Amur tiger interesting facts. Amur tiger - additional information Reproduction of Amur tigers

The owner of the Ussuri taiga is rightfully considered the largest representative of cats on Earth - the Amur or Ussuri tiger. Probably the most revered representative of the Far Eastern fauna among the peoples inhabiting these regions. The largest among its relatives and the smallest in number, it is therefore listed in the Red Book and needs protection.

The tiger is a symbol of enormous power, courage, dignity, a protector from dark forces and any negative influence, giving good luck in business and new beginnings, connecting the past with the future, soul with matter, in some traditions it is a symbol of Mother Earth.

Today it is preserved only in the south of the Far East on the spurs of the Sikhote-Alin ridge; about 90% of this rare animal is found in Russia. The owner of an exotic color reaches about 3.5 m in length including the tail, has no equal in strength and power, weighs more than 250 kg, hunts large animals - wild boars, wapiti, although if he is hungry he will not refuse smaller game, both from fish and from the fruits of various plants.

The living conditions of the Ussuri tiger are quite harsh - winter frosts can reach -40 with strong winds, summer heat is above +30, so the animal has thick fur and is the only one of its relatives that has a fatty pad on its belly of about 5 cm, as protection in severe frosts and winds , short paws and wide pads so as not to drown in deep snow.

The tiger is a loner; cubs live next to their mother for about 2 years until they learn to hunt big game, and then they go in search of their territory. Enormous physical strength and endurance help them overcome fairly large distances - the habitat area of ​​an adult male can reach up to 800 sq. km.

The peoples living in the neighborhood of this amazing animal treated him with great respect and called him the master of the taiga. In Arsenyev’s works, his guide through the Ussuri taiga, Dersu Uzala, called tigers “people.” Many nations truly revered him as a person.

It was impossible to shoot not only at the tiger, but also at the animal being chased by the tiger; if the hunter did not notice the hunt and killed the animal the tiger was chasing, he had to leave it to the tiger and beg for forgiveness by making a sacrifice that the clan council would assign to him. Taking a tiger's prey was tantamount to theft, which for these peoples was completely unacceptable; theft was not honored here.

The most striking indicator of the attitude towards a tiger as a person is the funeral of a tiger. The Orochi, Udege, and Nanai had a custom of avoiding the place where their fellow tribesman was killed; they marked it with special signs; they did not hunt or gather wild plants there.

If a tiger accidentally died at the hands of a person, a funeral was arranged for it - a log house was built on 4 posts, a bedding of shavings was laid on the floor of the log house, the skin was removed, and a white rag was hung near the tiger's head, the log house was closed from above and notches were made around it, meaning that it forbidden territory.

And the Orochi even dressed the tiger - pants and shoes on the hind legs, a robe on top, mittens on the front paws, and a hat on the head.

The tiger was revered as the spirit of ancestors, it can be a good helper and protector, or it can become an evil spirit - Amba, who “went crazy”, then blood feud was declared on him and there was no mercy as an enemy.

The attitude of a tiger towards a person is also surprising: a healthy animal avoided a person, only a wounded tiger offended by a person can attack, a dying tigress more than once brought her cubs to people in the hope that they would help them.

On guard sacred places There have always been tigers, such as . And, of course, many legends and traditions were associated with them. One of the legends says:

Somewhere in the wilds of the Ussuri taiga, at the source of a small river, there lived a wise wizard who knew how to turn river water into magic and, with its help, treated people, restored them to youth and beauty. But one day evil people came to him and wanted to use his power for bad intentions. The good wizard refused to help them, then they waylaid him at night and killed him, and threw his body into the river, but as soon as it touched the water, the incredible happened, the body disappeared, and a huge, handsome tiger appeared in that place. He quickly dealt with his offenders.

The disciples of the wise wizard made a silver grotto at the source of the river, and the river itself has since become a magical source, giving people not only health, but also wisdom, revealing all the secrets of the world. An impenetrable taiga has grown around it, and the path to the source is still guarded by the Ussuri tiger, preventing people with bad intentions from approaching it.

By the way, tigers love water very much; they often splash in ponds with pleasure or simply love to lie on the shore.

The tiger has only one enemy and one protector - man. For a long time, the tiger was a favorite prey of poachers, and not only the beautiful skin is to blame for this, the tiger is of particular value in Chinese medicine, which uses everything from the tip of the tail to the tips of the mustache, barbaric extermination almost led to the death of the population in the mid-20th century, people in time They came to their senses and the measures taken to protect this amazing animal helped preserve it.

The largest cats on our planet are Siberian tigers; they are endangered.

They are massive carnivores and live in the colder regions of our Earth. The Siberian or Amur tiger is an endangered species today. They are found most often in the southeast of modern Russia.

Poachers in China and Korea have greatly reduced their numbers. It is believed that 350 - 400 tigers remain in wildlife and approximately 490 in zoos.

Facts about Siberian tigers.

They are huge creatures and weigh up to 390 kg and are approximately 3-4 meters in length. The average weight of the Amur tiger is 180-300 kg. Their height at the shoulders reaches 1 meter in an upright position. They have pale orange skin color with black color stripes. White Siberian tigers have chocolate-colored stripes on their white coat. They reach maturity at 3-5 years of age and have a specific mating season. The gestation period lasts from 3 to 3.5 months. The cubs are protected by their mothers for a period of 8 weeks because they are born blind, then they follow her. At the age of 1 year they help adult hunters. At the age of 3 years, Amur tigers are considered adults and begin to hunt on their own. The jump of an Amur tiger can be up to 7 meters long.

What does the Amur tiger eat?

He needs to eat 20 kg of meat daily. Their diet mainly includes deer, elk, and wild boar. During times of food shortage, even monkeys, fish, frogs, and birds can become part of their diet. Out of approximately 10 hunting attempts, only 1 is successful. In search of food, tigers travel long distances, up to 600 km. An adult Amur tiger can eat up to 90 kg of meat per day and up to 45 kg at a time. When hunting, he uses the ambush method. Although these tigers are strong and run fast, they can begin their attack from a distance of 9 to 25 meters to their prey.

Habitat of the Siberian tiger.

Tigers love to live alone and occupy large territories, sometimes reaching more than 4,000 square miles. Females mainly live in families and take care of their young.

At first, tigers were found in large numbers in Russia, Korea, and China, but poachers sharply reduced their numbers. Tigers are killed for their precious skins, but the Chinese often use them to make medicine. Today tigers live only in Far East Russia.

Some Interesting Facts:

The local population treats tigers with respect. Among the Tungus they are called old man or grandfather, and among the Nanai they are called Amba.

