Panthera tigris altaica
Order: Carnivora (Carnivora)
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Under guard: In 1947, the tiger was taken under protection - hunting for it was completely prohibited in Russia. This amazing animal is included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Red Book Russian Federation as an endangered species, it is included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Where he lives: Currently, 95% of the entire population Amur tiger lives on Far East Russia. 5% – in China.
Size: The body length of an Amur tiger without a tail is 160-200 cm, the tail length is about 100 cm. The weight of an adult animal can reach 300 kg. The largest recorded mass of a tiger is 384 kg.
Appearance: The Amur tiger is larger than its southern relatives, its fur is thicker and lighter. Along the reddish background, forming a complex pattern, there are transverse dark stripes. The pattern on a tiger's skin is unique, like a person's fingerprint: you will not find two tigers with the same pattern. Black stripes, despite their brightness, serve as camouflage for the tiger. But the large white spots on the black back of the ears have a different purpose. When a tigress walks through the forest, she puts her ears so that the black and white field is clearly visible to the cubs following her. In winter, the skin of tigers lightens, becomes thick and fluffy. The tiger is not afraid of large snows - its wide paws help it walk on it.
Behavior and lifestyle:
Tigers are almost constantly on the move. Walking around their territory, they look for prey. Tigers, like other cats, mark the boundaries of their territory with odorous marks. They also scrape the ground or, standing on their hind legs, tear off the bark from trees. Such “bulls” can sometimes be found at a height of 2–2.5 meters above the ground.
Tigers are conservative - they use the same paths for years and, if there is enough food within their territory, they never leave them.
The sizes of tigers' habitats vary. They depend on the sex and age of the animal and on how many ungulates are found in the area. Tigresses with small cubs, for example, use a much smaller territory for living and hunting than solitary animals.
The Amur tiger has enormous strength and well-developed sense organs. At the same time, he has to devote a lot of time to hunting. Tigers hunt mainly large ungulates. To catch prey, a tiger crawls towards its prey, arching its back and resting its hind paws on the ground. Only one out of ten attempts is successful. And if the throw ends in failure, the tiger will prefer not to pursue the victim, but to look for a new one. When there is little game in the forests, Amur tigers sometimes attack large livestock and dogs.
Nutrition:
The tiger's diet mainly consists of wapiti, wild boar and sika deer. Daily norm tiger food - 9-10 kilograms of meat. For the prosperous existence of one individual, about 50-70 ungulates per year are needed.
The Amur tiger can not only hunt, but also fish - during spawning, it catches fish on the rifts of mountain rivers.
Reproduction:
Amur tigers are believed to be polygamous. Their periods of reproduction and the appearance of tiger cubs are not confined to any specific time of year. And yet, tigers most often produce offspring in April-June.
After three to four months of waiting, the female gives birth to two or three blind tiger cubs. The mother tries to make a den for her cubs in the safest, hard-to-reach places: in dense thickets, caves, rock crevices - where they will be invisible to other predators.
Around the ninth day after birth, tiger cubs' eyes open, and at the age of two weeks they begin to grow sharp teeth. The mother feeds her children with milk for six months. Leaving the shelter, two-month-old small predators taste game for the first time - their mother begins to bring them meat.
Tiger cubs play a lot, learning the skills necessary for hunting. From the age of six months, grown-up tiger cubs accompany their mother during the hunt and learn the wisdom of searching and obtaining food. At one year of age, the cubs try for the first time to use all the hunting skills they have acquired. But the first attempts to get food do not always end in success. Teenagers will be able to defeat large prey on their own only by the age of two.
For the first few years of their lives, tiger cubs stay with their mother. The tigress hunts with young tigers until they reach sexual maturity. In the second year of life, young tigers separate from their mother, but continue to live on her territory.
Lifespan:
In the wild it is 16-18 years old, in captivity - up to 25 years.
Interesting Facts:
The Amur tiger is the largest subspecies of tiger, occupying the northernmost part of its range, and is the only one that has mastered life in the snow.
