The Year of the Tiger has arrived. Even people who are unfamiliar with the Eastern calendar know about this. But one way or another, it was thanks to this calendar that the attention of many was focused on the tiger, an animal that seemed familiar, but so unknown. He was considered an enemy of man, a vicious and cunning predator, and was exterminated mercilessly. Less than a hundred years ago there were 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today there are only 5,000. The next Year of the Tiger is twelve years away. Will the tigers survive? To a large extent it depends on the person. Maybe the tiger and his problems will become clearer with a closer acquaintance.
Introduction to the article about the tiger "Tiger-owner of the year" from the magazine "FRIEND" 1998-2.
The largest and most formidable 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, from 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 fallen from 20,000, as it was estimated ten years ago, to 2,000 or even less. In Sumatra, Java and Bali, the darker and smaller insular subspecies has completely disappeared. Human advances on the habitat of tigers, as well as intensive hunting for them, have brought the magnificent beast to the brink of extinction.
The tiger, when he is hungry, is ready to gobble up almost everything that comes in his way. A study of one Bengal population revealed a menu of three species of deer, wild bulls, domestic cows, buffalo, monkeys, wild boars, bears, lynxes, badgers, wolves, lizards, snakes, frogs, crabs, fish, locusts, termites, carrion, grasses, and in rare cases, soil. There are known cases of tiger attacks on crocodiles, pythons, leopards, and even - if he starved for a long time - on other tigers. Cannibals are also found among them, although tigers and people usually coexist with little or no interest in each other. However, as soon as a man-eating tiger appears, the life of entire regions is paralyzed by fear until the man-eater is killed.
Although in the zoo or in the circus the bright stripes draw all eyes to the tiger, they make it appear in the elephantgrass and bush where it usually hunts. Orange and black are deeper and darker in tropical tigers, which are smaller than their more northerly cousins.
The tiger leads a solitary life, although sometimes the male hunts with his girlfriend. However, this is a temporary phenomenon, limited to a few weeks of the mating period in winter or spring. In the same way, the territory that the tiger marks with urine, notifying with a roar that these places belong to him, turns out to be only a temporary home. After a few weeks, almost all tigers begin to lead a wandering life again, and then mark a new territory.
In the wild, a tiger lives no more than twenty years, but now, when the onslaught of the species is rapidly increasing, only a superbly physically developed tiger with very quick reactions can live up to this period.
Most cats avoid water, but tigers seem to love to swim. In the southern regions of their range, they regularly take baths in hot weather and are very willing to swim.
Tracking prey, the tiger uses its camouflage coloration to approach its intended prey several meters under the cover of dense vegetation, and then rush at it with a swift jerk. 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 to a herd of antelopes or other prey in broad daylight. The tiger hunts, as a rule, silently and gives a voice only when looking for a girlfriend. Then a frightening roar shakes the night jungle for hours, until, finally, a tigress appears, having heard a passionate call.
The tiger is a clean animal. After dinner he tidies up his fur, carefully licking it with his tongue; tiger cubs are licked by a tigress. The claws clear the remnants of the meal, scratching the soft bark with them.
Tiger cubs are born blind and completely helpless, two, three or four in a litter, and at the eleventh month of life they already know how to track down and kill small prey alone. However, they stay 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 appeared again and again, told 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 as a girlfriend an ordinary tigress, who then gave birth to four normal, orange-and-black kittens. Mated 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.
After the tiger census in India showed a threatening decline in the population of these magnificent animals, the Indian government, together with several international conservation organizations, launched "Operation Tiger" and established several special tiger reserves. In these relatively small areas, the question will be decided whether there will be a tiger or not.
The only cat that loves to swim. All cats can swim, although the vast majority prefer to stay away from the water and only come to it to get drunk. Some - notably the jaguar and jaguarundi - do not hesitate to plunge into the water to grab a capybara or fish. But only the tiger seems to bathe for pleasure. When tigers crossed the Himalayas many thousands of years ago and settled in the tropics, they discovered that water is 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.
Tiger range.