Amur tigers, unlike Bengal tigers, rarely become man-eaters. In the 20th century, only 6 cases of cannibalism were recorded.

After escaping from the San Francisco Zoo on December 22, 2007, the Amur tiger Tatyana was shot and killed. He wounded two people and killed one.

It happened that Amur tigers killed a bear. This happens when the number of artiodactyls decreases and tigers need to look for alternative food sources. Brown bear is attacked more often than black because he cannot climb trees.

Amur tigers live up to 15 years in the wild, but less in captivity.

White Siberian tigers live longer than their orange-skinned counterparts.

Amur tigers can withstand severe frosts.

In case of a fight, they rattle their tail and warn the opponent.

The male fiercely defends his territory, but he will not harm the intruder female with her cubs.

Conservation of the Amur tiger is a necessity. It takes sincere efforts to protect these strong but vulnerable creatures.

Wow!.. That's it!.. Be healthy!..

Here is the history of the origin of the Chinese horoscope sign Tiger.

Legend of the Chinese horoscope - Tiger

Many, many thousands of years ago, when the world was very young, animals could talk, and people understood them, there lived a very curious Tiger. He was very handsome - all golden-orange, with a fluffy, long, graceful tail that he wore with pride.

One day our Tiger was wandering around idle and wandered into a farm. There he saw the Bull pulling a plow, followed by a man. Poor Bull exerted all his strength, and in the midday heat sweat flowed from him in streams. He stuck out his tongue from thirst, but endured and worked, and the man drove the poor fellow without any pity.

After some time, the man tied the Bull to a tree and went to the village to have lunch. The tiger approached the exhausted animal and asked:

Mr. Bull, why do you allow a person to treat you like this? You are much bigger and stronger than this puny creature. You could easily pierce him with your horns or break all his bones with your powerful hooves. But still you let him put the yoke on you and do such hard work for him under the scorching sun.

Big Bull sadly shook his head and answered: “Yes, Mr. Tiger, you can make fun of me, but you obviously know little about people.” The man is small and weak compared to me, but he has a very valuable weapon that he will turn against me if I do not obey him.

Valuable weapon? - asked the curious Tiger. - Which?

Man calls it “mind,” answered the Bull. - He often says: “I will solve this problem with my mind” or “Nothing compares to my wit.” Or even: “With my mind I can defeat anyone and anything.” So, Mr. Tiger, I'm afraid of the man and I certainly don't want him to get angry and use his wit against me,

What is this mind like? Have you ever seen the human wit that you are so afraid of? - asked the Tiger.

“I don’t know,” answered the Bull, “but sometimes he says that he needs to sharpen his mind, and often laughs at his friend, whom he calls “stupid.”

Therefore, the next day the Tiger waited until that same man went to collect brushwood in the forest. He jumped straight at the man and demanded:

Hey, I heard you have some brains... or wit, whatever you call it? Come on, share it with me!

Oh, Mr. Tiger, you scared me so much! - said the man. - Good morning! Of course, I'll be happy to share my wit with you. Only I didn’t take it with me today. I thought that I wouldn’t need it today, so I left it at home.

Well, go home and get it! - Tiger demanded. “I really want to get it and I won’t leave until you give it to me.”

“Great,” the man replied. “I’ll gladly go home and bring it.” But what if you deceive me and don't even wait for me to return?

No, I’ll be here and won’t go anywhere,” the Tiger promised.

No, things won’t work that way,” the man persisted. - Let me tie you to that big old tree. Then I will be completely sure that you will be here when I return. If you don’t agree, I will never go on such a long journey for such a valuable thing as a mind.

The tiger wanted this wit so much that he agreed and let the man tie himself to a tree with a long strong rope.

“I’ll be back soon,” the man said as he left. Soon he returned with a torch and began to fold

brushwood around the Tiger. Then he set fire to the branches directly below him.

What are you doing? - Tiger growled, trying to free himself from the ropes.

I use my mind, stupid Tiger! - the man shouted back.

But you said that you would give your mind to me! - the frightened Tiger hissed. - Where is the wit that you promised me?

In your head, stupid animal. My wit is invisible and it is in my head. I couldn't give it to you even if I wanted to - and of course I don't want to! - the man laughed, leaving.

When the brushwood began to burn and the ropes caught fire, long black stripes appeared on the beautiful golden skin of the Tiger. He thought that he was going to burn all over. Then the Tiger realized that Mr. Bull was right when he was afraid of the man and his amazing mind. He regretted that he did not believe the Bull right away and began to compete with the man.

But the Tiger was saved by some boy. He deftly cut the burning ropes and freed him, so that the fire did not have time to burn all the skin. The boy had a bucket of water and helped Tiger wash himself.

Thank you, thank you! - the Tiger said breathlessly when the boy gave him something to drink. - I thought I was done for. I guess I was stupid when I asked that man for his wit.

“Don’t be afraid, Mr. Tiger,” the boy said quietly. - We humans have another very valuable thing - kindness. I just did a good deed for you. Intelligence is in our head, and kindness is in our heart. That's where she's needed most.

The tiger and the boy put out the fire and said goodbye. From that time on, the Tiger moved to the mountains, since it was more convenient to observe the people living in the valley from a height. He did not want to be associated with them anymore, says the legend of the Tiger of the Chinese horoscope.

As the years passed, the boy grew up and became a successful merchant. He often crossed the mountains where the Tiger roamed. His cart, loaded with silks, porcelain and other goods, was pulled by two horses. He traveled to trade in distant cities and villages.

One day, a young merchant was waylaid by a gang of robbers. They jumped out of ambush and attacked the guy in the light of day, when he least expected it. He bravely tried to defend himself, but he was alone and seven bandits surrounded him.

The merchant already thought that this was the end for him, but then a thunderous roar was heard and a large striped Tiger jumped on the bandits and dispersed them. More precisely, they fled without looking back.

“You are the boy who saved me from the fire,” said the Tiger. - I came to repay you for your kindness.

Thank you, thank you, Mr. Tiger! You saved my life! - the grateful guy bowed.

“I may not have your wit,” the Tiger winked, “but I haven’t forgotten about kindness.”

With these words, the Tiger disappeared into the forest.

When the young merchant returned to the village, he commissioned the artist to create a life-size portrait of the Tiger; the skin of this Tiger was covered with black stripes. and to everyone he met, the merchant told that the Tiger had saved his life, that the Tiger was brave and fearless, because he was able to scare away the robbers with his terrible growl.

This is the legend of the Tiger of the Chinese horoscope.