The Amur tiger has the thickest and longest fur, but has fewer stripes than other subspecies. The number of tiger stripes can reach up to 100.
Today, tigers are preserved in 14 countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand.
Over the past 100 years, the number of tigers in the world has decreased by 25 times.
Where does the most live? major representative the cat world, everyone knows. The Amur tiger lives in the Primorsky Territory and is considered one of the most dangerous, aggressive and beautiful predators.
The Amur tiger is sometimes called the Ussuri tiger and is considered the world's largest predator. Its weight can exceed 3 centners, and its body length is 290 cm. Only the tiger’s tail can be more than a meter.
This animal is strong, intelligent and powerful; it is a symbol of the peoples living in the Far East, and is also depicted on the flag and coat of arms of Primorye. But despite its size, this tiger is one of the most vulnerable species.
Dramatic story
Less than two centuries ago the number Amur tigers was huge. Hundreds of animals were caught every year. As a result of the uncontrolled shooting of animals and the capture of their babies, tigers found themselves on the verge of extinction.
In 1935, a reserve for these tigers was created in Primorye. Then several more were added to it. Since the middle of the last century, hunting these animals has been completely banned. Even to take an Amur tiger cub to the zoo, you must have permission.
Amur (Ussuri) tiger
VERTEBRATES VERTEBRATA
Class: Mammals
Order: Carnivora Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Description
The Amur tiger (also known as the Ussuri tiger) is the largest tiger on the planet and is an endangered species. Weight large mammal can exceed 300 kilograms. Some sources report males weighing up to 390 kg, although such large individuals are not found now. Body length is 160-290 cm, tail - 110 cm. The Ussuri tiger is an adornment of the Far Eastern taiga and an object of worship for many peoples of the Far East. This beautiful, exotically colored cat, unrivaled in strength and power in the entire world fauna, is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of the Primorsky Territory, as well as on many heraldic symbols of cities and regions of the region. The history of the species indicates that the tiger is an easily vulnerable animal, despite its large size and enormous physical strength, and it is such that it can drag a horse carcass on the ground for more than 500 m, is capable of reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h in the snow, speed second only to the cheetah.
The only subspecies that has a five-centimeter layer of fat on its belly, protecting it from the freezing wind in extreme conditions. low temperatures. The body is elongated, flexible, the head is round, the legs are short, and the tail is long. The ears are very short, as it lives in cold areas. The tiger distinguishes colors. At night he sees five times better than a human. This wild cat According to modern data, it belongs to the largest subspecies. Its coat is thicker than that of its relatives living in warm areas, and its color is lighter. The main coat color in winter is orange, the belly is white.
Where he lives - habitat
The largest population of Amur tigers is located in a protected area in the southeast of Russia, along the banks of the Amur and Ussuri rivers in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky territories. About 10% (40-50 individuals) of the population lives in China (Manchuria). Ussuri tigers are also common in the foothills of the Sikhote-Alin in the Lazovsky district of Primorsky Krai, where every sixth predator lives in a relatively small area.
How does the Amur tiger live and what does it eat?
The Ussuri tiger is the ruler of vast territories, the area of which for the female is 300-500 km², and for the male – 600-800 km². If there is enough food within its territory, the animal does not leave its territory. With a shortage of game, the number of cases of tigers attacking large livestock and dogs increases. The predator is active at night. Males lead a solitary life, while females are often found in groups. Greeting each other occurs with special sounds produced by energetic exhalation of air through the nose and mouth. Signs of expression of friendliness also include touching heads, muzzles, and even rubbing sides.
Despite its enormous strength and developed senses, the tiger has to devote a lot of time to hunting, since only one out of 10 attempts is successful. He crawls towards his victim, moving in a special way: arching his back and resting his hind legs on the ground. It kills small animals by gnawing their throats, and first knocks large ones to the ground and only then gnaws off the cervical vertebrae.
