25 Tiger Facts: India's Majestic Striped Big Cat

The tiger's scientific name is Panthera tigris.

The tiger is the largest cat species in the world.

The largest tigers live in the Russian Far East. Large males there can weigh up to around 300 kilograms.

Scientists now group tigers into two main subspecies: mainland tigers, including Bengal tigers, and the Sunda tigers of Sumatra.

No two tigers have the same stripe pattern. Each tiger's stripes are as unique as a human fingerprint.

A tiger's stripes aren't just on its fur. Its skin is striped too.

Tigers have white spots on the backs of their ears, which may help cubs follow their mother or make a tiger look as if it's watching from behind.

Unlike most cats, tigers love water. They are strong swimmers and often cool off in rivers and lakes.

In the Sundarbans mangrove forest of West Bengal and Bangladesh, tigers regularly swim between islands and are the only tigers adapted to living in mangroves.

Most white tigers in zoos descend from one Indian tiger

White tigers are not a separate species. They are Bengal tigers born with a rare gene that gives them white fur with dark stripes and often blue eyes. In 1951, a white tiger cub named Mohan was captured in the forests of Rewa, in Madhya Pradesh, and later became famous around the world. Many of the white tigers in zoos today are descended from Mohan. White tigers are almost never seen in the wild, and breeding them in captivity has often caused health problems.

Tigers are solitary animals that live and hunt alone, except for mothers with their cubs.

They mark their territories by scratching trees and spraying scent to warn other tigers away.

A tiger's roar can be heard up to about 3 kilometres away.

When tigers greet each other in a friendly way, they make a soft, puffing sound called a chuff.

Tigers mostly hunt at night, and their eyesight in the dark is far better than ours.

Tigers hunt by stalking and ambushing their prey, but only around one in ten hunts succeeds.

A hungry tiger can eat more than 30 kilograms of meat in a single meal.

Tiger cubs are born blind and stay with their mother for about two years, learning how to hunt.

Wild tigers usually live for around 10 to 15 years.

India is home to about three-quarters of the world's wild tigers

In 1973, India launched Project Tiger with just nine tiger reserves to save the country's dwindling tiger population. Since then, the network has grown to more than 50 tiger reserves across the country. The 2022 tiger count estimated around 3,600 tigers living in India's forests, about 75% of all wild tigers on Earth. This made India the first country to double its tiger numbers, well ahead of the 2022 global target.

The tiger is the national animal of India, as well as of Bangladesh, Malaysia and South Korea.

India's first national park, now called Jim Corbett National Park, was set up in 1936 and is famous for its tigers.

There are thought to be around 5,500 wild tigers left in the world.

Three kinds of tiger, the Bali, Javan and Caspian tigers, have already gone extinct.

International Tiger Day is celebrated every year on 29 July to raise awareness about tiger conservation.