Panthera tigris

LORD OF THE JUNGLE CAMOUFLAGE

ABOUT CONTINUATION

Myths and reality

AMUR TIGER

TURAN (CASPIAN) TIGER #1, #2

THE CAT FAMILY HAS ARRIVED

(SUMATRA TIGER)

BRIEFLY ABOUT ALL SUBSPECTS

"Tiger: mighty perfection" (© S. Kucherenko)

"Tiger: the path of the striped cat"

(© Vladimir Medvedev)

Saber-toothed tiger looks younger

The year of the Tiger has arrived. Even people unfamiliar with the eastern calendar know this. But one way or another, it was thanks to this calendar that the attention of many focused on the tiger, an animal that seemed familiar, but so unknown. He was considered the enemy of man, an evil and cunning predator, and was exterminated mercilessly. Less than a hundred years ago, the number of free-ranging tigers reached 100,000. Today there are only 5,000. The next Year of the Tiger will come in twelve years. Will the tigers manage to survive? It largely depends on the person. Perhaps the tiger and his problems will become clearer upon closer acquaintance.

Introduction to the article about the tiger "Tiger-owner of the year" from the magazine "FRIEND" 1998-2.

ABOUT TIGERS

The largest and most fearsome of the big cats is the tiger.

Adult male Amur tigers reach a length of more than three and a half meters and weigh more than 315 kilograms. Tigers of those subspecies that live in the tropical regions of the Asian range are somewhat smaller - Bengal tigers usually weigh no more than 225 kilograms. This huge striped cat comes from the forests of Siberia, Northern China and Korea. About 10,000 years ago, tigers moved south through the Himalayas and eventually spread throughout almost all of India, the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. But, despite such a huge range, the tiger has now become the rarest of cats. In India, the tiger population has dropped from 20 thousand, as it was estimated ten years ago, to 2 thousand or even less. In Sumatra, Java and Bali, the darker and smaller island subspecies disappeared completely.

Human encroachment on the tiger's habitat, as well as intensive hunting of them, has brought the magnificent beast to the brink of extinction.

A tiger, when he is hungry, is ready to devour almost everything that gets in his way. A study of one Bengal population revealed a menu of three species of deer, wild bulls, domestic cows, buffaloes, monkeys, wild boars, bears, lynxes, badgers, wolves, lizards, snakes, frogs, crabs, fish, locusts, termites, carrion, grass, and in rare cases, and soil. There are known cases of tiger attacks on crocodiles, pythons, leopards and even - if he has been starving for a long time - on other tigers. There are also cannibals among them, although tigers and people usually coexist, with little or no interest in each other. However, once a man-eating tiger appears, the life of entire regions is paralyzed by fear until the man-eater is killed.

In the wild, a tiger lives no more than twenty years, but now, when the pressure is rapidly increasing, only a superbly physically developed tiger with very fast reactions can live up to this period.

Most cats avoid water, but tigers seem to love swimming. In the southern regions of their range, they regularly take baths in hot weather and swim very readily.

When tracking prey, the tiger uses its camouflage coloration to approach the intended victim several meters under the cover of dense vegetation, and then rush at it with a swift dash. Like other big cats, the tiger kills its prey by gnawing its throat and often breaking its neck in the process. He usually hunts at dusk or at night, but sometimes hunger makes him forget his commitment to darkness and rush at a herd of antelope or other prey in broad daylight. A tiger usually hunts silently and only makes a voice when looking for a mate. Then the night jungle is shaken for hours by a terrifying roar, until finally a tigress appears, having heard the passionate call.

The tiger is a clean animal. After lunch, he tidies up his fur, carefully licking it with his tongue; The tigress licks the cubs. The claws cleanse the remnants of the meal by scratching the soft bark with them.

Tiger cubs are born blind and completely helpless, two, three or four in a litter, and by the eleventh month of life they are already able to track and kill small prey alone. However, they remain with their mother for up to two years. That is why sometimes you can see three or even four tigers near the prey.

There are many legends about the tiger. And one, which arose again and again, told the story of the “ghost of the jungle” - the white tiger. In 1951, the legend turned into reality - a white tiger was caught in the Indian district of Riva.

He was offered an ordinary tigress as a girlfriend, who then gave birth to four normal, orange-black kittens. Mating with one of his daughters, the white tiger fathered three cubs, two of which were born white, with characteristic bluish stripes. This unusual family gave rise to a number of interesting mutants.

The only cat that loves to swim. All cats can swim, although the vast majority prefer to stay away from water and only approach it to drink. Some - particularly the jaguar and jaguarundi - do not hesitate to dive into the water to grab a capybara or fish. But only the tiger seems to bathe for pleasure. When tigers crossed the Himalayas and settled in the tropics many thousands of years ago, they discovered that water was an excellent coolant. Now, in the stuffy and hot jungles of India, tigers sit or lie for hours, immersed up to their necks in the water of a lake or river, and enjoy the coolness.

LORD OF THE JUNGLE CAMOUFLAGE

In the zoo, against the background of the back wall of the cage, the tiger amazes with the brightness of its color - orange with black stripes. But in their natural habitat, stripes serve as excellent camouflage. In the high reaches of the Ganges delta (India), the royal or Bengal tiger becomes almost invisible as soon as it freezes motionless. But even when he gracefully glides through the whimsical shadows of the dense jungle, he is very difficult to notice. All subspecies of tigers - Bengal, Amur and seven others - have colors that match the characteristics of their habitat. The two main subspecies of tigers are the Amur and Bengal.

The Amur tiger is the largest cat in the world. Its range extends over 3,000 kilometers of the desert wilderness of Northern Asia, and it is perfectly adapted to the harsh climate of these regions. The Bengal tiger is found throughout Southeast Asia and the central and southern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It is smaller than its northern cousin and more brightly colored. The nearly extinct Indonesian subspecies of tigers are even smaller and darker than their mainland relatives.

FEAST

The advance of civilization into forests and their wild inhabitants has forced tigers in India to attack herds of livestock. As a result, they acquired a reputation as bloodthirsty and vicious creatures, and they were hunted with such zeal that they were almost completely exterminated. In fact, tigers kill to live, and nothing more. To hunt, a tiger almost always waits for darkness to set in, and then looks for thicker thickets so that, hiding in them, it can quietly get close to its prey. If the hunt is successful, the tiger usually drags the carcass quite long distances to the water. Depending on the size of the prey, the tiger either eats it in one sitting, often interrupting the meal to drink, or guards the carcass for several days until it finishes it. Although tigers sometimes allow other tigers to approach their prey, they are solitary animals. They have distinct hunting areas, which they mark by spraying urine, defecating, and leaving claw marks on trees. Males guard their areas more vigilantly than females, and do not allow another male to settle somewhere nearby. However, if a stranger is simply passing through the territory, the owner does not interfere with him. Tigers observe commendable etiquette when eating, consuming meat in peace and harmony. Tigresses, as a rule, allow any tiger that happens to be nearby to join their meal, regardless of its gender. Males allow only tigresses and cubs to their prey.

