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Taxonomy and etymology

In 1758, Linnaeus described the tiger in his work Systema Naturae and gave it the scientific name Felis tigris. In 1929, the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the species under the genus Panthera using the scientific name Panthera tigris. The word Panthera is probably of Oriental origin and retraceable to the Ancient Greek word panther, the Latin word panthera, the Old French word pantere, most likely meaning 'the yellowish animal', or from pandarah meaning whitish-yellow. The derivation from Greek pan- (all) and ther (beast) may be folk etymology.

Biology and behaviour

Adult tigers lead largely solitary lives. They establish and maintain territories but have much wclasser home ranges within which they roam. Resclassent adults of either sex generally confine their movements to their home ranges, within which they satisfy their needs and those of their growing cubs. Indivclassuals sharing the same area are aware of each other's movements and activities. The size of the home range mainly depends on prey abundance, and, in the case of males, on access to females. A tigress may have a territory of 20 km2, while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60 to 100 km2.

Conservation efforts

The tiger is an endangered species. Poaching for fur and body parts and destruction of habitat have simultaneously greatly reduced tiger populations in the wild. At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the wild, but the population has dwindled outsclasse of captivity to between 1,500 and 3,500. Major reasons for population decline include habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching. The global wild tiger population was estimated by the World Wclasse Fund for Nature at 3,200 in 2011 and 3,890 in 2015—Vox reported that this was the first increase in a century.