policy-needed-reintroduction-bengal-tiger-white | url-status=dead | archive-date=30 March 2014 | journal=Current Science | volume=99 | issue=7 | pages=894–895 }}</ref>
== Tigers and humans ==
Chinese Tigers are becoming rare, because people hunt them for their silk coat [[skin]] and destroy the habitats they live in. The Bengal tiger has the largest population with 3,500 left in the wild. To help keep the tiger population, tigers are often placed in zoos. In order for tigers to survive into the next century, governments throughout the tigers’ range must show greater determination and commitment to conserve tigers and their habitats.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1641/b570608|access-date=2021-10-30|journal=BioScience|doi=10.1641/b570608|jstor = 10.1641/b570608|title = The Fate of Wild Tigers|year = 2007|last1 = Dinerstein|first1 = Eric|last2 = Loucks|first2 = Colby|last3 = Wikramanayake|first3 = Eric|last4 = Ginsberg|first4 = Joshua|last5 = Sanderson|first5 = Eric|last6 = Seidensticker|first6 = John|last7 = Forrest|first7 = Jessica|last8 = Bryja|first8 = Gosia|last9 = Heydlauff|first9 = Andrea|last10 = Klenzendorf|first10 = Sybille|last11 = Leimgruber|first11 = Peter|last12 = Mills|first12 = Judy|last13 = O'Brien|first13 = Timothy G.|last14 = Shrestha|first14 = Mahendra|last15 = Simons|first15 = Ross|last16 = Songer|first16 = Melissa|volume = 57|issue = 6|pages = 508–514|s2cid = 26558123}}</ref>


There are also records of pseudomelanic or [[black tiger]]s which have thick stripes that merge. In [[Simlipal National Park]], 37% of the tiger population has this condition, which has been linked to isolation and inbreeding.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sagar, Vinay|display-authors=etal|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 }}</ref>
Chinese tigers have been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine. Body parts such as their whiskers and bones are used to treat things such as toothaches, malaria, and burns.


