Most Bengal tigers live in India, although some range through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. The estimated wild population is approximately 3,000 tigers, with about 333 in captivity, primarily in zoos in India. White tigers are simply a color variant of Bengal tigers and are rarely found in the wild. The Bengal tiger lives in a wide range of habitats, including the high-altitude, cold, coniferous Himalayan forests, the steaming mangroves of the Sunder bans, the swampy reed lands, the scorched hills of the Indian peninsula, the lush wet forests of Northern India, and the arid forests of Rajasthan.
Bengal tigers prey primarily on wild deer and wild cattle.
The Bengal tiger occurs primarily throughout India, with smaller populations in southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and western Myanmar. The first all-India census in 1971 produced a baseline figure of 1,800 tigers. Project Tiger and Wildlife Institute of India officials reported in subsequent censuses that tiger numbers increased to 4,334 in 1989. These estimates were disputed by Indian biologists, who suggested the number is much lower. The Cat Specialist Group estimated 2,500 to 3,750 Bengal tigers in India in 1998.