If the attempt fails, then the owner of the taiga moves away from the potential victim, since he rarely attacks again. The predator usually drags the killed prey to the water, and before going to bed hides the remains of the meal. He often has to drive away competitors. He eats his prey lying down, holding it with his paws.
Tigers usually hunt large ungulates, but on occasion they also do not disdain fish, frogs, birds, mice, and even eat plant fruits. The diet is based on wapiti, sika and red deer, roe deer, wild boar, elk, lynx, and small mammals. The daily norm for an average individual is 9-10 kg of meat. For the prosperous existence of one tiger, about 50-70 ungulates per year are needed.
Despite the widespread belief about cannibalism, the Amur tiger almost never attacks humans and rarely enters populated areas. Since the 1950s, in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories, only about a dozen attempts to attack people have been recorded within populated areas. In the taiga, attacks even on pursuing hunters are quite rare.
Lifespan
In captivity, Amur tigers live up to 25 years, in the wild average duration life is about 15 years.
Reproduction
Tigers' "weddings" are not strictly timed to a specific time of year - they can be observed in any month, but still more often at the end of winter. After 3.5 months, in the most remote, impassable place, a solitary tigress gives birth to cubs. Usually there are 2-3 of them, sometimes 1 or 4 and very rarely 5. They are very helpless, weigh no more than 1 kilogram, but develop and grow quickly. At the age of two weeks they begin to see and hear; at the age of a month, the cubs are twice as heavy, they become nimble and inquisitive, climb out of the den and even try to climb trees. They begin to eat meat at the age of two months, but mother's milk is sucked until six months. At this age, the cubs reach the size big dog and completely switch to meat food - from now on until the end of their days.
The mother first brings them fresh food, then leads them from one prey to another. Two-year-old tiger cubs weigh up to one hundred kilograms and begin to hunt under the guidance of their mother. She patiently and thoroughly conveys all her experience to her offspring. The tigress solves all difficult problems alone; the male does not take any part in raising his children, although he often lives next to them. A tiger family breaks up when the young animals turn 2.5-3 years old.
Tigers grow throughout their lives, so by old age they reach largest sizes. They have no enemies. Only a very large brown bear can overcome it. In the Ussuri taiga, massacres of these two giants are not uncommon. The winners are in some cases bears, but more often tigers; both rarely leave the scene of a bloody meeting alive; they fight to the death. The loser is eaten.
Security
The fate of the Amur tiger is dramatic. IN mid-19th centuries it was numerous. IN late XIX V. Up to 100 animals were hunted annually. In the thirties of the last century, wild cats were occasionally found only in the most remote corners of the Ussuri taiga, difficult to reach by humans. The Ussuri tiger is on the verge of extinction due to unregulated shooting of adult individuals, intensive capture of tiger cubs, information forest areas in the vicinity of some rivers and a decrease in the number of wild artiodactyl animals caused by increased hunting pressure and other reasons; Winters with little snow also had an adverse effect. In 1935, a large and one of a kind Sikhote-Alin was organized in the Primorsky Territory state reserve. A little later - Lazovsky and Ussuri Nature Reserve And. Since 1947, tiger hunting was strictly prohibited. Even the capture of tiger cubs for zoos was allowed only on occasion, with special permits. These measures turned out to be timely. Already in 1957, the population size almost doubled compared to the thirties, and by the early sixties it exceeded a hundred. The Ussuri tiger was listed in the Red Book of Russia as an animal that was on the verge of extinction. But in 2007, specialists working at the World Wide Fund wildlife, announced that this species is no longer endangered: the animal population has reached its maximum number in the last hundred years.
The Ussuri tiger is protected by the state - it is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation; hunting and catching the mammal is prohibited. Since 1998, the federal target program “Conservation of the Amur Tiger”, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, has been implemented.