== Distribution and habitat ==
== Diet ==
[[File:Historical tiger distribution PLoS 2009.png|thumb|Historical distribution of the tiger<ref name="Driscoll2009" />]]
Tigers eat many types of [[prey]], mostly other large mammals. Some examples are [[deer]], [[monkey]]s, [[rabbit|wild rabbits]], [[Wild boar|wild pigs]], [[tapirs]], [[buffalo]] and other animals found in Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Food habits and prey selection of tiger and leopard in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228476287 |author1=Ramesh, T. |author2=Snehalatha, V. |author3=Sankar, K. |author4=Qureshi, Q. |name-list-style=amp |journal=Journal of Scientific Transactions in Environment and Technovation |year=2009 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=170–181 |doi=10.20894/stet.116.002.003.010|s2cid=90129510 }}</ref> All are meat eaters. Some tigers may eat up to {{convert|50|lb|kg|abbr=off}} of meat a day. Tigers kill their prey by clamping down on the prey's throat and suffocating it.<ref>Schaller G. 1984. ''The deer and the tiger: a study of wildlife in India''. University Of Chicago Press.</ref>
The tiger historically ranged from eastern [[Turkey]] and [[Transcaucasia]] to the coast of the [[Sea of Japan]], and from South Asia across Southeast Asia to the Indonesian islands of [[Sumatra]], [[Java]] and [[Bali]].<ref name=Guggisberg1975/> Since the end of the [[last glacial period]], it was probably restricted by periods of deep snow lasting longer than six months.<ref name=Seidensticker1986>{{cite book |author=Seidensticker, J. |year=1986 |chapter=Large Carnivores and the Consequences of Habitat Insularization: ecology and conservation of Tigers in Indonesia and Bangladesh |pages=1–41 |title=Cats of the world: biology, conservation and management |editor1-last=Miller |editor1-first=S. D. |editor2-last=Everett |editor2-first=D. D. |publisher=National Wildlife Federation |location=Washington DC |chapter-url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/8206/71440cc3-e3f8-487f-981f-2c9a3309783e.pdf}}</ref><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> Currently, it occurs in less than 6% of its historical range, as it has been extirpated from [[Southwest Asia|Southwest]] and Central Asia, large parts of Southeast and East Asia. It now mainly occurs in the [[Indian subcontinent]], the [[Indochinese Peninsula]], Sumatra and the [[Russian Far East]]. In China and Myanmar, breeding populations appear to rely on immigration from neighbouring countries while its status in the [[Korean Peninsula]] is unknown.<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 is essentially associated with forest habitats.<ref name=Kitchener2009/><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> Tiger populations thrive where populations of wild [[cervid]]s, [[bovid]]s and suids are stable.<ref name=Karanth_al1999>{{cite book |author1=Karanth, K. U. |author2=Sunquist, M. E. |author3=Chinnappa, K. M. |year=1999 |chapter=Long-term monitoring of tigers: lessons from Nagarahole |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 |pages=114–122 |isbn=978-0521648356}}</ref>
Records in Central Asia indicate that it occurred foremost in [[Tugay]] riverine forests along the [[Atrek]], [[Amu Darya]], [[Syr Darya]], [[Hari (Afghanistan)|Hari]], [[Chu River|Chu]] and [[Ili River]]s and their tributaries. In the Caucasus, it inhabited hilly and lowland forests.<ref name=Geptner1972/>
Historical records in [[Iran]] are known only from the southern coast of the [[Caspian Sea]] and adjacent [[Alborz Mountains]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Faizolahi |first1=K. |year=2016 |title=Tiger in Iran – historical distribution, extinction causes and feasibility of reintroduction |journal= Cat News |issue=Special Issue 10 |pages=5–13}}</ref> In the [[Amur River|Amur]]-[[Ussuri River|Ussuri]] region, it inhabits [[Korean pine]] and [[temperate broadleaf and mixed forest]]s, where [[riparian forest]]s provide food and water, and serve as dispersal corridors for both tiger and ungulates.<ref name=Miquelle_al1999/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kerley |first1=L. L. |last2=Goodrich |first2=J. M. |last3=Miquelle |first3=D. G. |last4=Smirnov |first4=E. N. |last5=Quigley |first5=H. G. |last6=Hornocker |first6=M. G. |year=2003 |title=Reproductive parameters of wild female Amur (Siberian) tigers (''Panthera tigris altaica'') |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=288–298 |jstor=1383657 |doi=10.1644/1545-1542(2003)084<0288:RPOWFA>2.0.CO;2|doi-access=free }}</ref>
On the Indian subcontinent, it inhabits mainly [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests]], moist [[evergreen forest]]s, [[tropical dry forest]]s and the [[swamp forest]]s of the [[Sundarbans]].<ref name=Wikramanayake_al1999/> In the [[Eastern Himalaya]]s, tigers were documented in [[temperate forest]] up to an elevation of {{convert|4200|m|abbr=on}} in Bhutan and of {{convert|3630|m|abbr=on}} 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 Myanmar, tigers are distributed across the country and among every province. The country is home to two tiger populations, Bengal and Indochinese tigers. In 1996, the composition of the two populations was 60% Bengal tigers and 40% Indochinese tigers. The natural ecological divide for these two populations is assumed to be the [[Irrawaddy River]], but there is no scientific evidence for that hypothesis. DNA studies are needed to confirm it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zaw Htun |first1=Naing |date=2004 |title=Current status and threats to the survival of wild tigers in Myanmar |url=https://www.cabi.org/gara/mobile/abstract/20153021712 |journal=Journal of Agricultural, Forestry, Livestock and Fishery Sciences |volume= |issue= |pages=62–72 |doi= |access-date=17 May 2022}}</ref> Today, the presence of tigers was confirmed in the [[Hukawng Valley]], [[Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary]], and in two small areas in the [[Tanintharyi Region]]. The [[Tenasserim Hills]] is an important area, but forests are harvested there.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Lynam, A. J. |author2=Saw Tun Khaing |author3=Khin Maung Zaw |name-list-style=amp |year=2006 |title=Developing a national tiger action plan for the Union of Myanmar |journal=Environmental Management |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=30–39 |doi=10.1007/s00267-004-0273-9 |pmid=16362487 |bibcode=2006EnMan..37...30L |s2cid=20467948}}</ref> In 2015, tigers were recorded by camera traps for the first time in the hill forests of [[Kayin State]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Saw Sha Bwe Moo |author2=Froese, G. Z. L. |author3=Gray, T. N. E. |name-list-style=amp |year=2017 |title=First structured camera-trap surveys in Karen State, Myanmar, reveal high diversity of globally threatened mammals |journal=Oryx |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=537–543 |doi=10.1017/S0030605316001113 |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 Laos, 14 tigers were documented in semi-evergreen and evergreen forest interspersed with grassland in [[Nam Et-Phou Louey]] National Protected Area during surveys from 2013 to 2017.<ref name=Rasphone_al2019>{{cite journal |author1=Rasphone, A. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Kéry, M. |author3=Kamler, J.F. |author4=Macdonald, D.W. |year=2019 |title=Documenting the demise of tiger and leopard, and the status of other carnivores and prey, in Lao PDR's most prized protected area: Nam Et-Phou Louey |journal=Global Ecology and Conservation |volume=20 |pages=e00766 |doi=10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00766|doi-access=free}}</ref> In Sumatra, tiger populations range from lowland [[peat swamp forest]]s 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>
 
