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Bengal Tiger
India's national animal and the largest cat on earth — a rusty-orange coat, black stripes unique to each animal, and a roar that carries for kilometres.
How to spot it
A massive cat — a big male can weigh well over 200 kg and stretch nearly three metres nose to tail. The rusty-orange coat is patterned with black stripes as unique as a fingerprint, and the belly and inner legs are white. No two tigers share the same stripes.
Where it lives
India holds most of the world's wild tigers, in reserves such as Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh, Corbett and the mangrove Sundarbans. A tiger needs dense cover, water and plenty of deer and wild boar, and each adult patrols a large territory alone.
What it eats
A pure carnivore and ambush hunter — it stalks close, then charges in a short explosive rush, taking chital, sambar, wild boar and occasionally larger prey. It may eat little for days, then gorge on a big kill and rest nearby to guard it.
Behaviour & life
Tigers are solitary and largely nocturnal, marking their range by scent and by raking trees with their claws. A litter of two to four cubs stays with the mother for around two years while she teaches them to hunt. Unusually for cats, tigers swim well and enjoy water.
In India
The tiger is India's national animal and the flagship of Project Tiger, launched in 1973. It is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act; numbers have recovered past 3,000, but the species is still classed as Endangered, with poaching and shrinking forest the real threats.
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