Reaction to humans and pets
The tiger of the Primorsky Territory, compared to other subspecies, is distinguished by its peacefulness towards humans. Usually a predator that notices a person moves away from him and tries to avoid a direct meeting. Even conflict tigers, who live for a long time near populated areas and regularly visit them in order to kill domestic animals, as a rule, avoid people. Meetings between a person and the owner of the taiga occur infrequently, but if they happen, then only in rare cases does the predator show aggression. Nevertheless, potential danger exists, and in some cases the Ussuri tiger can attack a person. A survey of individuals that attacked humans showed that 57% of them were injured by a person, 14% had wounds of unknown origin and 21% were sick or emaciated.
An animal may show aggression when being chased, unexpectedly confronted, or defending its prey or offspring. The death of a person from a tiger attack is extremely rare: over the past 40 years, 16 cases of fatal attacks by predators on humans have been recorded in Russia. From 2001 to 2010 19 cases of attacks on humans were registered, as a result of which 12 people were injured and 2 people died. However, most of the attacks were provoked by humans.
The most common type of conflict is the “striped” attack on domestic animals. Such situations account for 57% of the total number of registered conflicts. On average, about 30 cases of death of domestic animals from tiger attacks are recorded annually in Russia, most of the dead animals are dogs, about 5 cases occur in large cattle, which is an order of magnitude less than in other countries where the predator is common.
The Amur tiger is a unique representative of the fauna, preserved from ice age and survived all natural disasters. This is one of the largest predators on our planet. The length of the Amur tiger reaches 3 meters (of which 1 meter is in the tail), and its weight is up to 300 kilograms. The Amur tiger has thick, long and fluffy red fur with black stripes on the skin, the number of which reaches 100. It is believed that the pattern of these stripes is strictly individual and will never be repeated in two tigers. Black and red stripes, despite their brightness, help the tiger to blend in environment, be it the taiga or a field with tall grass. In nature, the life expectancy of the Amur tiger reaches ten years. Like any cat, the tiger prefers to “walk on its own,” that is, to conquer territory and get food alone.
Where does the Amur tiger live?
The range of the Amur tiger is the southern part of the Far East, the entire territory of the Primorsky Territory and the south of the Khabarovsk Territory. The length of the range from north to south is approximately 1000 km, and from west to east - 600-700 km. About 10% of tigers live in northeast China, and an unknown number live in northern North Korea.
How did tigers appear in the Far East?
Less than 100 years ago, tigers inhabited a vast area from eastern Turkey and the Caspian Sea to the Russian Far East in the north and Bali in the south. However, over the last century, the number of tigers in the world has decreased by 25 times - from 100 thousand to 4 thousand. In a number of regions, tigers disappeared completely - in Transcaucasia (1930s), Central Asia(1960s), on about. Bali and Java (Indonesia, 1960-1980s). Currently, tigers are preserved in 14 countries - in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and also, according to some reports, in the DPRK.
There are 6 subspecies of living tigers: Amur, South China, Indochinese, Sumatran, Indian and Malayan. The Amur tiger differs from its southern relatives - it is the largest and the only one capable of living in the snow.
Where is the Amur tiger protected?
In the Russian Far East, the tiger is protected in nature reserves and national parks. These areas of land, water surface and airspace above them are called SPNA - specially protected areas. natural areas. Protected areas have been completely or partially withdrawn from economic use, and specialists monitor the number of tigers in these territories.
In the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories there are 12 protected areas inhabited by the Amur tiger. First of all, this is the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, the largest in the Primorsky Territory. The tiger is protected in the Lazovsky Nature Reserve and in national park“Land of the Leopard”, where tigers coexist with Far Eastern leopards, also listed in the Red Book. The following protected areas are also places where tigers are protected: the Anyuisky National Park of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Bolshe-Khekhtsirsky Nature Reserve, united in “ Reserved Amur region", Bastak Reserve, Khingan Reserve, Komsomolsky Reserve, Botchinsky Reserve, national park“The Udege Legend” and the Ussuri Nature Reserve.
How does the Amur tiger live, hunt, and care for its offspring?
