The tiger (Panthera tigris) historically ranged widely across Asia, from eastern Turkey, northern Iran, and Afghanistan to Central Asia, northern Pakistan, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southeastern Siberia, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Bali. Today, tigers inhabit less than 7% of their historical range, with populations scattered mainly in parts of India, the Indochinese Peninsula, Sumatra, northeastern China, and the Russian Far East. They primarily live in forest habitats including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate and coniferous forests, mangrove forests like the Sundarbans, and even hilly and mountainous regions. The Siberian or Amur tiger is found mainly in the Russian Far East and adjacent northeastern China regions. Tigers have also been reported historically up to elevations of around 4,200 meters in the Himalayas.
In summary, tigers were and still are native to various parts of Asia spanning a broad range of habitats from forests and grasslands to swamps and mountainous areas, though now their populations and distributions are much reduced and fragmented compared to historical times.
