The tiger, Panthera tigris, is the largest species in the Felidae genus; the genus contains 39 species. The tiger’s historic range once stretched from Anatolia to the Amur River in Eastern Russia and from the lower Himalayas to the islands of Indonesia. There are now fewer than 5,000 animals remaining in the wild and struggling to survive in isolated and scattered pockets. Their catastrophic decline has been attributed to habitat loss and poaching. Two subspecies of tigers are recognized: Panthera tigris tigris, six different varieties found on the Asian mainland and Panthera tigris sondaica, the Sumatran tiger found in the Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Two other members of the sondaica group, the Bali and Javan tiger, fell into extinction during the 1950’s and 1970’s respectively. The animals depicted are, from top left to right, the Caspian, Indo-Chinese, Siberian, and Sumatran Tiger.