(Information from the journal "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC RUSSIA" January 2010 (No. 76))
In the zoo, against the background of the back wall of the cage, the tiger strikes with the brightness of its color - orange with black stripes. But in their natural habitat, the 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 immobile. But even as it glides gracefully through the whimsical shadows of the dense jungle, it is very difficult to spot it. All subspecies of tigers - Bengal, Amur and seven others - have a color that matches 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 wilderness of North Asia, and it has perfectly adapted to the harsh climate of these parts. The Bengal tiger is found throughout Southeast Asia, as well as in the central and southern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It is smaller than its northern relative and more brightly colored. The almost extinct Indonesian subspecies of tigers are even smaller and darker than their relatives on the mainland.
The advance of civilization on the forests and their wild inhabitants forced the tigers in India to attack herds of livestock. As a result, they gained a reputation as bloodthirsty and vicious creatures, and they began to hunt them with such zeal that almost completely exterminated. In fact tigers kill to live. For hunting, the tiger almost always waits for the onset of darkness, and then looks for thicker thickets, so that, hiding in them, quietly get close to the 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 get drunk, or guards the carcass for several days until it is finished. Although tigers sometimes let other tigers near their prey, they belong to animals that lead a solitary lifestyle. They have distinct hunting grounds, which they mark by spraying urine, defecation, and leaving claw marks on trees. Males guard their territories more vigilantly than females, and do not allow another male to settle somewhere nearby. However, if the stranger is simply passing through the territory, the owner does not interfere with him. Tigers observe laudable etiquette for food, eating meat in peace and harmony. Tigresses, as a rule, allow any tiger who happens to be nearby to join their meal, regardless of its gender. Males, on the other hand, allow only tigresses and tiger cubs to their prey.
Tigers have captivated the imagination of people and instilled fear in them since prehistoric times. Hidden from prying eyes and not shared with anyone, life enveloped the tigers with a mystical halo. IN late XVIII century English poet.
The main food of a tiger is a wild boar. In the Far East, the tiger's diet consists of: wild boar, red deer, roe deer, brown and white-breasted bears, musk deer, elk, spotted deer, Manchurian hare, lynx, wolf, badger, various birds (often hazel grouse). Sometimes predators catch fish and turtles, eat pine nuts, wild berries and fruits. Only when very hungry does the tiger feed on carrion.
In India, they are not averse to eating monkeys, peacocks and porcupines, attacks on which often end very sadly for a tiger - it remains a cripple. During floods, tigers catch fish, turtles, crocodiles. Tigers also attack cubs of wild buffaloes, rhinos and elephants, risking a fierce rebuff from their parents.
To saturate an adult tiger in a natural setting, it needs from 10 to 50 kg of meat, depending on how long it has not "dined" 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, he is able to starve for weeks without showing any signs of weakness.
Having eaten, the tiger drinks a lot, after which he goes to rest or sleep. Having risen, he drinks again, rests - and so on until the animal that has been killed is eaten whole. This is the opinion of many who have observed these animals, but such behavior is observed only in places with an abundance of wild ungulates. In places where the number of main prey - ungulates - is relatively low, the owner of the taiga starts looking for food in a few hours or the next day. Sometimes it seems that the animal is so well aware of the location of its prey that it knows where it will be mined. Cases of tiger attacks on domestic animals increase during years of sharp decline in the number of wild ungulates.
The tiger in our country leads a predominantly twilight lifestyle: although he hunts at any time of the day, but most often after sunset and in the first half of the night, and then at dawn. Tigers do not tolerate heat well in India, for example, they usually go hunting at sunset and hunt all night, slowly bypassing the grounds along the trails.
Each tiger has its own individual area, on the territory of which it hunts. The area of such a site is different in different regions of the globe and depends primarily on the amount of game: the higher its density, the smaller the area can provide the tiger with food and vice versa. On a tree, it is sometimes torn off at a height of up to 250 cm. These marks can be used to judge the size of the tiger that left them. In addition, tigers leave special odorous marks with urine and excrement.
