[1] It was formerly regarded as a distinct tiger subspecies with the scientific name Panthera tigris balica, which had been assessed as extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2008.

[5] In 1912, the German zoologist Ernst Schwarz described a skin and the skull of an adult female tiger in the Senckenberg Museum collection, that had originated in Bali.

He named it Felis tigris balica and argued that it is distinct from the Javan tiger by its brighter fur colour and smaller skull with narrower zygomatic arches.

[10] At the end of the 19th century, palm plantations and irrigated rice fields were established foremost on Bali's rich volcanic northern slopes and the alluvial strip around the island.

The preferred method of hunting tigers was to catch them with a large, heavy steel foot trap hidden under bait, a goat or a muntjac, and then shoot them at close range.

In 1997, a skull emerged in the old collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum and was scientifically studied and properly documented.

It is mentioned in folk tales and depicted in traditional arts, as in the Kamasan paintings of the Klungkung kingdom.

The Balinese considered the ground powder of tiger whiskers to be a potent and undetectable poison for one's foe.