Tigers have captured the imagination and fear of people since prehistoric times. Hidden from prying eyes and not shared with anyone, life shrouded the tigers in a mystical aura. At the end of the 18th century, the English poet William Blake wrote and illustrated his famous hymn to the tiger and his mysterious eyes flickering in the jungle*.

The main food of a tiger is wild boar. In the Far East, the tiger's diet consists of: wild boar, wapiti, roe deer, brown and white-breasted bears, musk deer, elk, sika deer, Manchurian hare, lynx, wolf, badger, and various birds (usually hazel grouse). Sometimes predators catch fish and turtles, eat pine nuts, wild berries and fruits. Only when very hungry does a tiger eat carrion.

In India, they are not averse to feasting on monkeys, peacocks and porcupines, attacks on which often end very sadly for the tiger - he remains crippled. During floods, tigers catch fish, turtles, and crocodiles.

To satiate, an adult tiger in a natural environment needs from 10 to 50 kg of meat, depending on how long it has not had “dinner” before. An adult animal consumes 3-3.5 tons of meat per year.

A tiger can eat an amazing amount in one sitting, but if necessary, it can fast for weeks without showing any signs of weakness.

Having eaten, the tiger drinks a lot, after which it goes to rest or sleep. Getting up, he drinks again, rests - and so on until the hunted animal is eaten entirely. This is the opinion of many who observed these animals, but such behavior is observed only in places with an abundance of wild ungulates.

In places where the number of the main victims - ungulates - is relatively low, the owner of the taiga begins searching for food within a few hours or the next day. Sometimes it seems as if the animal is so well aware of the location of its prey that it knows where it will be obtained. Cases of tiger attacks on domestic animals increase during years of sharp decline in the number of wild ungulates.

HUNTING

The tiger in our country leads a predominantly crepuscular lifestyle: although it hunts at any time of the day, most often after sunset and in the first half of the night, and then at dawn. Tigers do not tolerate heat well and in India, for example, they usually go hunting at sunset and hunt all night, slowly walking around the grounds along the trails.

Tigers use mainly two methods of hunting: stealth and ambush, with the first method being more often used in winter, and the second in summer. Predators lie in wait for ungulates on trails leading to watering holes, salt licks, and feeding grounds.

They often hide right next to salt licks, waiting for wapiti, elk and roe deer. When hiding, the tiger skillfully uses every fold of the terrain, moving silently and secretly. When looking for prey, it usually walks along the very crest of the ridge, from where it can see both slopes. In winter, these predators willingly use roads and trails, often moving on the ice of frozen rivers. Having noticed the animal, the tiger begins to sneak up on it from the leeward side. He either sneaks, crouching to the ground, or moves forward with small, careful steps, or even crawls on his belly; after taking a few steps, it stops - and so on many times... In winter, the tracks and beds of this predator, approaching its prey, are even covered with an ice crust from the long-term immobility of the animal. Sometimes the tiger manages to get close to the prey at 5-6 m, i.e. the length of one jump, but more often he has to start an attack from 10-15, or even 30-35 m. The predator overtakes the pursued animal with several huge jumps - this is the fastest way of running for a tiger.

Being an excellent walker, the tiger will not pursue its prey for long. If the animal leaves, the tiger stops chasing.

Failures

Despite the numerous abilities of tigers, only one attack from a predator out of 20 is successful. Although the indicator is quite low, this is quite enough if there are many animals in the tiger’s territory that are its prey. This explains the importance of encouraging humans not to destroy large numbers of individuals on which the predator feeds. However, in areas with low numbers of tiger prey, unsuccessful attacks can pose a threat to the life of the animal.

If the attack fails and the prey manages to escape, the tiger will rarely pursue it again, since being too heavy and large, it is unlikely to be able to catch it again. Animals that are attacked by a predator rarely survive due to severe injuries - they die after some time from loss of blood and shock.

Obstacles to a successful hunt:

A successful hunt is also hampered by the tiger's inability to continue the chase. While a cheetah can run a greater distance and at greater speed, a tiger takes two, or at most three, leaps before giving up.

Other animals are wary of the tiger, therefore, upon noticing it, they emit warning cries, scaring away possible prey.

Monkeys and peacocks often give verbal warnings indicating that a tiger is nearby.

If these natural restrictions did not exist, the tiger could kill much more than necessary, also feeding outside its range.

http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/hunting4.html.

Scientists have discovered that tigers use infrasounds to scare their prey. It turned out that these striped predators are capable of producing very low frequency sounds that put the prey into a trance state.

A tiger's roar can instantly put another animal, and even a person, into a state of temporary catalepsy. Zoologists who studied the behavior of tigers during hunting came to these conclusions. Scientists at the North Carolina Zoological Research Institute have discovered that a tiger's roar can be so low in frequency that the human ear cannot hear it.

However, at the same time, the animal emits infrasounds, which affect the psyche of the victim. And as a result, the victim falls into a state similar to paralysis.

And although the effect lasts only a few seconds, the predator manages to pounce on the prey and kill it. It was also found that tigers can roar in this way while moving, which gives them the opportunity to distract the attention of potential prey.

Sydney Morning

Submitted by Alex`om

Pregnancy lasts 3.5 months, usually in one litter a tigress has 2-4 cubs, rarely one, even less often - up to seven. It would seem that the offspring is not such a bad one. But it must be taken into account that a tigress usually gives birth to cubs once every three years. Young tigers live with their mother for 2-3 years, and sometimes up to 5 years. In addition, out of 10-20 of her descendants, half usually die at a young age.

Tiger cubs are born blind and helpless, their weight (in Amur tigers) is only 0.8-1 kg. They usually begin to ripen on the 5-10th day. Tiger cubs grow quickly. On the 12-15th day, they already begin to crawl around the den. On the 35-36th day, they lick the meat. They feed on mother's milk for up to 5-6 months. For the first 2 months, tiger cubs grow only on milk. Then they gradually get used to the meat. But the tigress still feeds them with milk for a long time (according to some observations, 13-14 months).

The mother does not leave the little tiger cubs alone for a long time, but by the end of the first year of the cubs’ life she begins to wander far away.

