Where Do Tigers Live?

This is written for children and people who want simple, straightforward reading.

Where do tigers live? The map below shows you. It is a different sort of map. It is a globe so you can see more easily where the tiger lives. It is also a simple map so that it is easy to read. But it is very carefully prepared.

It is important to remember that the tiger lives in small areas within the large areas marked. The tiger does not roam across all of the marked area. That would be nice for the tiger but there are, unfortunately, too many people in this part of the world and not enough room for the tiger.

The people who know the tiger well are still discussing how many subspecies of tiger there are. The tiger is a species or type of wild cat while a subspecies is a type of tiger. There are quite small differences between tiger subspecies. The average person would not be able to tell the difference between the different types of tiger by looking at a photograph.

You can tell the difference between the Siberian and Sumatran tigers if photographs are put side by side because the Siberian tiger is quite a lot bigger than the Sumatran tiger, which is the smallest of all the tigers.

It seems that at 2012 there are five subspecies of tiger. They are marked on the map. There was a time, not that long ago when I would have added more.

These subspecies of tiger are extinct: South China tiger, Bali tiger, Javan tiger and the Caspian tiger. For kids who are not sure, that means these subspecies of tiger no longer exist. For that reason they are not marked on the map. You might see a stuffed one somewhere or the skin of one. But real, living, magnificent tigers of these subspecies are no longer in the world. There is one thing to note. People are not absolutely sure that the South China tiger is extinct. But it is almost certain that it is extinct.

The Bengal tiger mainly lives in reserves. It lives in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Reserves are places where the tiger is more important than people. They are quite large areas because tigers need large areas in which to live properly. People can visit these places but cannot disturb the tiger. They are not fenced in and tourists visit them. Some people believe that visits by tourists upsets the tigers.

The Northern Indochinese tiger lives in these countries: Myanmar (this country was called Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and southwestern China.

The Malayan tiger lives on the Malay Peninsula. This is a long piece of land that includes the country Malaysia and the south of Thailand.

The Siberian tiger, which is also called the Amur tiger, lives almost totally in Russia on the far east coast. There may be some of these tigers in a tiny part of China. The word “Amur” comes from the name of a region in that part of Russia.

As you can see, the tiger lives in a wide variety of places. This means the the tiger has learned to live under different conditions. In Bhutan the tiger lives above 4,000 feet. In Russian the tiger lives in snowy woods. In Bangladesh it lives in sea water swamps. However, its bold stripes tell us that it prefers forests where the light and shade hides the tiger.

Click on this link to read more about the tiger in detail.