Detailed
Information on The Siberian or Amur Tiger (Panthera
tigris altaicia)
Indiginous to
eastern Russia, NE China and parts of N. Korea, the Siberian Tiger
is the largest of all of the living cats! Adult males have been
recorded over 1000 lbs with the norm being around 650 lbs. Female
Siberian Tigers are considerably smaller, tipping the scales at
350 pounds. In addition to being a heavy bulky cat, this subspecies
is long! Head to tail measurements recorded over ten and a half
feet (10.5'). Altaicia's orange coat is paler than that of the other
four living subspecies. With widely spaced brown stripes vs. the
narrowly spaced dark black stripes found on the other subspecies.
The Siberian Tiger also possesses a white belly and chest with a
dense ruff of white fur around its neck.
In the wild,
this cat primarily hunts wild boar and elk. Due to the fact that
their prey lives in varying and scattered densities; the Siberian
Tiger requires large territories. An adult male cat will roam
a territory up to 400 square miles. Females tend to inhabit a
smaller home range size of 160 square miles. Still an extremely
large piece of land! As with other endangered species, if humanity
does not protect the tiger's wild habitat; then there will be
no "tigers in the wild"! As you can see from the above-mentioned
numbers, these cats REQUIRE extremely large areas of natural unimproved
land to survive. Without significant protection of habitat these
animals will surely only survive in zoos. We all need to come
together "Globally" to protect the tiger and its endangered
co-inhabitants! This must start with land conservation.
As of now,
wild populations are estimated around 350 to 410 animals. However,
another 490 individuals are managed in various conservation programs
like the SSP (Species Survival Program).
As you can
see, this is a truly remarkable and majestic animal that deserves
protecting! We sincerely hope you enjoy viewing the Sanctuaries
seven (7) special Siberian Tigers!
For more information
on Tigers, go to 5 Tigers.org
. The most comprehnsive tiger website!
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