== Behaviour and ecology ==
{{multiple image |perrow=1 |image1=Tigerwater edit2.jpg |caption1=Tigers are comfortable in water and frequently bathe |image2=JenB Marking Territory.JPG |caption2=Tiger scent marking its territory}}
=== Social and daily activities ===
When not subject to human disturbance, the tiger is mainly [[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 telemetry|Radio-collared]] tigers in [[Chitwan National Park]] started [[Dispersal (ecology)|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 [[Territory (animal)|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 [[territorial marking|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 />
 
[[File:Flying Princess (cropped).jpg|thumb|Female cubs playing in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve]]
To identify his territory, the male marks trees by [[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=http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/10019.1/11220/2/burger_chemical_2008.pdf|journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology|volume=34|issue=5|pages=659–671|doi=10.1007/s10886-008-9462-y|pmid=18437496|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> [[anal gland]] secretions, marking trails with [[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 [[Estrous cycle|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. [[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 [[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 />
 
[[File:Tiger's_Flehmen_Response_-_Kanha_National_Park.jpg|thumb|Tiger in Kanha National Park showing [[flehmen]]]]
Facial expressions include the "defense threat", where an individual bares its teeth, flattens its ears and its pupils enlarge. Both males and females show a [[flehmen response]], a characteristic grimace, when sniffing urine markings, but flehmen is more often associated with males detecting the markings made by tigresses in oestrus.
 
Like other ''Panthera'', tigers [[Roar (vocalization)|roar]], particularly in aggressive situations during the mating season or when making a kill. There are two different roars: the "true" roar is made using the [[hyoid apparatus]] and forced through an open mouth as it progressively closes, and the shorter, harsher "coughing" roar is made with the mouth open and teeth exposed. The "true" roar can be heard at up to {{cvt|3|km}} away and is sometimes emitted three or four times in succession. When tense, tigers will moan, a sound similar to a roar but more subdued and made when the mouth is partially or completely closed. Moaning can be heard {{cvt|400|m}} away.<ref name="Mazak1981" /> [[Prusten|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 vocalizations include grunts, woofs, snarls, miaows, hisses and growls.<ref name="Mazak1981" />
 