The tigress is a caring mother. The ability to track game, get close to it and kill it is not an innate form of behavior, but the result of teaching tiger cubs by their mother the ways and techniques of hunting.

While the cubs are very young, the mother does not let the father get close to them. But later, perhaps, the tiger comes to his family from time to time.

J. Schaller once saw an adult tiger, two tigresses and four cubs, who were quite friendly, without quarrels, eating one bull. Another time, a tigress and four cubs were having lunch when an adult tiger appeared. He was clearly hungry and eyed his prey greedily. However, he waited patiently on the sidelines until the kids were full.

And only then did he begin to eat.

Myths and reality

Here are the most common myths and misconceptions about tigers. All of them are found in tiger habitats. Only brief information is provided here.

Myth: Tigers live in Africa.

Fact: White tigers are marked with albinism, i.e. they do not have normal pigmentation. However, they are not completely albinos, because... they have traces of pigmentation. As a result of more than three years of searching, it was not possible to find testimony from a specialist or photographic evidence of the existence of albino tigers in our time. However, you may find nearly white tigers that will still have white patches on their lips, nose, and paw pads; which means they are not albinos. But this fact does not mean that there are no albinos among tigers, all the experts interviewed said. that they still need to see a real albino.

Myth: White tigers are a separate subspecies.

Fact: Sorry, another mistake. There are white predators among Bengal tigers, although sometimes they can appear from different types tigers. In other words, a mixture of Bengal and Amur tigers can be white, but such tigers must be of Bengal origin, and their parents must have an unusual recessive gene that gives the predator a white color.

Myth: There are white Amur (Siberian) tigers.

Fact: Although there are some claims that white Siberian tigers occur in the wild, there is no photographic or scientific evidence to support this. There are more Amur tigers in captivity than other species, and if any of these individuals had a white coloration, it would have been noticed by now.

However, there are Bengal tigers with Amur crosses, and they are sometimes mistakenly called "white Amur tigers".

Myth: White tigers originated from Siberia.

Fact: Many people believe that these predators originated from Siberia, and the white color is camouflage for living in snowy conditions. In fact, white tigers originated in India, more precisely in Rewa in India. It is quite strange why the Amur tiger did not acquire a color that provides better camouflage;

our best guess is based on the fact that it must have done this over a very long process of evolution. Myth: Black tigers do not exist. Fact: Of course they exist! Now we have pictures of tigers with this color, at least Bengal ones. It’s just that in this case it is produced

a large number of

melanin, i.e. The animal's fur contains a very high amount of dark pigment. Melanin content also influences the appearance of black jaguars and leopards, often called black panthers.

The source text is located at

Fact: This is not entirely true. However, tiger paw prints look different on different types of soil, meaning unless the predator has clear tracks, accurate identification is impossible.

Myth: Tigers hunt in groups.

Fact: This myth arose because the tiger is confused with the lion. Tigers rarely appear together except during courtship. Then, in rare cases, animals can hunt in pairs, although they are more interested in mating. Other cases of several tigers appearing together occur when the cubs have not yet become independent and are learning from their mother. Except for the situations mentioned above, the tiger is an animal that lives and hunts alone.

Myth: Cats don't like water.

Fact: Among big cats, this is true - with the exception of the tiger and jaguar. These predators love water and are excellent swimmers. In hotter climates, tigers lie in the water to escape the heat and annoying insects. They prefer fresh water, it is believed that salty foods can irritate the liver. Note: Some cats are quite comfortable in water, while others raised in captivity, including the lion, are rarely in the water.

Myth: Siberian tigers are the largest cats in the world.

Fact: This is a misnomer. Amur tigers are the world's largest naturally breeding cats. This means that they are the largest cats that breed in the wild. However, they are not the largest in the world. This place of honor is occupied by the liger, which is the result of human intervention. Liger - the cub of a male lion and a tigress living in captivity; This is what causes gigantism. This cat is much larger than the Amur tiger.

Myth: Ligers and tigons hybrids are sterile.

Fact: Surprisingly, this is not true. This only applies to male ligers and tigons, however, females are generally capable of reproducing. This myth caused the emergence of li-ligers and ti-tigons after hybrid females were placed with uncastrated males and no contraception was used.

Myth: In the Gir forest, the habitats of the tiger and the lion overlap.

Fact: Although the Gir forest contains enough prey for tigers, the area is exclusively inhabited by lions.

Myth: Tigers used to be found in Tasmania.

Fact: Thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, was not a relative of felines.

It was a marsupial with stripes on the back of its body. It was allegedly hunted until its disappearance in 1930. In recent years there have been many unconfirmed claims, some from reliable people, of sightings of these animals, but searches for this shy creature have been unsuccessful.

Myth: Saber-toothed tigers were relatives of the modern tiger.

a large number of

Fact: The saber-toothed tiger was an example of co-evolution and has no relation to the modern tiger. Although it is a cat, it is not a tiger and is more accurately called a saber-tooth cat.

http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/myths2.html.

Translations for the BIGCATS.RU project were performed by Yulia Murt.

AMUR TIGER

The Amur tiger is one of the rarest representatives of the world fauna. As an object of the first category of threat of extinction, it is included in the Red Books of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Russia, and is included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In the south of the Russian Far East, where the northern the border of the species' range, this tiger lives in the territory of Primorye and the Amur region.

Currently, only Sikhote-Alin maintains the world's only viable population of Amur tigers. The tiger's habitat in Sikhote-Alin is extremely harsh. In winter, the air temperature in certain periods drops to -40° C, and in summer it rises to +35-37° C. In most habitats, the height of snow cover in the second half of winter is usually within the range of 30-60 cm. The degree of adaptation of the predator to difficult environmental conditions , characteristic of the northern limit of the species’ distribution, is quite high. Low winter temperatures do not affect the life of a tiger. He arranges temporary beds right on the snow and can stay on them for several hours. For long-term rest, they prefer shelters - rocky ledges and niches, voids under fallen trees.

When there is a lot of snow, moving around the area, tigers willingly use wild boar trails, logging roads, hunter trails, and snowmobile tracks.

The movement routes of tigers across the site are relatively constant and are maintained by them from year to year (Yudakov, Nikolaev, 1973; Matyushkin, 1977).

