AnimalsThe tiger is the largest of the big cats. Its orange coat with black stripes hides it in tall grass, and no two tigers have the same stripe pattern. Tigers hunt alone, mostly at night, and are strong swimmers. It is the national animal of India, which is home to most of the world's wild tigers.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Panthera tigris
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Carnivore (eats other animals)
- Lives in
- Asia
- Habitat
- Forests, grasslands and mangrove swamps
- A young one is called
- cub
- A group is called
- streak or ambush
- Conservation status
- Endangered
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Carnivora
- Family Felidae
- Genus Panthera
- Species Panthera tigris
Other members of the family Felidae on this site: cheetah, domestic cat, jaguar, leopard, lion, snow leopard.
More distant relatives in the order Carnivora: brown bear, dog, giant panda, polar bear, red fox, red panda, sloth bear, spotted hyena, walrus, wolf.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The tiger is listed as Endangered. The species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.