Tigers use mainly two methods of hunting: stealth and ambush, with the first method more often used in winter, and the second in summer. Predators lie in wait for ungulates on the paths leading to watering places, salt licks, and places for fattening. They often hide right next to salt licks, waiting for red deer, elk and roe deer. When hiding, the tiger skillfully uses every fold of the terrain, moving silently and covertly. Looking out for prey, it usually goes along the very crest of the ridge, from where both slopes are visible to it. In winter, these predators willingly use roads and paths, often moving on the ice of frozen rivers. Noticing the animal, the tiger begins to sneak up on him from the leeward side. He now sneaks, falling to the ground, then moves forward with small cautious steps, and even crawls on his belly; having taken a few steps, it stops - and so many times ... In winter, the tracks and lying places of this predator, approaching the victim, are even covered with an ice crust from the long immobility of the animal. Sometimes the tiger manages to get close to the prey by 5-6 m, i.e. for the length of one jump, but more often he has to start an attack from 10-15, or even from 30-35 m. The predator overtakes the pursued animal with several huge jumps - this is the fastest way for a tiger to run. Being an excellent walker, the tiger will not pursue prey for a long time. If the animal leaves, the tiger stops chasing.
failures
Despite the numerous abilities of tigers, only one attack of a predator out of 20 is successful. Although the figure is quite low, this is quite enough if there are many animals that are its prey in the territory of the tiger. This explains the importance of encouraging a person not to destroy in large numbers the individuals that the predator feeds on. However, in areas with low tiger prey abundance, unsuccessful attacks can pose a threat to the life of the animal.
If the attack breaks down and the prey manages to escape, the tiger will rarely chase it again, as being too heavy and large, it is unlikely to be able to catch it again. Animals attacked by a predator rarely manage to survive this because of severe injuries - they die after a while from blood loss and shock.
Obstacles for successful hunting:
A number of factors prevent a tiger from making a successful attack.
If it weren't for these natural restrictions, the tiger could kill far more than necessary, also feeding outside its range.
Scientists have discovered that tigers use infrasound to scare their prey. It turned out that these striped predators are capable of making sounds of very low frequency, which introduce the victim into a trance state. A tiger's roar can instantly put another animal, and even a person, into a state of temporary catalepsy. These conclusions were reached by zoologists who studied the behavior of tigers during the hunt. Scientists at the Research Institute of Zoology in North Carolina have discovered that the roar of a tiger can be so low in frequency that the human ear cannot hear it. However, at the same time, the animal emits infrasounds that affect the psyche of the victim. And as a result, the victim falls into a state similar to paralysis. And although the effect lasts a matter of seconds, the predator manages to pounce on the prey and kill it. It has also been found that tigers can roar in this way while moving as well, which gives them the ability to divert the attention of potential prey.
Females become sexually mature at three years, males at four. Tigresses are in heat at any time of the year, and then the wilds of the forest resound with the roar of suffering males.
Adult males, as a rule, do not have a permanent den and usually rest close to their prey. A tigress arranges a den for cubs in the most remote, i.e. in the safest place. She approaches the lair carefully, trying to leave fewer traces. The same den is occupied by a female for many years in a row; in the event of her death, the empty dwelling is often occupied by another tigress.
Pregnancy lasts 3.5 months, usually in one litter a tigress has 2-4 cubs, rarely one, even more rarely - up to seven. It would seem that not such a bad offspring. But keep in mind 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 (for Amur tigers) is only 0.8-1 kg. They usually begin to see clearly on the 5-10th day. Tiger cubs are growing fast. On the 12-15th day, they already begin to crawl along the lair. 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).
Mom does not leave little tiger cubs alone for a long time, but by the end of the first year of life, the cubs begin to go far.
The tigress is a caring mother. The ability to track down game, get close to it and kill it is not an innate form of behavior, but the result of training tigers by their mother in ways and methods of hunting.
While the cubs are very small, the mother does not let the father come close to them. But later, perhaps, the tiger visits his family from time to time. J. Schaller once saw an adult tiger, two tigresses and four cubs, who ate one bull quite friendly, without quarrels. On another occasion, a tigress and four cubs were having lunch when a full-grown tiger appeared. He was obviously hungry and greedily looked at the prey. However, he patiently waited aside until the kids were full. And only then he began to eat.