The main diet consists of wild boar and wapiti (Kaplanov, 1948; Yudakov, 1973), and in the southwestern regions of Primorye and the Lazovsky Reserve, sika deer (Zhivotchenko, 1981). The quantitative ratio of tiger prey for different parts of the range is not the same. On the western macroslopes of the middle Sikhote-Alin, the share of wild boar and wapiti accounts for about 60 and 30%, respectively (Yudakov, Nikolaev, 1987; Pikunov, 1988), on the eastern (Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve) these figures are more than three times lower. for wild boar and almost 2.5 times higher for wapiti (Matyushkin, 1992). On the eastern macroslopes of the southern Sikhote-Alin (Lazovsky Reserve), the share of wild boar and wapiti is equal - about 30%, sika deer among tiger prey is 18.2% (Zhivotchenko, 1981).

Estrus and the appearance of young are not confined to any specific time of year. However, mating occurs most often in the second half of winter, and the appearance of offspring mainly occurs in April-June. The gestation period lasts 95-107 days, on average 103 days (Geptner, Sludsky, 1972).

There are 1-4 tiger cubs in a litter, usually 2-3. The average litter size ranges from 1.5 to 2.4 tiger cubs (Kucherenko, 1972; Smirnov, 1986). Most females first bear offspring at 3-4 years of age (Seifert and Muller, 1978). Tiger cubs are separated from their mother in the second year of life. Accordingly, tigress litters can appear at intervals of two years, and in the event of the death of tiger cubs, in the year of their loss. The mortality rate of young people is very high - about 50% (Smirnov, 1986). Cases of tigers dying from bears and cases of cannibalism are quite rare and do not significantly affect the well-being of the species (Kostoglod, 1977; Nikolaev, Yudin, 1993).

Currently, tigers occupy almost the entire forested part of the habitats suitable for them in the Primorsky and southern parts of the Khabarovsk Territory (Matyushkin et al., 1997). Along the western macroslope of the Sikhote-Alin mountain system, the northern border of its range extends to approximately 50° N, and along the eastern one - 48° 30’.

The number of tigers in the south of the Russian Far East in the past can be judged only by indirect data. So at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, 120-150 tigers were killed here annually (Silantiev, 1898). Intensive extermination of these predators, accompanied by a reduction in their habitats under the influence of human economic activity, led to the fact that already at the beginning of this century the number of tigers began to fall sharply. By the end of the 30s, the Amur tiger was on the verge of extinction - only no more than 50 individuals remained.

The situation began to change for the better only after conservation measures were taken - a ban on hunting tigers (1947) and catching them (1956-60) with its subsequent restriction. The maximum population density of these animals, according to the results of the latest censuses, was noted in the Sikhote-Alin, Lazovsky reserves and adjacent territories (up to 5-7 individuals per 1000 km²), as well as on the western macroslopes of the middle Sikhote-Alin, i.e. in areas least affected by human economic activity. With minimal numbers, tigers inhabit the northern Sikhote-Alin, where the most difficult living conditions are characteristic of the northern limit of the species’ range, as well as the southern developed and densely populated areas

Primorsky Territory (1-2 islands/1000 km²). The main limiting factor is poaching, which has become commercial in recent years. Tiger products are sold in most countries East Asia

as a valuable medicinal raw material. Another important negative factor is the increased imbalance in the numbers of the predator and its main victims. In Russia, the tiger was taken under protection in 1947, when a complete ban on hunting it was introduced. In recent years, in the matter of protecting this animal, everything acquires international cooperation, which is expressed not only in financial, material and technical support for various environmental organizations, but also in joint work. Research is currently underway as part of the Russian-American Amur Tiger project using radio tracking. Contacts have been established and work has begun on tiger and leopard in countries neighboring Russia - the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. A “Strategy for the Conservation of the Tiger in Russia” has been prepared and adopted, which defines the main directions of activity to preserve the natural population of one of the most beautiful subspecies of this cat - the Amur tiger.

TURAN TIGER

Tiger - who is not familiar with the striped giant cat? The imagination immediately pictures the jungles of India or the cedar taiga of Primorye. The range of this animal is huge: from the south of Eastern Siberia to the islands of the Malay Archipelago. Tigers from different regions are different from each other. In different geographical areas, the striped color of the tiger varies, and this serves as the basis for identifying subspecies - Bengal, Chinese, Sumatran, Amur, Javanese, Balinese, Turanian.

There are very few tigers left in nature, and this prompted people to take up their protection, to list the animals in the Red Book, despite the fact that until recently the tiger was known as the sworn enemy of man and a fight was waged against it.

In the extreme west of the tiger range, in an area separated by mountains and deserts, lived a tiger that was different from all the others. Some zoologists called it "Turanian". Turan is the ancient name of the lowland regions of Central Asia. Others called it the “Caspian Tiger”. He lived not only in Central Asia, but also along the eastern and southern shores of the Caspian Sea - in Transcaucasia and border Iran.

The favorite habitats of the animal were reed beds along the rivers of Central Asia - Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Vakhsh, Pyanj, Atrek, Tedjen, Murgab. These tigers have penetrated as far north as Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. They lived in tugai and foothill forests, as well as in the humid subtropical jungles of southern Azerbaijan and the northern provinces of Iran and Afghanistan. They made lairs in the most impassable supports. However, they had to meet several conditions.

In Central Asia, the tiger is called "jolbars". "Jol" is the way in Kazakh. Leopard - “tramp”, “wandering leopard” - this is how this nickname can be translated. Sometimes the tiger is overcome by wanderlust and begins to wander, puzzling and frightening people with his unexpected appearance in places where he has not been seen. There are known cases when Turanian tigers traveled a thousand kilometers from their native places, and it cost them nothing to cover ninety in a day. In 1922, one such wanderer traveled in a straight line for more than four hundred kilometers and wandered into the outskirts of the city of Tbilisi.

Here his life path was interrupted by a man.

Animal photographers have learned to track down and photograph the most rare, secretive and dangerous animals, but no matter how hard they try to capture the Turanian tiger, they have not yet succeeded and are unlikely to succeed...

There is an assumption that he disappeared forever. But if he did disappear, then it happened quite recently, and the memory of him is still fresh. Judging by the rare and scattered descriptions, it was over two meters long, the tigress was somewhat smaller. Such a beast weighed up to two hundred kilograms.

The Turanian was bright red in color. It was decorated with stripes that were narrower and more frequent, longer than those of other tigers. Sometimes they were not black, but brown. In winter, the fur of the Turanian tiger became thicker and silkier, especially on the nape and belly, and lush sideburns grew, so that the animal seemed shaggy, unlike its shorter-haired relatives.

The general impression of those who have seen the Turanian tiger in the wild is: a harmonious combination of power and smoothness. His six-meter jumps were leisurely.

The grace of the beast is somewhat heavy, but this grace is only a visible part of extremely concentrated strength.