Like most cats, the Amur tiger prefers a solitary lifestyle. It lives on a certain piece of land, within which it hunts and breeds. The size of a tiger's personal territory depends on its habitat, the abundance of prey, and, in the case of males, the presence of females in the area. The “domains” of the Amur tiger are, as a rule, large - up to 500 km² for a female and up to 1000 km² for a male. If there is enough food within its territory, the tiger does not leave its territory. Tigers fiercely defend their habitats and mark their territory: they leave a specific smell, loosen the snow and earth, rub against tree trunks or scratch them.
The Amur tiger is active in evening time, in the first half of the night and early in the morning. In search of food on its territory, it walks an average of 9.6 km per day, so it is entitled to adequate rest - up to 12-14 hours.
Tigers hunt exclusively alone, using two hunting techniques: sneaking up on prey and waiting for it in ambush. Tigers usually stalk and wait for prey on trails and near watering holes. Having tracked the animal, the tiger sneaks up on it from the leeward side, moving with short, careful steps, often crouching to the ground. Having approached the prey at a close distance, the tiger overtakes it with several huge leaps (up to 5 meters in length). When approaching prey, the Amur tiger makes a quick dash over a short distance, reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h.
Most females first bear offspring at 3–4 years of age. It is at this age that they become sexually mature. The pregnancy of an Amur tigress lasts 97–112 days (average 103 days). There are usually 2 tiger cubs in a litter, rarely 1, and even less often - 3 or 4. Tiger cubs are born blind and helpless, but after about 6–8 days they begin to see. For the first 6 weeks they feed on their mother's milk. At the age of 8 weeks, tiger cubs become able to follow their mother and leave the den. Finally to independent life young tigers become ready at approximately 18 months of age, but usually remain with their mother for 2–3 years, and sometimes up to 5 years.
Once independent, young females usually remain close to their mother's territory, while young males travel long distances in search of their own territory; usually they must win their own territory from other males or, if the tiger population in the area is small, they occupy empty territories.
Are tigers dangerous to people?
In the coastal taiga there is not a single predator for which humans would be an object of food. Tiger is no exception.
The tiger does not seek to attack a person, but, on the contrary, takes measures in advance to avoid direct contact. This is confirmed by the words experienced hunters who claim that seeing an Amur tiger is a rare success. Even the so-called conflict tigers, which approach populated areas in search of food, try not to encounter humans. The Amur tiger has well-developed senses; it is the first to notice a person and leave the meeting place.
But what to do if a meeting with an animal does occur? What to do if he does not run away, but shows aggression, growls, makes warning attacks? The reasons for this behavior may be different - there may be a tiger's prey or its offspring nearby. Perhaps the animal was wounded or was not ready for the meeting and is now showing that it is ready to defend itself.
Your calm voice should calm the beast and yourself. Slowly and calmly retreat back, try to go out into an open area of the forest - a river bed, a road, a clearing, a clearing. Animals don't like open spaces. Do not look the animal in the eyes and do not run away under any circumstances. Any predator, when they see a person running away, has a pursuit reflex. Running away from the beast is also unacceptable for another reason - an accidental escape may occur in the direction of the hidden cubs, and the female will inevitably perceive this as human aggression towards her offspring. In this case, any predator is especially dangerous.
Are people dangerous to a tiger?
The indigenous population of the Russian Far East revered the tiger as a sacred animal - the owner of the taiga - and never hunted it. If people ever encountered a tiger in the taiga, they prayed that the owner would not touch them.
But with the arrival of the first settlers from central Russia, the attitude towards the animal changed. IN early XIX centuries in the south of the Russian Far East the tiger has become common commercial species. 120-150 individuals were caught here annually. For commercial purposes, predators were exterminated, forests were cut down and taiga territories were developed for industrial and agricultural needs, which led to a sharp reduction in the number of these animals.
By the 30s of the last century, the tiger was on the verge of extinction - no more than 20-30 individuals remained in the wild.
