Taxonomy
| Amur tiger also known as Siberian tiger though Amur tiger is geographically more correct | ||
| Panthera tigris ssp. altaica | ||
| Kingdom | Animalia | |
| Phylum | Chordata | |
| Class | Mammalia | |
| Order | Carnivora | |
| Family | Felidae | |
| Genus | Panthera | |
| Species | tigris | |
| Subspecies | altaica | |
Description
The oldest definitively identified tiger fossils date to roughly two million years ago and were found in China, which is where many scientists believe the species first evolved and then disseminated itself across Asia.
The tiger is the largest member of the cat family, with the Amur tiger being regarded as their largest representative. Nine different subspecies are recognised, three of which became extinct in the latter part of the 20th Century; the Bali (P. t. balica), Javan (P. t. sondaica) and Caspian tigers (P. t. virgata). The remaining subspecies are the Amur (P. t. altaica), South China (P. t. amoyensis), Sumatran (P. t. sumatrae), Indochinese (P. t. corbetti), Malayan (P. t. jacksoni) and Bengal tigers (P. t. tigris). The different subspecies vary in their body size, coat colour and markings, with the Sumatran tiger being the smallest and darkest, whilst the Amur tiger is the largest and palest subspecies. Markings and coat colour can overlap between subspecies and are not often used to differentiate. Generally however, tigers have a reddish-orange to yellow-ochre coat with a white belly and black markings, the pattern of which is unique. Like the other big cats, tigers are well adapted for hunting large prey and have short, heavily-muscled forelimbs and long, sharp, retractable claws.
Tigers have a bad reputation of being man-eaters, and it must be said that tigers have taken a ferocious toll on humans. Some scholars estimated that tigers have killed approximately a million Asians over the last four hundred years. The majority in India, but heavy losses were suffered in East Asia, too.
Tigers are likely to forage optimally when taking the largest prey that can safely be killed, often ungulates their own size or larger. Nevertheless, Amur tigers have been reported eating everything from eagles to seals to brown bears. In the Sikhote-Alin area, where about 90% of Amur tigers can be found, the most preferred prey are red deer and wild boar. Probably due to climate changes, Sika deer are replacing red deer in the coastal area of the Sikhote-Alin. This may not be beneficial for the tiger population.
Tigers demonstrate a spacing system in which females defend territories that overlap little with neighbouring females, and males defend territories that include one to nine tigresses. Depending on prey abundance the home range size of tigresses vary between 440 km2 (Amur tiger, Sikhote-Alin) to 21 km2 (Bengal tiger, Chitwan National Park), which equalises the total prey biomass per female home range. Without the constraints of rearing cubs, home ranges can increase to ensure sufficient availability of prey, like male Amur tigers maintain home ranges on average in excess of 1000 km2.
In historical accounts the Amur tiger descriptions always refer to the enormous size of the animal. Larger than any other tiger species. This no longer seems to be the case. Scientists have speculated that this has been caused by hunting. When it was still allowed, sport hunters eagerly killed the biggest Amur tigers. This, together with the decreasing number of reproductive animals, reduced the possibility of 'large gene' transfer, with one result being that postwar specimens no longer seem to be much larger than Bengal tigers.
Population size & trend
| Estimated population size: | Estimated population size: 349-415, of which circa 40% reproduces successfully (2005 census). There are about 12-16 specimens in Northeast China (2009 census) |
| Trend: | stable |
Geographical range & habitat
Historically, Amur tigers were found in the Russian Far East and Northeast China. The most productive habitat of Amur tigers was found in most forested ecosystems (boreal forest) of Northeast China. The tiger was widely distributed in the Daxing'anling, Xiaoxing'anling, Laoyeling, Zhangguangcailing, Wandashan, and Changbaishan mountains. When the Qing dynasty's ban on the exploitation of forests was lifted in 1870, the tiger's habitat was decimated in 1950. When tigers nearly disappeared from the Russian Far East in the 1940s, dispersal from China probably contributed to their recovery in Russia. Nowadays, over 90% of Amur tigers are found in one large subpopulation in Russia, the Sikhote Alin. A separate second small subpopulation occurs along the southernmost coast, isolated from the main population by the urban area of Vladivostok, but adjoining China's tiger population in the Changbai mountains. The Changbai subpopulation meets the criteria for Critically Endangered. And all recorded observations in this area may represent transient or dispersing animals from Russia. |
Biology
| On average an Amur tiger nowadays (see above) is, like a Bengal tiger, about 3 meters from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. | |
| Female weight: | 100 - 160 kg |
| Male weight: | 200 - 260 kg |
| Age to maturity: | 3 - 4.5 years; they can mate any time of the year |
| Gestation period: | 103 days |
| Birth rate | litter size 1-5 cubs (50% survive first year), interbirth interval 26.5 months; most cubs are born in summer and fall |
