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Paul Holmes · VIP Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 969

Amur (Siberian) Tigers
The Amur (or Siberian) Tiger has the scientific name is “Panthera tigris altaica” and is the largest living cat in the world.
The name ’Siberian’ is actually incorrect because these tigers do not live in Siberia but the Russian Far East in the Amur-Ussuri region of Primorski and Khabarovski Krais (States) whilst a few are found across the border in northern China and Korea.

Habitat
The habitat of the Amur tiger (and leopard) is one of the most unique forests on earth. In the summer the forests are dense and jungle like in appearance but in the winter they are snow bound.
Each adult tiger needs a huge area of land for its territory — up to 50km by 50km.

Charactersitics The Siberian tiger is the largest and heaviest subspecies of tiger.
To survive winter the tiger has fine but long fur and a layer of fat that allows it to stand the bitter cold. The coat is lighter in colour than other tigers and it has large paws which act rather like snow shoes. Weight of adult male: up to 800 lbs
Weight of adult female: up to 500 lbs
Length of adult male: up to 10 feet

The Tiger in Russia
The Amur tiger has had a difficult time over the past hundred years with a low of less than 50 individuals in the middle of the twentieth century. It gained protection and numbers increased until the present day when numbers may be up to 400 adult individuals.

For details on how the Tiger survived communism, 2 world wars and severe hunting visit The Tigris website. Current Threats
Now the Tiger in Russia faces a number of threats — some old and some new.
Illegal poaching — hunting tigers in Russia was banned in 1947 but with the dissolution of the Soviet Union illegal hunting has been fuelled by demand from across the borders in China and Korea.
Hunting of Prey — the tiger prey is also hunted by impoverished local people so there is direct competition with man.
Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that tiger parts will cure sickness but there is no proof for this what so ever. This creates demand for tiger parts.
Loss of habitat to FIRE and LOGGING (both legal and illegal).

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johnC · Just Starting Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 2 Location: UK

Hi
beutiful animals
they need saving or just end up seeing them in zoo's

johnc

surfguy · Lounge Wizard Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 6996

awesome animal! And life can be so cruel...we need to do more to preserve this precios creature