One hundred years ago, 100,000 tigers roamed the jungles, mountains, and grasslands of Asia. Since then, three kinds (Bali tigers, Caspian tigers, and Javan tigers)have gone extinct. Now fewer than 6,000 tigers are left in the wild. The five kinds who remain are some of the most endangered animals on Earth. Let’s take a closer look at each.

South China tigers: In the 1970s, about 4,000 of these tigers lived in the wild in China. Today, scientists think there are less than 20 left. The smallest of all tigers, they were hunted because they were considered pests. Soon, they had all but disappeared. No one has seen one in the wild in the last 20 years.

Siberian tigers: These massive cats were once found in China, Russia, Korea, and Mongolia. Now, only about 350 to 450 are left in the wild. Almost all of them live in the Southeast corner of Russia.

Sumatran tigers: About 500 of these tigers live on the island of Sumatra, part of the country of Indonesia. As more of the island’s forests are turned into farmland, tigers have less and less room. Most of them live in protected parks, but they are still hunted illegally.

Indochinese tigers: This tiger’s population is the fastest shrinking of all the tigers. They live in Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and China, where there are about 1,500 left.

Bengal tigers: Although Bengals are the least endangered of the tigers, with about 3,000 living in the wild, that doesn’t mean they’re not in trouble. They face the same problems as other big cats, including losing their habitat and being hunted illegally.
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