| Life span: | oldest known age in the wild 14 years, oldest know age in zoo 35 years |
Conservation & status
| Conservation: | The Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik (“forbidden zone”) was originally established to restore the sable population. In a zapovednik no one is allowed except guards and scientists with written permission from the zapovednik director. The Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik is now considered one of the Amur tiger's key breeding grounds. A first systematic census of Amur tigers was performed by Abromov, Salmin and Kaplanov in 1939-1940. It proved that no more than 30 Amur tigers remained in Russian Manchuria. Lev Kaplanov suggested a five year moratorium on tiger hunting in his landmark study “the tigers in the Sikhote-Alin” of 1941, only to be published in 1948 in his groundbreaking book “Tigers, Red Deer, Moose”. In the same year, 1941, for the first time ever, Yury Salmin made an urgent plea in a national magazine for a total ban on tiger hunting in the Russia Far East. In 1947, Russia became the first country in the world to recognise the tiger as a protected species. In China large tracts of forests and potentially suitable habitat for Amur tigers still exist throughout Eastern Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. Therefore, re-colonisation of previously occupied habitat in Northeast China is still possible, if appropriate conservation steps across the landscape are taken. There exists an opportunity to increase substantially the total population of Amur tigers, in Russia and China. Thus, although threats to survival of the Amur tiger continue to loom, those threats are understood and rectifiable, if there is sufficient political will and constraint of human demands on the landscape. To give a few positive examples: A totally different option for Amur tiger conservation is an introduction, or rather the reintroduction, of these species in Central Asia, the former habitat of the extinct Caspian tiger. Recent research found that Caspian and Amur tigers have almost identical genetic sequences, differing by only a single nucleotide. Which means according the leading researcher that “the tigers are too closely related to be separate subspecies...........Caspian and Amur tigers are one.” |
| IUCN Red list status: | Endangered (Red list) |
| CITES status: | Appendix I |
Threats
Poaching, prey depletion, habitat loss from logging, habitat fragmentation and infectious diseases were, and are, the main threats to Amur tiger population. The vast majority of tiger mortalities appear to be human-caused, as poaching and further prey depletion by hunting or logging may have a devastating effect on tiger population. The illegal wildlife trade market still demands enormous amounts of tiger parts. These parts are consumed for traditional medicinal purposes across Asia, with a heavy demand in China. The international illegal trade in wildlife products is a booming business, and is estimated to yield more than $6 billion a year. In India, with a lot of small protected areas, it has been demonstrated that poaching can eliminate tiger populations in India's fragmented habitats, despite high prey densities and other potential for high tiger densities. Due to low prey biomass in the Sikhote-Alin, with 4000 km2 the largest protected area in Russia within tiger range, it harbours fewer than 30 animals. This makes the area vulnerable of this 'poaching' effect, especially when habitat fragmentation appears. But, a declining human population across Russia and specifically an exodus of people from the forest villages within tiger habitat provide hope that this landscape may not undergo serious fragmentation in the near future. The most recent concern is a disease which may be canine distemper. It is thought that this disease causes abnormal behaviour, which leads to loss of fear of people. Already, a few animals might have lost their life because of human-animal conflicts due to this abnormal behaviour. |
Zoos
| The Amur tigers kept in zoos can be found here: Zoos with amur tigers | ||
| Studbooks | ||
| ISB: | Keeper: Zoo Leipzig, Germany | ISB = International Studbook (WAZA) EEP = European Endangered species Programme (EAZA) ESB = European Studbook (EAZA) SSP = Species Survival plan Program (AZA) ASMP = Australasian Species Management Program (ZAA) |
| EEP: | Coordinator: Zoological Society London, United Kingdom | |
| ESB: | ||
| SSP: | Programme leader: Minnesota Zoological Gardens, U.S.A. | |
| ASMP: | ||
References
Sources used
- The Tiger, a true story of vengeance and survival by John Vaillant, 2010
- Amur tiger: a case study of living on the edge by Dale G. Miquelle et al., in Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids (ed. MacDonald/Loveridge), 2010
- CATnews, special issue, no. 5 autumn 2010, Cats in China
- CATnews, no. 53 autumn 2010
- The Once and Future Tiger by Cheryl Lyn Dybas, 2010; BioScience vol. 60, no. 11
- ARKIVE
- Animalinfo
More information
- Tigers of the World, the science, politics, and conservation of Panthera tigris by Ronald Tilson and Phili J. Nyhus (ed.), 2010
- Riding the Tiger, tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes by John Seidensticker, Sarah Christie and Peter Jackson (ed.), 1999
- Wildlife Conservation Society Russia (www.wcsrussia.org)
- PANTHERA
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