The tiger (Panthers Tigris) is the largest , most recognizable for their pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with a lighter underside. The species is classified in the genus with the , , , and . Tigers are , primarily preying on such as and . They are territorial and generally animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of that support their prey requirements. This, coupled with the fact that they are indigenous to some of the more densely populated places on Earth, has caused significant .
Tigers once ranged widely across , from the in the west, to the in the south, and from to in the . Over the past 100 years, they have lost 93% of their historic range, and have been extirpated from and , from the islands of and , and from large areas of , , and . Today, they range from the Siberian to open and tropical swamps. The remaining six tiger subspecies have been classified as by the (IUCN). Major reasons for population decline include , and . The extent of area occupied by tigers is estimated at less than 1,184,911 km2 (457,497 sq mi), a 41% decline from the area estimated in the mid-1990s.
The gobal population in the wild is estimated to number between 3,062 and 3,948 individuals, down from around 100,000 at the start of the 20th century, with most remaining populations occuring in small pockets isolated from each other, in which about 2,000 tigers live on Indian Subcontinent. In 2016, an estimate of a gobal wild tiger poulation of appoximately 3,890 individuals was presented during the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. The WWF declared that the world's count of wild tigers risen for the first time in a century. Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world's megafauna. They have featured prominetly in ancient mythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted In modern films and literature. They appear on many flags, coats of arms, and as mascots for sporting teams. The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and South Korea.