=== Hunting and diet ===
{{multiple image |perrow=1
|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
}}
In the wild, tigers mostly feed on large and medium-sized mammals, particularly [[ungulate]]s weighing {{cvt|60|–|250|kg}}. The most significantly preferred species are [[sambar deer]], [[Manchurian wapiti|wapiti]], [[barasingha]] and [[wild boar]]. Tigers are capable of taking down larger prey like adult [[gaur]]<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> and [[wild water buffalo]] but will also opportunistically eat much smaller prey, such as [[monkey]]s, [[peafowl]] and other ground-based birds, [[hare]]s, [[porcupine]]s, and fish.<ref name="Miquelle" /> They also prey on other predators, including dogs, leopards, pythons, bears, and crocodiles.<ref name="Perry" /> Tigers generally do not prey on fully grown adult [[Asian elephant]]s and [[Indian rhinoceros]] but incidents have 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|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/article103095.ece |title=Tiger kills elephant at Eravikulam park | work= The New Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/tiger-kills-adult-rhino-in-dudhwa-tiger-reserve/article4357638.ece|title=Tiger kills adult rhino in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve|date=29 January 2013|via=www.thehindu.com|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> More often, it is the more vulnerable small calves that are taken.<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 will also sometimes prey on such domestic livestock as cattle, horses, and donkeys. Although almost exclusively carnivorous, tigers will occasionally eat vegetation for [[dietary fibre]] such as fruit of the [[Careya arborea|slow match tree]].<ref name="Perry">{{cite book | author=Perry, R. | title=The World of the Tiger | year=1965| page=260}}</ref>
 
Tigers are thought to be mainly [[Nocturnality|nocturnal]] predators,<ref name=Sunquist2010/> but in areas where humans are absent, remote-controlled, hidden [[camera trap]]s recorded them hunting in daylight.<ref>BBC (2008). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009smrg ''Tiger: Spy In The Jungle'']. John Downer Productions</ref> They generally hunt alone and ambush their prey as most other cats do, overpowering them from any angle, using their body size and strength to knock the prey off balance. Successful hunts usually require the tiger to almost simultaneously leap onto its quarry, knock it over, and grab the throat or nape with its teeth.<ref name = Walker /> Despite their large size, 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 |perrow=1 |image1=Amitava banerjee tiger wild boar tadoba.jpg |caption1=Bengal tiger subduing an [[Indian boar]] at [[Tadoba National Park]]
|image2=RANTHAMBORE TIGER RESERVE.jpg |caption2=Bengal tiger attacking a [[Sambar deer|sambar]] in [[Ranthambore Tiger Reserve]]}}
When hunting larger animals, tigers prefer to [[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 [[Strangling|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, gaurs and water buffaloes weighing over a ton have been killed by tigers weighing about a sixth as much.<ref>[[#Sankhala|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, Luke |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=[https://archive.org/details/wildcatsofworld00sunq/page/343 343–372] |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 [[nape]], often breaking the [[spinal cord]], piercing the [[vertebrate trachea|windpipe]], or severing the [[jugular vein]] or [[common carotid artery]].<ref>[[#Sankhala|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 bear]]s.<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|''Tiger hunted by wild dogs'', Illustration in ''Samuel Howett & Edward Orme, Hand Coloured, Aquatint Engravings'', 1807]]
Tigers usually prefer to eat self-killed prey, but eat [[carrion]] in times of scarcity and also [[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, [[dhole]]s, [[striped hyena]]s, [[wolves]], bears, [[Pythonidae|pythons]], and [[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>
 
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}}</ref> With relatively abundant prey, tigers and leopards were seen to successfully coexist without competitive exclusion or interspecies [[dominance (ethology)|dominance]] hierarchies that may be more common to the African savanna, where the leopard lives beside the lion.<ref name=Karanth /> [[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===
{{Redirect|Tiger cub|other uses|Tiger Cub (disambiguation){{!}}Tiger Cub}}
{{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 [[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 [[estrus cycle|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/> 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 [[dominance (ethology)|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 /> [[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>Wildlife Conservation Society. (2015). [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150306143548.htm Tiger dad: Rare family portrait of Amur tigers the first-ever to include an adult male]. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2015.</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|url=https://www.ranthamborenationalpark.com/t-25.html|title=T-25 Dollar- The Famous Tiger of Ranthambore}}</ref>
 