In 1949, tiger hunting was banned in the USSR, and the USSR became the first of the “tiger” countries to try to stop the decline in the number of the striped predator at the legislative level. The killing of an Amur tiger in the Soviet Union was investigated as thoroughly and relentlessly as the killing of a human being. And it was these measures that led to the fact that the number of Amur tigers increased by more than 10 times by the early 90s of the 20th century. The collapse of the USSR changed everything. The borders opened, and resellers began to come to the country and export raw materials from the country - forests, seafood and Chinese medicine, including those made from tiger. Once again the threat of destruction loomed over the fate of the predator.
Now the global environmental community has come to the aid of the Amur tiger. WWF was one of the first to respond to the new threat of extermination of the Amur tiger. Working together with others public organizations And government services the fund equipped and paid for the work of anti-poaching teams, began to fight forest fires, illegal logging of the Ussuri taiga, which destroyed the habitats of this animal. Today, thanks to the efforts made, the tiger population in the Russian Far East is relatively stable.
What factors influence the population size of the Amur tiger?
The main reasons for the decline in the population are the destruction of the tiger's natural habitats, the reduction in the number of food resources (various ungulates), as well as the direct extermination of tigers by poachers. There is an opinion that medicines made from tiger parts can cure diseases, but there is no scientific evidence of this. Such drugs are not so much medicine as a component of Eastern beliefs.
In China, there are “tiger farms” where more than 5 thousand tigers live in cages. The trade in tiger body parts is banned all over the world, but the owners of the “farms” do not close them in the hope that the ban will be lifted. In China, various parts of the tiger's body - from bones to whiskers - are illegally used to produce pseudo-medicines, mainly to treat impotence. The World Wildlife Fund supports calls to ban tiger farms in China. However, there are serious concerns that if these farms are closed and the market medicines If any tiger parts remain, then a new threat of poaching will loom over our population of wild Amur tigers.
In 2002, more than 1,400 people were involved in protecting the tiger, its habitats and food resources. In 2009 total number inspectors were halved - to 760 people, and their funding was reduced by more than half. Currently, responsibility for tiger conservation has been transferred to the constituent entities of the federation. On the territory of nature reserves and national parks, tigers are protected by their conservation services, and in non-reserve areas by the departments for the protection, control and regulation of the use of wildlife in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories.
In addition to poachers, tigers also have complex relationships with local residents. Try to imagine yourself in the place of a person who has a real live wild tiger breathing down his neck every day in the forest. It is quite natural that a significant part of the non-urban population of Primorye treats the tiger as dangerous neighbor. He experiences fear, dislikes him and perhaps dreams of getting rid of him. WWF is spending a lot of effort to change the attitude of the local population towards the tiger. But this is a difficult and lengthy process.
Why does the tiger need to be protected?
According to experts, one tiger needs to eat at least fifty adult ungulates per year. It feeds on wild boars, wapiti, sika deer, roe deer, and sometimes preys on elk, Himalayan and brown bears, badgers and raccoon dogs.
Hunters often ask the question: does the tiger interfere with the conservation of the animals on which it feeds? No.
Many years of research have shown that the tiger is the “softest” predator, which is simply not able to seriously reduce the number of ungulates. Where hunters have seriously taken up, through various measures, increasing the number of game by new level, the tiger population is also starting to increase. However, soon the number of tigers living in this “supermarket” becomes stable, and the number of ungulates continues to increase. But where the tiger disappeared, a wolf instantly comes. The wolf, unlike the tiger, knows how and can seriously undermine the number of ungulates. Therefore, the tiger occupies an important place in the ecosystem of the south of the Far East.
My report on the Amur tiger - the world's smallest species of wild animals from the cat family.
These animals live in the Far East, next to rivers Cupid and Ussura, That’s why it’s called the Amur or Ussuri tiger, which is the same thing.
Appearance of the owner of the Far Eastern taiga
Siberian tigers are larger and are considered the largest cats in the world. Adults in length can reach three meters, of which 1 meter is in the tail. The weight of adult individuals can reach 390 kilograms, and their height can exceed 1 meter.
