Tiger, largest member of the cat family. It lives in Asia and belongs to the same genus as the lion, leopard, and jaguar. Two major subspecies are the Siberian (Amur) tiger and the Indian tiger. The modern tiger is thought to have originated in northern Asia during the Pleistocene epoch (1.6 million to 10,000 years ago) and spread southward thereafter, crossing the Himalaya only about 10,000 years ago.