Bengal Tiger Basics

Highly adaptable, the Bengal tiger lives in a wide range of habitats – forests, mangroves and wetlands – across India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Usually solitary and powerful nocturnal hunters (their night vision is six times better than a human’s), tigers stalk their ‘home range’ or territory, on the hunt for buffalo, deer, wild pigs and other large mammals, which they’ll travel miles to find. They catch their prey by stalk and ambush, bursting up to speeds of 40mph to make the catch in a spectacular display of strength and agility.

Living eight to 10 years in the wild and up to three metres in length, including the tail, adult males weigh up to 250 kilograms. Every tiger has a different pattern of stripes; like human fingerprints, making individuals easy to recognise but are also excellent camouflage. A tiger’s roar, their most common vocalisation, can be heard from up to three kilometres away, and is used to signal their presence. Unlike most cat species, tigers love water and are excellent swimmers.

Females have litters of two to six cubs, which they raise with little to no help. Born blind and hidden away in a den until they’re ready to start venturing out, cubs remain with their mothers for two to three years before heading off to find their own territory. 

Tiger Conservation

Over the last hundred years, three of the nine modern sub-species of tigers have been assessed as extinct; the other six, which includes the Bengal tiger, are all considered endangered. This is due to hunting, both for trophies and for medicine, human-tiger conflict, and the destruction of forests, which has reduced the tiger population from the hundreds of thousands than fewer than 2,500 across all the sub-species.

Conservation efforts have been focusing on stopping poaching through the implantation of strategies that will help stop wildlife criminal networks and protecting habitats and the wildlife corridors that allow tigers to move between sites. In India, there has been a significant increase in the population of Bengal tigers thanks to focused conservation efforts, such as Project Tiger, launched in 1973. This established tiger reserves across the country, and has been pivotal in the restoration of habitats, anti-poaching and community engagement, and has doubled the tiger population in India over the past decade to 3,682 (2022).

Where to See Bengal Tigers

The 58 tigers reserves that were established by Project Tiger are the very best places to see tigers, some of them particularly renowned for their high tiger population. Often within national parks, searching for tigers is done as a safari, heading out into the wilderness in the morning and early evening with an experienced guide who will help you spot these majestic creatures, alongside a whole host of other wildlife. Ranthambore National Park is perhaps the best-known place to tiger spot, located on the edge of India’s popular Golden Triangle itinerary, providing shelter for about 88 tigers (2023), while Bandhavgarh (known as the ‘Land of the Tiger’), Kanha and Tadoba are also well known for their good chance of an encounter. 

How to See Bengal Tigers With Wendy Wu Tours

High on the wish list for many visitors to India, and easily accessible from some of the country’s top sights, a safari to look for Bengal tigers is included on a number of our India itineraries.