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Tiger Subspecies List

Tigers are the largest species in the cat family and used to roam throughout all of Asia, but now are confined to small parts of the continent. There once were nine tiger subspecies existing in the world, but in the past century the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers have become extinct, leaving six subspecies, all of which are endangered.

  1. Siberian Tiger

    • The Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur tiger, is the largest subspecies of tiger. This tiger is found mostly in northern China and southeastern Russia, and almost became extinct in the 1960's. The population has since recovered somewhat and there now are around 450 Siberian tigers alive today.

    Indian Tiger

    • The Indian tiger also is known as the Bengal tiger and is the most populous subspecies, with just under 2,000 left in the wild. This tiger lives primarily in India, but also has smaller populations throughout Burma, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The numbers of this subspecies were stabilized in the 1970's thanks to the creation of tiger reserves, but poaching inside the reserves in recent years has put the Indian tiger at risk once again.

    Indochinese Tiger

    • The exact numbers of the Indochinese tiger are uncertain, but are estimated to be between 750 and 1,300 in the wild. This tiger lives throughout Thailand, China, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Vietnam and Myanmar. Besides poaching, the main threat to these tigers is rapid development in some countries that are fragmenting natural habitat and forcing Indochinese tigers into small refuges.

    Malayan Tiger

    • There are only about 500 Malayan tigers left in the wild. These tigers live on the Malayan Peninsula in Thailand and Malaysia, and are threatened primarily by human-wildlife conflict as well as loss of habitat due to forest conversion for agriculture and development, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

    Sumatran Tiger

    • The Sumatran tiger can be found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and there are fewer than 400 of these cats in the wild. The Sumatran tiger is seriously threatened by poaching and rapid deforestation across the tiger's range. Because of this, it is feared that unless local authorities step in to protect this subspecies, it will soon be extinct.

    South China Tiger

    • The South China tiger has not been spotted in the wild for over 25 years following decades of being exterminated by those who viewed the cat as a pest. Because of this, the South China tiger is considered functionally extinct, which means a few individuals may remain in the wild as well as in zoos, but there is little hope for their survival. The South China tiger soon will vanish from this planet.

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