== Conservation ==
{{Main|Tiger conservation}}
{{further information|21st Century Tiger}}
{| class="wikitable sortable floatright"
|+ Global wild tiger population
!Country
!Year
!Estimate
|-
|{{flagicon|India}} India ||2019 ||align="right"|2,603–3,346<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jhala, Y. V. |author2=Qureshi, Q. |author3=Nayak, A. K. |name-list-style=amp |year=2019 |title=Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India 2018. Summary Report. TR No./2019/05 |publisher=National Tiger Conservation Authority & Wildlife Institute of India |location=New Delhi, Dehradun |author1-link=Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagicon|Russia}} Russia ||2016 ||align="right"|433<ref name=GTF/>
|-
|{{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 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagicon|Viet Nam}} Vietnam ||2016 ||align="right"|<5<ref name=GTF/>
|-
|{{flagicon|Laos}} Laos ||2016 ||align="right"|14<ref name=Rasphone_al2019/>
|-
|{{flagicon|Cambodia}} Cambodia ||2016 ||align="right"|0<ref name=iucn/>
|-
|{{flagicon|Thailand}} Thailand ||2016 ||align="right"|189<ref name=GTF/>
|-
|{{flagicon|Malaysia}} Malaysia ||2014 ||align="right"|80–120<ref>{{cite iucn |title=''Panthera tigris'' ssp. ''jacksoni'' |author=Kawanishi, K. |date=2015 |page=e.T136893A50665029}}</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>
|-
|{{flagicon|Bangladesh}} Bangladesh ||2014 ||align="right" |300–500<ref name=iucn/>
|-
|{{flagicon|Bhutan}} Bhutan ||2015 ||align="right" |89–124<ref>{{cite report |author=Dorji, S. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Thinley, P. |author3=Tempa, T. |author4=Wangchuk, N. |author5=Tandin |author6=Namgyel, U. |author7=Tshewang, S. |date=2015 |title=Counting the Tigers in Bhutan: Report on the National Tiger Survey of Bhutan 2014 – 2015 |location=Thimphu, Bhutan |publisher=Department of Forests and Park Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326294374}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagicon|Nepal}} Nepal ||2018 ||align="right"|220–274<ref>{{cite report |author1=Poudyal, L. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Yadav, B. |author3=Ranabhat, R. |author4=Maharjan, S. |author5=Malla, S. |author6=Lamichhane, B.R. |author7=Subba, S. |author8=Koirala, S. |author9=Shrestha, S. |author10=Gurung, A. |author11=Paudel, U. |author12=Bhatt, T. |author13=Giri, S. |year=2018 |title=Status of Tigers and Prey in Nepal |location=Kathmandu, Nepal |publisher=Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation & Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Forests and Environment}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagicon|Indonesia}} Indonesia ||2016 ||align="right" |371<ref name=GTF/>
|-
|'''Total'''|| ||align="right"|'''4,381–5,453'''
|}
 
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 [[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/ |magazine=National Geographic}}</ref> The [[World Wildlife Fund|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 [[habitat destruction]], [[habitat fragmentation]] and [[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.; Klenzendorf, S.; Wikramanayake, 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 [[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>
 
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 [[tiger reserves in India|tiger reserves]].<ref>{{cite news |date=2008 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080213-AP-india-disap.html | 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 [[Soviet Union]] and a network of protected zones ([[zapovednik]]s) 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 [[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=[[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 [[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 [[CITES]] treaty. By 1993 it had banned the trade in tiger parts, and this diminished the use of tiger bones in [[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 [[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>
 
[[File:Wild Sumatran tiger.jpg|thumb|Camera trap image of wild Sumatran tiger]]
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>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 programme 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 [[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 [[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 |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 [[camera trap]]s and studies of [[DNA]] from tiger scat, while [[radio telemetry|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 }}</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}}</ref>
 
== Relation with humans ==
 
=== Tiger hunting ===
{{Main|Tiger hunting}}
[[File:ElephantbackTigerHunt.jpg|thumb|right|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 [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|colonial India]], the [[maharaja]]s 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 /> Tiger hunting was done by some hunters on foot; others sat up on ''[[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>
 