Roe deer and wild boars in Transcaucasia, goitered gazelles, saigas and kulans coming from the sands to drink at rivers and lakes in Central Asia, Bukhara Hangul deer became his prey. The hungry beast did not even disdain to snack on a nearby jackal or jungle cat. But he rarely ate carrion. He preferred rodents, birds, turtles, frogs, even insects! Sometimes, as if adopting the habits of small cats, he became a fisherman during floods, snatching spawning carp in shallow water. I feasted on the fruits of oleaster and sea buckthorn.

One of the few zoologists who studied the biology of the Turanian tiger in our country was Doctor of Biological Sciences Sergei Ulyanovich Stroganov.

The scientist even managed to explore the tiger's lair, and to get to it, he had to crawl almost two hundred meters along the predators' path - a tunnel of wild vegetation. The beast always made its lair in the shade of trees, it was covered with trampled grass, and adjacent to it was an area of ​​about forty square meters, all knocked out and strewn with the bones of animals killed by the tiger. There was a sharp, foul smell all around.

S. U. Stroganov concluded his observations with the following characteristic: “The Turanian tiger is brave, secretive and very sensitive. You can live for many years in places where tigers are found and never see them.” However, the secrecy of the Turanian tiger did not prevent people from becoming acquainted with it for a very long time. Europe and Russia recognized him much earlier than their Indian and other brothers.

The Turanian tiger was known to the ancient Romans. Animals captured in Persia and Armenia were brought to Rome, where the nobility amused themselves by watching bloody fights between wild animals and gladiator slaves. But the first tiger that came to Rome caused such fear that no one dared to fight it openly - the beast was killed in a cage. In Ancient Rus', they only heard about tigers, that supposedly a “fierce beast” lived in the south.

The voice of a tiger, heard close, causes numbness and fear.

Zoologist K. A. Satunin, a specialist in the fauna of the Caucasus, spells it out in writing as a “low, guttural “a-o-ung.” It is not for nothing that in the East the tiger has always been treated as a super being. Its ability to camouflage itself, suddenly disappear and appear gave him the fame of a werewolf - the hero of myths, legends, and fairy tales.

Hunting for both the tigers themselves and their prey - wild boars and other ungulates, deforestation of tugai and foothill forests, plowing of land for cotton, fires in the reeds - all this led to a catastrophic decline in their numbers.

The Turanian tiger had one tiny ally among the animals in its struggle for survival. This is a malaria mosquito. Malaria has long been the scourge of those places in the Transcaucasus, Central Asia and Iran where the last tigers lived. When its outbreaks in the animal’s range zone were eliminated in our country and abroad, people began to explore tiger support without fear. Now people have finally realized that the tiger must be protected. Formally, the Turanian tiger is protected everywhere.

In the republics of the Soviet Union, its shooting is strictly prohibited, and large monetary fines are imposed for those who violate it. In Iran, a reserve with an area of ​​one hundred thousand hectares has even been created to protect it, but most likely people are already late with these measures.

But even if it were possible to find the last Turanian tigers, it would be difficult to preserve them in the wild. The individual area, a kind of natural enclosure of this predator is not small, no less than forty square kilometers, and for a free life it needs a thousand square kilometers of riverine thickets rich in wild ungulates. Complicating matters is the Jolbars' penchant for wandering.

It's a pity to give up hope of seeing this beast alive. Will descendants really have to get to know him through faded stuffed animals with glassy eyes and a sign: “Exterminated in the 20th century!”

Caspian Tiger: a history lesson

The Caspian tiger is one of eight described species. But have you ever wondered why there are no Caspian tigers in the zoo? Before answering this question, it is necessary to tell more about these majestic cats and their origin.

Tigers were widespread in Asia already one and a half million years ago. However, a recent genetic study suggests that they almost completely disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene era, perhaps around 10,000-12,000 years ago. A small remaining population probably survived in what is now China. From this area, tigers began to spread again, migrating along rivers following their prey, mainly deer and wild boar. Although all continental tigers are closely related and can be considered regional populations rather than distinct subspecies, they have evolved several physical and morphological properties to adapt to different environmental conditions.

Two species of tigers in the former Soviet Union represented the easternmost and westernmost populations of the majestic cat. Amur tigers lived in rich mixed forests in the Russian Far East, around the Sea of ​​Japan, while Caspian or Ural-Altai tigers (Panthera tigris virgata) were found mainly in the West. They lived in the river basin areas of western and central Asia, wherever there was sufficient prey, water and plants.

In winter, these amazing cats had thick, beautiful fur, usually more red than that of Amur tigers, more closely spaced black and sometimes brown stripes, long white fur on the belly, and in summer their fur was shorter. Slightly smaller in size than their Far Eastern relatives, adult male Caspian tigers weighed 170-240 kg and reached 270-290 cm in length

They were found in the territory from Turkey and Transcaucasia, in reed thickets and floodplain forests along large rivers Central Asia, east of the border of lakes Lop Nur and Bagrash Kul in Xinyang Province, formerly known as Chinese Turkestan.

The unique habitat of the Caspian tiger was tugai vegetation, located along large rivers starting high in the mountains and crossing deserts, or around lakes. Tall and dense reeds grow along river banks, surrounded by floodplain forests of poplar and willow. This promotes the growth of tamarisk bushes, saxaul and other salt-tolerant plants on the desert border.

Due to such dense undergrowth, the tigers were sometimes forced to stand on their hind legs to explore the area.

The habitat of tigers and their prey, such as Bukhara red deer, roe deer, gazelles and especially wild boars, in such thickets of tugai vegetation was limited and subject to human influence and destruction, since these valleys were the site of agricultural settlements of people.

The tiger played an important role in the culture of the people of southwest Asia.

The Tigris River was named after the predator who, according to legend, carried a pregnant princess across the stormy river on his back. On the other hand, thanks to this name, the tiger became associated with the fertility of the river. Typically, living creatures are not depicted in Islamic art, but in Sufism, one of the branches of Islam, the image of a tiger is depicted on carpets and fabrics, as well as on the facades of mosques and other public buildings in Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

The nature reserves established in Soviet Central Asia were too small to support tiger populations, and only a few patches of riparian vegetation remained, perhaps a tenth of the original reed beds and floodplain forests. Their size may have stabilized, but the tigers have disappeared.

The extermination of Caspian tigers in Soviet Central Asia was associated with the destruction environment, which had an adverse effect on local residents. The command economy's tendency to focus on cotton cultivation since the 1930s has had dire consequences for people and tigers. Demand for irrigation water has greatly undermined the region's fragile ecosystem, resulting in a 50% reduction in area Aral Sea and soil salinity.

