A year in the Chinese zodiac is dedicated to the tiger. Yet these powerful predators are in deep trouble. In the early 1900s, there were an estimated 100,000 tigers in the wild. In 1996, that number had plummeted to between 5,000 and 7,000. And their numbers are continuing to decline dramatically.
Tigers are the biggest cats in the world.
There are 5 subspecies, all found in Asia. They live in a variety of habitats ranging from the cold dry temperate woodlands of Siberia to the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. These tigers occur throughout India, but are also found in small numbers in southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and western Myanmar. They inhabit diverse habitats, from cold coniferous Himalayan forests, to the mangroves of the Sunderbans, to wet forests of northern India. Males average about 9.5 feet in length, from head to tail, and weigh about 480 pounds.