Tiger is a majestic and iconic species that usually serve as conservation flagships species.  This umbrella species can be identified with its reddish-orange body with black stripes. Tiger is also a national animal species for Malaysia, where two tigers are placed as the national emblems. In Malaysia, few tigers remain with insufficient areas to live, a limited number of wild prey and diverse yet unquantified threats. This species is classified as critically endangered (CR) based on the IUCN Red List and Red List of Mammals for Peninsular Malaysia (version 2.0) in 2017. Therefore, serious actions need to be taken to conserve the species and its habitat. 

There are eight species of cats from the Felidae family in Peninsular Malaysia. Of these, the tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest species in the family. Malaysia is one of the 13 countries that still possess wild tigers, apart from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam, known as Tiger Range Countries (TRCs). Panthera tigris is the largest member of the family Felidacea and is split into nine subspecies. Three of the tiger subspecies became extinct, namely, the Bali tiger (Panthera tigris balica) in the 1940s, the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) in the 1960s, and the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) in the 1970s.

In general, tigers can grow up to 3 m in length and weigh up to 330 kg. Most tigers have a reddish-orange coat with vertical black stripes on their body that vary in size, length, and spacing. The tiger subspecies may look similar in the naked eye but there are actually some differences in terms of their skull shape, the number of teeth, size, colour and stripe pattern that can differentiate between them.

Panthera tigris jacksoni or more commonly known as the Malayan Tiger is found in Peninsular Malaysia except in the islands and does not exist in Sabah and Sarawak. In the year 2004, the Malayan Tiger was recognised as a new subspecies that is Panthera tigris jacksoni which is genetically distinct from tigers of northern Indochina, Panthera tigris corbetti. This subspecies is also the smallest subspecies with an average size of 2.4 m long and weighing 120 kg. Based on several records, an average body length of a female tiger in Peninsular Malaysia ranges between 1.77 m and 2.61 m, with an average of 2.03 m. However, the body length for male tigers ranges between 1.9 m and 2.84 m, with an average of 2.39 m. Male tigers were recorded to have a height of up to 1.14 m when they stood on four legs, while the female height reached 1.04 m. The average weight was recorded as 72.6 kg for body mass, while for a male was 91 kg. However, the heaviest male tiger that was weighed was 129 kg.

From the year 1995 to 2008, about 450 – 500 individuals of wild tigers were estimated in Peninsular Malaysia. In general, the tiger requires contiguous areas (>300 km²) of natural forest to survive and access to rivers. Tiger's movement covers a wide range regardless of the type of land cover. The Malayan Tiger usually lives in lowland forests but can also survive in a variety of habitats such as peat swamp forests, small bushes in forest plantations, and mountains. However, the home range of this mammal is not much known. Given that a male Bengal tiger in Nepal can have a territory of 50-100 km², the Sumatran tiger in Sumatra has shown a home range of 116 km². Then, it accepted that this species could range up to or above 100 km² as 1-3 individuals.

Tiger is a prey-base species that requires enough prey to survive. Tiger's main diet consists of deer species (like barking deer, sambar deer, greater mouse deer, gaur and lesser mouse deer) and wild boars, and this species also feeds on other mammals species like primates and porcupines. Therefore, poaching wildlife that acts as prey for the species is one of the major threats to the tiger population in Peninsular Malaysia. 

Tigers are solitary animals except for their juveniles and during mating season. The tiger cub will live with its mother for up to two years while learning how to hunt, identifying hazards, and adapting to the wild. The Malayan Tiger is totally protected under the Wildlife Protection Act and is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix 1.