Tigers are the largest members of the cat family. People admire the tiger for its strength and beauty, but they fear it because it has been known to kill and eat human beings. Yet almost all wild tigers avoid people. Probably only 3 or 4 of every 1,000 tigers ever eat people, and some of these are sick or wounded animals that can no longer hunt large prey.
Wild tigers are found only in Asia. Until the 1800s many lives throughout most of the southern half of the continent. Tigers still live in some of this area, but only few are left. People have greatly reduced the number of tigers by hunting them and by clearing the forest in which they lived. Today wild life experts consider the tiger an endangered species.
Tigers can live in almost any climate. They need only shade, water and food. They are found in the hot rain forests of Malaysia, and dry torn woods of India, and the cold, snowy spruce forests of Mancharia. They also live in oak woods tall grasslands, swamps, marshes. Tigers prefer to be in the shadows and seldom go into open country, as lions do. Many tigers also live in zoos. In the past, wild tigers were captured for zoos. Today enough tigers for zoos are born in captivity.