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: Initially, tigers did not originate in Africa, and most researchers believe that all species of this predator that exist today are descended from the South China tiger. And from this territory, animals gradually began to populate Iran and Turkey, but there is no reason to believe that they have come such a long way as to Africa.
Myth: White tigers are albinos.
Fact: White tigers are marked with albinism, i.e. they don't 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 the testimony of a specialist or photographic evidence of the existence of albino tigers in our time. However, you will be able to spot almost 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 experts interviewed said. that they still need to see a real albino.
Myth: White tigers are a separate subspecies.
Fact: Sorry, wrong again. White predators are among the Bengal tigers, although sometimes they can appear from different types of 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 white Amur tigers are claimed by some to occur naturally, 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 color, it would have been noticed by now. However, Bengal tigers with Amur crosses do exist and are sometimes erroneously referred to as "white Amur tigers".
Myth: White tigers originated from Siberia.
Fact: Many people believe that these predators originated from Siberia, and the white color is a camouflage when living in snowy conditions. In fact, white tigers originated in India, more precisely in Rewa in India. It is rather strange why the Amur tiger did not acquire a color that provides better camouflage; our best guess is that it must do so over a very long evolutionary process.
Myth: Black tigers don't exist.
Fact: Of course they exist! Now we have pictures of tigers with this color, at least Bengal ones. Just in this case, it is produced a large number of melanin, i.e. animal hair contains a very high amount of dark pigment. The melanin content also influences the appearance of black jaguars and leopards, often referred to as black panthers.
Myth: Tigers can be distinguished by their tracks (paw prints).
Fact: This is not entirely true. However, tiger paw prints look different in different types of soil, which means that until the predator has distinct tracks, accurate identification is not possible.
Myth: Tigers hunt in groups.
Fact: This myth appeared due to the fact that 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 instances of several tigers appearing together occur when the cubs have not yet become independent and are learning from their mother. With the exception of 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 pesky insects. They prefer fresh water, it is believed that salty water can irritate the liver. Note: Some cats are quite comfortable in the water, while others raised in captivity, including the lion, are rarely in the water.
Myth: Amur tigers are the largest cats in the world.
Fact: This is a misnomer. Amur tigers are the largest naturally breeding cats in the world. This means 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 - a 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: Hybrids ligers and tigons are sterile.
Fact: Surprisingly, this is not true. This only applies to male ligers and tigons, however, females are generally capable of reproduction. This myth caused the appearance of li-ligers and ti-tigons after hybrid females were placed with uncastrated males and no contraception was used.
Myth: In the forest of Gir, the ranges of the tiger and lion overlap.
Fact: Although the forest of Gir has enough prey for tigers, only the lion is found in this area.
Myth: Previously, tigers were found in Tasmania.
Fact: Thylacine, or the Tasmanian tiger, was not related to the cats. It was a marsupial with stripes on the back of the body. It was presumably hunted until it disappeared in 1930. In recent years, there have been many unconfirmed claims, some from reliable people, about the discovery of these animals, but the search for this shy creature was unsuccessful.
Myth: Saber-toothed tigers were relatives of the modern tiger.
Fact: The saber-toothed tiger was an example of simultaneous development and has nothing to do with the modern tiger. Although it belongs to the cat family, it is not a tiger, and it is more correct to call it a saber-toothed cat.
The Amur tiger is one of the rarest representatives of the world fauna. As an object of the first category of the threat of extinction, it is included in the Red Books of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Russia, it 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 Far East of Russia, where the northern the border of the range of the species, this tiger lives on the territory of Primorye and the Amur region. At present, only the Sikhote-Alin has the only viable population of the Amur tiger in the world.
Of the five existing subspecies of the tiger, the Amur tiger is perhaps the largest in size. Its winter fur, unlike other forms, is very thick and long, relatively light in color. The Amur tiger is an inhabitant of mountainous regions covered with broad-leaved and cedar-broad-leaved forests. The habitats of most tiger groups are located in the basins of the middle and lower reaches of mountain rivers at altitudes of 400-700 m above sea level. Individual tigers visit the highlands rarely and only during snowless or little snow periods.
