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3,159–4,715 tigers, with about 333 in captivity, primarily in zoos in India. • Most Bengal tigers live in India, although some range through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. • White tigers are simply a color variant of Bengal tigers and are rarely found in the wild. • The Bengal tiger lives in a wide range of habitats, including the high-altitude, cold, coniferous Himalayan forests, the steaming mangroves of the Sunderbans, the swampy reedlands, the scorched hills of the Indian peninsula, the lush wet forests of Northern India, and the arid forests of Rajasthan. • Male Bengal tigers average 2.9 meters (9 1/2 feet) from head to tail and weigh about 220 kilograms (480 pounds). Females are smaller, measuring about 2.5 meters (8 feet) in length and weighing approximately 140 kilograms (300 pounds). • Bengal tigers prey primarily on wild deer and wild cattle. • Their range size is estimated at 10-39 km2 (3.9–15 mile2) for females and 30-105 km2 (11.7–40.5 mile2) for males (Sunquist 1981). Zoo Tigers Indian zoos have bred tigers since 1880, the first time being at the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta. In the last two decades they have bred so successfully that there are now too many. Unfortunately other subspecies of tigers brought by dealers from outside India over the years have been mixed with Indian tigers, so that many zoo tigers are of questionable lineage and therefore not appropriate for conservation purposes. The 1997 International Tiger Studbook lists the current global captive population of Bengal tigers at 210 tigers . All of the studbook-registered captive population is maintained in Indian zoos, except for one female Bengal tiger in North America. Completion of the Indian Bengal Tiger Studbook is a necessary prerequisite to establishing a captive management program for tigers in India.
 
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