Tigers can be very adaptable. They can live in the hot, humid climate of the tropics, as well as the icy climates of the north. They can live in many environments, such as rainforests, dry woods, grasslands or snowy mountains. A male tiger usually shares his territory of about 25 square miles, with one or two female tigers. They mark their territory by scraping treebark  and using their scent.

Unfortunately, the world's tiger population is in decline and fell by about 95% since the beginning of the 20th century. The remaining tigers are threatened by many factors, including expanding human populations, loss of habitat, illegal hunting (of both tigers and their prey species), and increasing trade in tiger parts used and often openly traded in traditional chinese and asian medicine.

Only 5,000 to 7,000 individual tigers remain in the wild. The tiger is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is also listed on CITES Appendix I, which makes trading of live cats or cat parts (i.e., fur, bones and meat) illegal in signatory countries.