The natural conditions of tiger habitats in the Sikhote-Alin are exceptionally harsh. In winter, the air temperature in some 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 30-60 cm. The degree of adaptation of the predator to difficult environmental conditions , characteristic of the northern limit of the distribution of the species, is quite high. Low winter temperatures do not affect the vital activity of the tiger. He arranges temporary beds right on the snow and can stay on them for several hours. For a long rest, they prefer shelters - rocky ledges and niches, voids under fallen trees. When there is a lot of snow, when moving around the site, tigers willingly use wild boar trails, logging roads, hunter trails, and snowmobile tracks.
The migration routes of tigers in the area are relatively constant and are maintained by them from year to year (Yudakov and Nikolaev, 1973; Matyushkin, 1977). As a rule, an adult tiger or a family of predators make transitions along their old paths, which are regularly updated by them. The sizes of habitats are not the same and depend on the sex of the animal, age, presence and size of cubs, as well as on the density of the population of ungulates - the main prey of the tiger. The smallest area (10-30 km²) is occupied by females accompanied by cubs under the age of one year. The habitat area of adult territorial male tigers is 600-800, females - 300-500 km².
Tigers lead a solitary lifestyle. The exception is females, accompanied by a brood of cubs, or the rutting period. The individual ranges of adult same-sex individuals do not overlap or may partially overlap (in males). Polygamy is typical for the Amur tiger (Matyushkin, 1977; Zhivotchenko, 1981a). In the habitat of an adult male, individual sites of several females may be located. The daily movements of tigers are different and depend on whether the animal makes a transition through the habitat, hunts successfully or unsuccessfully, searches for prey or eats it. The average daily course of an adult male tiger is 9.6 km, the maximum is 41 km. For tigresses, the average movement per day is 7 km, the maximum is 22 km (Yudakov and Nikolaev, 1987).
The basis of food is wild boar and red deer (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, wild boar and red deer account for about 60 and 30%, respectively (Yudakov and Nikolaev, 1987; Pikunov, 1988), on the eastern (Sikhote-Alin Reserve) these figures are more than three times lower in wild boar and almost 2.5 times higher than red deer (Matyushkin, 1992). On the eastern macroslopes of the southern Sikhote-Alin (Lazovsky Reserve), the share of wild boar and red deer 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 particular time of the 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, more often 2-3. The average size of a litter ranges from 1.5 to 2.4 cubs (Kucherenko, 1972; Smirnov, 1986). Most females give birth for the first time 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 broods may appear at intervals of two years, and in the event of the death of cubs, in the year of their loss. The mortality rate of young is very high - about 50% (Smirnov, 1986). Cases of death of tigers from bears and facts of cannibalism are quite rare, they do not significantly affect the well-being of the species (Kostoglod, 1977; Nikolaev and Yudin, 1993).
IN late XIX in. The area of permanent habitation of the Amur tiger extended to the left bank of the Amur. The northern border of the range stretched from the western foothills of the Lesser Khingan to the mouth of the river. Gorin at 51 ° N. Further, descending to the south and skirting the axial part of the northern, partly middle Sikhote-Alin, the border went to the sea at 46 ° 30' - 47 ° N. Subsequently, the range of the tiger began to decrease significantly , mainly in the north, and by 1940 its border had shifted to the river basin. Iman (Geptner, Sludsky, 1972). In the same years, the forest-meadow areas of the Khanka lowland, the vicinity of large cities, fell out of the range (Baykov, 1925). Since the beginning of the 1950s, as a result of the protection measures taken, the area of tiger habitat has begun to expand noticeably.
