Global Tiger Day 2025

On this day we celebrate Tigers!

To coincide with Global Tiger Day, we’d like to invite you to get to know more about this amazing species and get crafty with some tiger-themed activities!

Helping Tigers Cope in a Changing Climate

Tigers and extreme weather

Right across the world, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense. Unexpected and unseasonal weather – once considered rare – are being exacerbated by climate change. Warmer temperatures and changes in atmospheric moisture are driving more frequent heatwaves, droughts and heavy precipitation.¹

These events have led to devastating consequences for communities, especially those in vulnerable and exposed areas, which is why WWF is working to help safeguard both people and nature. The impacts are felt by wildlife too – including tigers.

As apex predators, tigers play a vital role in balancing their ecosystems by keeping herbivore numbers in check.² They also rely on a healthy habitat and stable prey populations to survive. When one element of this balance changes – it can be thrown off.

With weather extremes posing challenges to tigers and their wider ecosystem, it’s important that we support these big cats to thrive in a changing environment.
Helping Tigers in Nepal

Nepal has led a remarkable tiger recovery through collaboration with its government, WWF and others – placing local communities at the heart of conservation.³ However, an increase in extreme weather events puts people and wildlife at risk.⁴ More frequent and intense forest fires, for example, cause damage to tiger habitats across the country. Long dry periods are causing waterholes and oxbow lakes – vital water sources for those in tiger landscapes – to dry up faster than usual.

Fortunately, WWF is stepping in to help.

Some of the ways WWF-Nepal is working to mitigate these extreme weather-related risks include making and restoring wetlands and waterholes, both within and outside protected areas. Also, installing solar-powered water pumps in protected areas to create these watering holes, to ensure availability of water for animals during dry periods. Last year (2023-2024), two solar-powered water pumps were installed in Bardia National Park. WWF-Nepal also works in forest fire and grassland management to reduce the frequency and intensity of wildfire.

These interventions are helping to support tigers and the wider ecosystem during periods of extreme weather.
Helping Tigers in China

Winters in high altitude regions of China are frigid and snowy.⁵ Wildlife, including the endangered Amur Tiger and critically endangered Amur Leopard are well-adapted to face the harsh, wintry conditions.

But some years can bring extreme snowstorms⁶ – which presents new challenges for wildlife.

Unlike the big cats, tigers’ main prey, ungulates (hooved mammals), aren’t so well equipped to deal with the heavy snow. For example, when the snowpack exceeds 60cm in depth, roe deer find it incredibly difficult to move, impairing their ability to forage for food, which can lead to starvation.

This, in turn, reduces the availability of prey for tigers and leopards, impacting the entire ecosystem. This prompted WWF-China to implement dietary supplementation strategies in core habitat zones to support wildlife survival during critical periods. Put simply, they provided corn for the deer!

This ‘bottom-up’ approach to tiger recovery helps to ensure tigers have a sufficient prey base over winter.

WWF-China led the project between 2011 and 2013 during periods of extreme snowfall, in Northeast Tiger Leopard National Park, and the Wandashan mountains. The success of the initiative received high recognition and endorsement from wildlife management authorities in tiger and leopard distribution areas, who took over and independently continued the work, starting in 2014.

WWF-China trained the first group of rangers to carry out the work, and they have since become experts the field.
Protecting Tigers for the Climate

The world’s tiger population has made a remarkable comeback since numbers reached a record low of as few as 3,200 in 2010. But challenges remain – including extreme weather. These interventions are helping to ensure the survival of tigers in a changing environment.

And just as protecting and restoring forest can help tigers recover, conserving these top predators can also help ecosystems recover from the top down – a benefit that’s often overlooked in nature-based climate solutions.⁷

New research published in Global Change Biology reveals that tigers are both and indicator and a driver of forest ecosystem carbon stocks, depending on underlying ecological conditions, and could help to safeguard against carbon emissions.⁸

Find out more

Test your tiger knowledge

Take our short quiz and see how much of a Tiger expert you are.

Tiger quiz

Top 10 facts about tigers

Discover more information about tigers, the issues and threats they are facing, and what you can do to help.

Tiger facts

Global tiger day activities

© Getty

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Create your own tiger mask

Earn your stripes with our easy-to-make paper mask.
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© WWF-UK

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Fold a tiger bookmark

This paper big cat will keep your place while you’re reading!
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© Getty | Gemma Lawson

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Make your own paper kite

Our easy-breezy kite project is the best way to have fun on a windy day!
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