These representatives of the cat family very strong- they can jump over the carcasses of killed animals for food over long distances. And the speed with which they are able to move on snow sometimes reaches 80 kilometers per hour. They just run faster than the Ussuri tigers.
The fur of these predators is unique- dark transverse stripes running along the body of the animal form an individual pattern, and each animal has its own. It is impossible to find Amur tigers with the same coat pattern.
These animals are not They are afraid of winter and cold weather. In winter, their skin becomes even thicker and fluffier than in summer, and their wide and strong paws do not freeze in the snow and do not fall into it when the animal goes hunting or for a walk.
Behavior of animals and their way of life
Amur tigers are almost constantly on the move, they you need to eat about 10 kilograms of meat daily, so they are forced to hunt every day.
They eat mainly the meat of large ungulates - deer, elk, roe deer, wapiti, and wild boar.
When there is not enough food, they begin to hunt large birds or go to the river to fish. During particularly hungry periods, these predators can attack large livestock and dogs, but due to their solitary lifestyle, they try not to disturb people and, if possible, avoid human habitats.
These huge cats hunt like this: they track down the prey, crawl to within jumping distance of it and, pushing off the ground with all their strength with their hind legs, jump on the prey, trying to gnaw the throat with their huge and sharp fangs. This is not always possible, but predators prefer not to pursue prey, but go after new ones.
Why are Ussuri tigers disappearing?
Their very little left- the number of tigers in the wild does not exceed 500 tigers and approximately the same number live in different zoos around the world. But every year the number of these animals decreases.
Today the Amur tiger is considered an endangered species.
- Constant deforestation and frequent forest fires reduce the number of places where animals can live.
- Due to the fact that forests are becoming smaller, there are also fewer other animals in them that tigers feed on, and they have nothing to eat and nothing to feed their offspring.
- Despite the fact that hunting these predators is prohibited by law, they are still found poachers, who continue to hunt them for their luxurious striped fur.
Today, scientists and zoologists around the world are fighting to preserve these beautiful animals in the wild.
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The Amur tiger is one of the rarest big cats. Now there are only a few hundred of these tigers. He lives in Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krai of Russia and northeast China. But most of them are in the foothills of Sikhote-Alin, where the world's only viable population of Amur tigers remains. Of the five existing subspecies of the tiger, the Amur tiger is the largest in size - its weight reaches 300 kg, and its length (without tail) is 3 m.
Its winter fur is very thick and long, relatively light in color. Therefore, the animal feels great in the harsh conditions of Sikhote-Alin, where in winter the air temperature sometimes drops to -40 °C, and in summer it rises to 35 °C. It tolerates low temperatures well winter temperatures; arranges temporary beds right on the snow and can stay there for several hours. For long-term rest, the striped predator chooses rocky ledges and voids under fallen trees. Tigers, both males and females, live alone. As a rule, an adult tiger or tigress with kittens, from year to year, walk around their territory - hunting grounds - along constant, familiar paths. The Amur tiger lives on a vast territory: 600-800 square meters. km.
Tigers hunt at night. Usually the animal, crouching to the ground, sneaks up on the victim, and then suddenly rushes at it and grabs it with extended claws. Special cheek teeth act like scissors, gnawing not only meat, but also the tough skin and bones of prey. As a rule, the predator's victims are large ungulates, but on occasion it will not refuse fish, mice and frogs.
By the end of the 1930s. The Amur tiger was on the verge of extinction - no more than 50 individuals remained. In 1947, the tiger was taken under protection in Russia and was introduced complete ban to hunt. In 2007, World Wildlife Fund experts announced that the population of Amur tigers is now the largest in the last hundred years.
The tiger is an exclusively Asian species. It formed in northern China about 2 million years ago. Back at the end of the 20th century. tigers were found over a vast territory from Turkey and Iran to the East Indies and Siberia. They are now extirpated from most of this range, although a few populations remain in India, Nepal and Malaysia. The total population of the species in nature is 4000-6500 individuals.
Where did the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs fall?