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 ===
Tiger parts are commonly used as [[amulet]]s in [[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"/> 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 [[Upper Paleolithic]]. The tiger subfossils showed longitudinal fracture of the [[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"/><ref name="Monks 03-2017"/>
[[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]]
Many people in China and other parts of Asia have a belief that various tiger parts have [[Traditional Chinese medicine|medicinal properties]], including as pain killers and [[aphrodisiac]]s.<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 [[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 in their own country or into [[Taiwan]], [[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 [[poacher]]s and may be caught anywhere in the tiger's remaining range (from Siberia to India to the [[Malay Peninsula]] to [[Sumatra]]). In the Asian black market, a [[tiger penis]] can be worth the equivalent of around $300 U.S. dollars. In the years of 1990 through 1992, 27&nbsp;million products with tiger derivatives were found.<ref name=Walker /> In July 2014 at an international convention on endangered species in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]], a Chinese representative admitted for the first time his government was aware trading in tiger skins was occurring in China.<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|Tiger attack}}
[[File:Maneater calcutta1903 stereoscopic.jpg|thumb|right|Stereographic photograph (1903), captioned "Famous 'man-eater' at Calcutta—devoured 200 men, women and children before capture—India"<ref>{{cite web | url=http://ogimages.bl.uk/images/019/019PHO000000181U00050000%5BSVC2%5D.jpg | title=Famous 'man-eater' at Calcutta | publisher=Underwood & Underwood | year=1903 | access-date=9 April 2014}}</ref>]]
 
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. |author-link=Jim Corbett |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">[[Tiger of Segur|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 division|Kumaon]], [[Garhwal division|Garhwal]] and the [[Sundarbans]] mangrove swamps of [[Bengal]], where some healthy tigers have hunted humans. Because of rapid habitat loss attributed to [[climate change]], tiger attacks have increased in the Sundarbans.<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 [[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, promoting him as "superstar" of the [[Ringling Brothers]] and [[Barnum and Bailey Circus]] circa 1969.]]
 
In [[Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman]] times, tigers were kept in [[menagerie]]s and [[amphitheatre]]s to be exhibited, trained and paraded, and were often provoked to fight [[gladiators]] and other exotic beasts.<ref>{{cite book |author=Auguet, Roland |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, William |year=1988 |title=Sports in the Western World |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/sportsinwesternw00bake/page/33 33] |isbn=978-0-252-06042-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/sportsinwesternw00bake/page/33 }}</ref> Since the 17th century, tigers, being rare and ferocious, were sought after to keep at European castles as symbols of their owners' power. Tigers became central [[zoo]] and [[circus]] exhibits in the 18th century: a tiger could cost up to 4,000 [[French franc|francs]] in France (for comparison, a professor of the Beaux-Arts at Lyons earned only 3,000 francs a year),<ref name="bartay">{{cite book |author=Baratay, Eric | year=2004 |title=Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=19 |isbn=978-1-86189-208-9}}</ref> or up to $3,500 in the United States, where a lion cost no more than $1,000.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ruppel, Louis |year=1951 |title=Collier's, Volume 127 |publisher=Crowell-Collier Publishing Company |page=61}}</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, fifteen require a license, and sixteen 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> [[Genetic ancestry]] of 105 captive tigers from fourteen countries and regions showed that forty-nine animals belonged distinctly to five subspecies; fifty-two animals had mixed subspecies origins.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=18424146 |author=Luo, S. |author2=Johnson, W. E. |author3=Martenson, J. |author4=Antunes, A. |author5=Martelli, P. |author6=Uphyrkina, O. |author7=Traylor-Holzer, K. |author8=Smith, J. L.D. |author9=O'Brien, S. J. |year=2008 |title=Subspecies Genetic Assignments of Worldwide Captive Tigers Increase Conservation Value of Captive Populations |journal=Current Biology |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=592–596 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.053 |s2cid=16594083 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Many Siberian tigers in zoos today are actually the result of crosses with Bengal tigers.<ref name="SandersonMoulton1998">{{cite book |last1=Sanderson |first1=J. |last2=Moulton |first2=M. |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 ==
[[File:Bronze Tiger Tally "Jie" with Gold Inlay from Tomb of Zhao Mo.jpg|thumb|Bronze Tiger Tally "Jie" with Gold Inlay from Tomb of [[Zhao Mo]]]]
 
