The tiger is the largest cat species that inhabits rainforest environments. Its scientific name is Panthera tigris, and it ranges across Asia, including tropical and subtropical forests in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and parts of Southeast Asia.
Tigers are powerful, adaptable predators. Although they are strongly associated with grasslands or snowy forests in popular imagery, many populations live in humid forests, mangrove habitats and dense jungle. Bengal tigers, for example, occupy forests and mangrove ecosystems in and around the Sundarbans, while Malayan tigers live in tropical rainforest landscapes.
The tiger’s size varies by population. Amur and Bengal tigers are generally among the largest, while island forms such as the Sumatran tiger are smaller. Large males can exceed 200 kilograms, although weights vary considerably in the wild.
A common confusion is the jaguar, which is the largest cat in the Americas and an important rainforest predator. The lion can also rival or occasionally exceed a tiger in individual weight, but the tiger is conventionally recognized as the largest living cat species overall.