Along the Syr Darya and Amur Darya rivers and around Lake Balkhash (Kazakhstan), the last resident tigers were exterminated in the 1930s, although wandering predators were encountered here in the 1940s, and in the Vakhsh Valley in Tajikistan a tiger was last seen in 1961.

The last Caspian tigers were probably seen in the USSR at the foot of the Talysh Mountains and Lankaran River basin in southeastern Azerbaijan near the Caspian Sea in 1964, but these may have been tigers that migrated from neighboring Iran. Here, on the southern Caspian coast of Iran, tigers were numerous in former times, and in the 1960s, approximately 15-20 individuals survived in this region.

The last tiger recorded was killed in Iran in 1957, but several predators may still have survived in the area in the 1970s. Cutting down reeds and lowland forests in southern shores The Caspian Sea - part of anti-malaria programs in the 1950s and 1960s - facilitated human settlement and deprived the tiger of its habitat. It is an unexpected fact that fresh tiger skins were discovered in eastern Turkey in 1972, but no such case has been recorded since then.

Further east, skirting the impassable Takla Makan desert in Xinyang Province in China, flows the Tarim River. Along this river and around Lake Lop Nur (or Nor), into which the Tarim River flows, tigers stalked wild boars in reed beds and oases. But by the 1920s they were exterminated. Due to the amount of water used to irrigate farmland along the Tarim River and its tributary rivers, Lake Lop Nur has dried up completely and the floodplain forest along the rivers, which was the tiger's habitat, has been almost completely destroyed.

Since the 1960s, the Lop Nur Desert has been used by the Chinese to test nuclear weapons.

Despite this, some wild Bactrian camels (Bactrian camels) still survived there.

So, back in the 1970s, the last Caspian tigers were exterminated, although the population was largely destroyed in the 1930s. These big cats lived in a fragile habitat. They were exterminated as human settlements spread along rivers, around lakes and oases. They could not survive in such arid areas.

a large number of

The 1947 ban on tiger hunting in the USSR came too late to save the Caspian tiger. However, he helped preserve the few surviving Amur tigers. Their refuge remains the Sikhote-Alin region, a forest occupying the same area as England. Despite poaching, their numbers increased from the 1950s to the 1980s and now appear to have stabilized.

Russian and international conservation organizations are working hard to conserve Amur tigers, and we must ensure that these magnificent cats do not share the fate of Central Asia's predators.

Source 5 TIGERS;

http://www.5tigers.org/AllAboutTigers/Subspecies/caspian.htm. The translation for the BIGCATS.RU project was carried out by Yulia Murt., but also by international organizations. In some areas of the planet where tigers live, they are monitored from satellites, which makes it possible to better monitor their migration routes and living conditions.

However, a discovery recently made by a group of American zoologists led by Professor Joel Cracraft from the Museum of Natural History in New York caused a sensation in scientific circles and showed that we do not know everything about striped predators. Using genetic engineering, scientists were able to establish that several tigers of a previously unknown breed live on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In accordance with the classification accepted in science, they received the name Panthera sumatras and are classified as a subspecies of related animals living on the islands Pacific Ocean

. Unlike their mainland counterparts, they have genetic characteristics unique to them, expressed in habits, behavior, and appearance. Upon closer examination, it was found that they have a partially different coloring, a slightly different arrangement of dark stripes on the body.

It is possible that tigers from the island of Sumatra were once closely related to their fellow tribesmen from Siberia. Now, scientists from the New York museum believe, they are not. Too long isolation in a limited living space - within a single island - led to the “freezing” of the genetic code, preserving it in the form it was in prehistoric times. In essence, says Joel Cracraft, we are dealing with the most purebred tiger today and must preserve this uniqueness.

The problem of preserving tigers is acute in all regions where they are still found. Compared to the last century, the number of these animals has decreased by 95 percent. In some places their merciless extermination continues.

The largest number of tigers today lives in India. This country contains about 30 nature reserves. A little less than one and a half thousand striped predators live in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, China and Burma. Back in the 60s of the last century, the Chinese tiger population reached 4 thousand animals, and now there are about 80 of them. According to the World Conservation Union, no more than 200 Amur tigers roam the Far Eastern taiga. Over the past decades, tigers have disappeared from the islands of Java, Bali, as well as the Turanian tiger, which were separate subspecies.

BRIEFLY ABOUT ALL SUBSPECTS

Alive

Siberian (Amur, Ussuri) tiger

Exterminated by man

Turanian tiger

Javan tiger

Alive

F and you

The largest representative of cats. An adult male reaches 280 cm in length (without the tail, the length of which is 70-90 cm) and up to 320 kg in weight.

In Russia, the number of individuals has increased from 250 to 450* thanks to the efforts of WWF. Thank you WWF!!! There are no more than 20 individuals in China on the border with Russia. International program

conservation of the Siberian tiger in zoos around the world has become one of the largest such programs. The Siberian tiger has become a kind of “model” for developing a scientific approach to the conservation of rare and endangered animal species. According to official data in 1994, there were 490 tigers in zoos, bred from 83 animals captured in the wild. International coordination avoids the threat of degeneration due to inbreeding.

*-information was taken from the website "WWF in Russia" on 07/04/2000.

[Details about this subspecies]

The Indian tiger is distributed throughout most of India and is also found in neighboring countries. The population of this subspecies is the largest: it ranges from 3200 to 4700 individuals. Together with the tail, the length of the Indian tiger is up to 3 meters, and the weight is 180-260 kg (for females - 100-160 kg).

The white Indian tiger is not an albino and not a separate subspecies.

This is a type of color. It is found only in this subspecies of tigers.

The gene for whiteness is recessive, so both parents must have it to give birth to a white tiger cub.

Indochinese tiger

Range: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the southernmost regions of China. The number is less than 1500 individuals. There are about 60 tigers in zoos. Tigers live primarily in the inaccessible forests of Indochina, making their population difficult to study.

South China tiger

Range: Several reserves in central and southeastern China. An extremely rare subspecies, the number of which is only about 30-50 individuals. :-( Sumatran tiger Found only on the island of Sumatra (Indonesia). About 400-500 individuals live in the wild and 235 in zoos. Its number has decreased recently, which is due to the development

Agriculture

in this densely populated area. National parks have been established to preserve the Sumatran tiger. This is the smallest surviving subspecies: the weight of an adult male is 100 - 140 kg.

Turanian (Caspian) tiger

Turanian tiger