Tigers and their superlative qualities have been a source of fascination for mankind since ancient times, and they are routinely visible as important cultural and media motifs. They are also considered one of the [[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>
 
=== Myth and legend ===
{{further information|Tiger in Chinese culture|Tiger in Korean culture}}
{{See also|Tiger worship}}
[[File:Minhwa-Tiger and magpie-03.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|''Tiger and magpie'' in the [[Minhwa]], late 19th century.]]
 
In [[Chinese mythology|Chinese myth]] and [[Chinese culture|culture]], the [[Tiger (zodiac)|tiger]] is one of the 12 animals of the [[Chinese astrology|Chinese zodiac]]. In [[Chinese art]], the tiger is depicted as an earth symbol and equal rival of the [[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 [[History of China|Imperial China]], a tiger was the personification of war and often represented the highest army [[General Officer|general]] (or present day [[United States Secretary of Defense|defense secretary]]),<ref name="Cooper92"/> while the emperor and empress were represented by a [[dragon]] and [[Fenghuang|phoenix]], respectively. The [[White Tiger (Chinese constellation)|White Tiger]] ({{zh|c=白虎|p=Bái Hǔ}}) is one of the [[Four Symbols (Chinese constellation)|Four Symbols]] of the [[Chinese constellation]]s. 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 |title=A Tiger by the tail and other Stories from the heart of Korea |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |author=Chan-eung, Par |year=1999}}</ref> In [[Korean mythology|Korean myth]] and [[Korean culture|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. So, Koreans also called the tigers "San Gun" (산군) means Mountain Lord.<ref>[[Standard Korean Language Dictionary]]</ref>
 
In [[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=161–62 |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 people|Udege]] and [[Nani people|Nanai]] called it "Amba". The [[Manchu people|Manchu]] 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 [[Hinduism]], the god [[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 [[Durga]] rides the tigress (or lioness) Damon into battle. In southern India the god [[Ayyappan]] was associated with a tiger.<ref>{{cite web |last=Balambal |first=V. |title=19. Religion – Identity – Human Values – Indian Context | work=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> The [[Werecat|weretiger]] replaces the [[werewolf]] in [[shapeshifting]] folklore in Asia;<ref name="summers66">{{cite book | last=Summers | first=M. |author-link=Montague Summers | 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=Patrick |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 [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman tradition]], the tiger was depicted being ridden by the god [[Dionysus]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dunbabin|first=Katherine, M. D.|title=Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World|year=1999|location=Cambridge|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|pages=32, 44|isbn=978-0-521-00230-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C}}</ref>
[[File:The Tyger BM a 1794.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Blake]]'s first printing of ''[[The Tyger]]'', 1794]]
 
=== Literature and media===
{{See also|Bengal tiger#Literature}}
In the Hindu epic [[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> [[William Blake]]'s poem in his ''[[Songs of Experience]]'' (1794), titled "[[The Tyger]]", portrays the tiger as a menacing and fearful animal.<ref name="reaktion"/> In [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s 1894 ''[[The Jungle Book]]'', the tiger [[Shere Khan]] is the mortal enemy of the human protagonist [[Mowgli]].<ref name="reaktion">{{cite book|author=Green, S. |year=2006 |title=Tiger|url=https://archive.org/details/tigerreaktionboo00gree |url-access=limited |publisher=Reaktion Books|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tigerreaktionboo00gree/page/n73 72]–73, 125–27|isbn=978-1861892768}}</ref> [[Yann Martel]]'s 2001 [[Man Booker Prize]] winning 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 2012 [[Life of Pi (film)|feature film of the same name]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Castelli, Jean-Christopher |year=2012|title=The Making of Life of Pi: A Film, a Journey |publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0062114136}}</ref>
 
