Smallest tiger subspecies

Male Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) average 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) from the nose to the tip of the tail and weigh 100–160 kg (220–350 lb), while females are smaller, averaging 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) long and 92 kg (205 lb) in weight, making this rare subspecies the smallest of the tigers alive today. Only 400–500 are known to exist in the wild, living in isolation on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, where they are considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to be critically endangered. A further 361 Sumatran tigers are estimated to live in zoos around the world. The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving member of a group of tigers that included the Bali (P. t. balica) and Javan (P. t. sondaica) tigers, of which the Bali subspecies was the smallest. The Sumatran tiger has the darkest coat of all the tigers, with broad black stripes closely spaced.

For comparison, the largest of the felines is the Siberian tiger at 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in) in length from the nose to the tip of the extended tail and about 265 kg (580 lb) in weight.