What animal is Tigger?

Tigger is a tiger in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories and their adaptations.

Tigger is an anthropomorphic toy tiger known for his orange coat, black stripes, springy tail and enthusiastic bouncing. He is energetic, boastful and cheerful, and his signature claim is that bouncing is what Tiggers do best. Although he often speaks of “Tiggers” in the plural, the original story presents him as believing he is the only one.

A. A. Milne introduced Tigger in The House at Pooh Corner, the 1928 sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh. Like several major characters, Tigger was inspired by one of Christopher Robin Milne’s stuffed animals. In the book, “Tigger” functions both as his name and as the description of his kind; the ordinary word “tiger” is not used for him in the same way it is in later summaries.

Disney’s version expanded Tigger’s role and made his bouncing central to the character’s identity. He first appeared in the 1968 short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and later headlined The Tigger Movie (2000). His name is a playful character-specific form, but the canonical animal answer remains tiger.