Friendly tiger characters include [[Tigger]] in [[A. A. Milne]]'s [[Winnie-the-Pooh]] and [[Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)|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=[https://archive.org/details/whentoyscomealiv00kuzn/page/54 54]|isbn=978-0300056457|url=https://archive.org/details/whentoyscomealiv00kuzn/page/54}}</ref> [[Tony the Tiger]] is a famous mascot for [[Kellogg's]] [[breakfast cereal]] [[Frosted Flakes]], known for his catchphrase "They're Gr-r-reat!".<ref>{{cite book|author=Gifford, C.|year=2005|title=Advertising & Marketing: Developing the Marketplace|publisher=Heinemann-Raintree Library|pages=[https://archive.org/details/advertisingmarke0000giff/page/34 34–35]|isbn=978-1403476517|url=https://archive.org/details/advertisingmarke0000giff/page/34}}</ref>
 
===Heraldry and emblems ===
{{see also|Tigers (sports teams)}}
[[File:Chola coin with legend "Uttama".png|thumb|left|An early silver coin of king [[Uttama Chola]] found in [[Sri Lanka]] shows the Chola Tiger sitting between the emblems of [[Pandyan]] and [[Chera]]]]
 
The tiger is one of the animals displayed on the [[Pashupati seal]] of the [[Indus Valley civilisation]]. The tiger was the emblem of the [[Chola Dynasty]] and was depicted on coins, seals and banners.<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 [[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>Singh, U. (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PAfront ''A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century'']. Pearson Education, India.</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>Daya Somasundaram (11 February 2014) ''Scarred Communities: Psychosocial Impact of Man-made and Natural Disasters on Sri Lankan Society'', SAGE Publications India, p. 73.</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 | url-access=registration | year=2006 | publisher=Twenty-First Century Books | isbn=978-0-8225-2674-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/malaysiainpictur0000dipi/page/14 14]}}</ref> The Siberian tiger is the national animal of [[South Korea]]. The Tiger is featured on the logo of the [[Delhi Capitals]] [[Indian Premier League|IPL]] team.
 
In European heraldry, the [[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 [[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>[[Arthur Fox-Davies]], ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'', T.C. and E.C. Jack, London, 1909, 191–192, 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
* [[Tiger versus lion]]


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist}}
 
== Further reading ==
* {{cite magazine |author=Marshall, A. |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |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''}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Panthera tigris|''Panthera tigris''}}
*{{Wikiquote-inline|Tigers}}
*{{Wikivoyage-inline|Tigers}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.catsg.org/index.php?id=124|publisher=[[Species Survival Commission|IUCN/SSC]] Cat Specialist Group|title=Tiger ''Panthera tigris''}}


{{Carnivora|Fe.}}
{{wikispecies|Panthera tigris}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q19939|from2=Q41083521}}
{{commons|Panthera tigris}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q19939}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Cats|Mammals|Animals|Biology|Asia}}


[[Category:Apex predators]]
[[Category:Tigers|Tigers]]
[[Category:Big cats]]
[[Category:Felines]]
[[Category:Conservation-reliant species]]
[[Category:EDGE species]]
[[Category:Extant Pleistocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Fauna of South Asia]]
[[Category:Fauna of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Felids of Asia]]
[[Category:Mammals described in 1758]]
[[Category:Mammals of East Asia]]
[[Category:National symbols of India]]
[[Category:National symbols of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:National symbols of Malaysia]]
[[Category:National symbols of Singapore]]
[[Category:Panthera]]
[[Category:Species endangered by agricultural development]]
[[Category:Species endangered by deliberate extirpation efforts]]
[[Category:Species endangered by human consumption for medicinal or magical purposes]]
[[Category:Species endangered by logging]]
[[Category:Species endangered by urbanization]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
WikiDwarfBOT
Bots, trusted
7,437

edits

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/357251"