But for all their stealth and power, tigers are successful hunters only about 10 percent of the time. To find sufficient food, they need a lot of territory. They're normally solitary animals, but they have been known to occasionally hunt in packs. . . . In this century, tiger numbers have been reduced by at least 95 percent. As few as 5,500 may remain in the wild.
Tigers live in dense bush or forest.
So as forests throughout Asia are rapidly transformed into farmlands, tigers are squeezed into smaller and smaller pockets of territory. These tiny patches of forest are too small to hold enough prey for the few remaining tigers. In desperation, they may turn to livestock, and sometimes even to humans. Humans have also turned against tigers. In Asia, tiger bones are touted as a cure for rheumatism.