At present, tigers inhabit almost the entire forest-covered part of the habitats suitable for them in the Primorsky and southern parts of the Khabarovsk Territories (Matyushkin et al., 1997). Along the western macroslope of the Sikhote-Alin mountain system, the northern boundary of its range extends approximately to 50° N, along the eastern - 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 XIX-XX centuries, 120-150 tigers were hunted here annually (Silantiev, 1898). The intensive extermination of these predators, accompanied by the reduction of 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 decline sharply. By the end of the 30s, the Amur tiger was on the verge of extinction - there were only no more than 50 individuals left. The situation began to change for the better only after the protection measures taken - the ban on hunting for tigers (1947) and their catching (1956-60) with its subsequent restriction.
The maximum population density of these animals, according to the results of recent surveys, was noted in the Sikhote-Alinsky, 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 activities. With a minimum number of tigers inhabit the northern Sikhote-Alin, where the conditions of existence are the most difficult, characteristic of the northern limit of the range of the species, as well as the southern developed and densely populated areas of Primorsky Krai (1-2 ind./1000 km²).
The main limiting factor is poaching, which has become commercial in recent years. Tiger products are sold in most countries of East Asia as a valuable medicinal raw material. Another negative factor in terms of significance is the increased imbalance in the numbers of the predator and its main prey.
In Russia, the tiger was taken under protection in 1947, when a complete ban on hunting was introduced. In recent years, international cooperation has become increasingly important in the protection of this animal, which is expressed not only in financial, logistical support for various environmental organizations, but also in joint work. Currently, research is being carried out within the framework of the Russian-American project "Amur Tiger" using radio tracking. Contacts have been established and work has begun on the tiger and leopard in the countries adjacent to Russia - the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The “Strategy for the Conservation of the Tiger in Russia” was prepared and adopted for action, which defines the main areas of activity for the conservation of the natural population of one of the most beautiful subspecies of this cat, the Amur tiger.
Tiger - who doesn't know a striped giant cat? Imagination immediately draws 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 unlike one another. In different geographical areas, the striated color of the tiger varies, and this serves as the basis for distinguishing subspecies - Bengal, Chinese, Sumatran, Amur, Javanese, Balinese, Turan.
There are very few tigers left in nature, and this prompted people to take up their protection, to put the animals in the Red Book, despite the fact that until recently the tiger was known as a sworn enemy of man and a fight was waged against him.
In the extreme west of the tiger range, in a territory isolated by mountains and deserts, a tiger lived that was different from all others. Some zoologists called it "Turanian". Turan - the ancient name of the lowlands 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 - in Transcaucasia and border Iran.
The favorite habitats of the animal were reed beds along the rivers of Central Asia - the Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Vakhsh, Pyandzhu, Atrek, Tejen, Murgab. To the north, these tigers penetrated to Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. They lived in the 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. First of all, there must be water nearby - tigers often drink a lot. Snowy winters were difficult for the Turanian tiger, and the lair was arranged in places protected from snow.
In Central Asia, the tiger is called "dzholbars". "Jol" - the way in Kazakh. Leopard - "tramp", "wandering leopard" - this is how this nickname can be translated. Sometimes the tiger is seized by wanderlust and he begins to wander, perplexing and frightening people with his unexpected appearance where he has not been seen. There are cases when Turanian tigers left their native places for a thousand kilometers, and in a day it cost them nothing to cover ninety. In 1922, one such wanderer traveled in a straight line for more than four hundred kilometers and wandered into the vicinity of the city of Tbilisi. Here his life path was interrupted by a man.
Animal photographers have learned to hunt down and photograph the rarest, secretive and dangerous animals, but no matter how hard they try to click the Turanian tiger, they have not yet succeeded and are unlikely to succeed ...
There is an assumption that he disappeared forever. But if he nevertheless disappeared, then it happened quite recently, and his memory is still fresh. Judging by the rare and scattered descriptions, he was over two meters long, the tigresses were somewhat smaller. Such a beast weighed up to two hundred kilograms.
Turanian was bright red. It was decorated with narrower and more frequent stripes, longer than those of other tigers. Sometimes they were not black, but brown. The fur of the Turanian tiger in winter became thicker, silkier, especially on the nape and belly, it grew lush sideburns, so that the animal seemed shaggy, unlike its shorter-haired relatives.
The general impression of those who saw the Turanian tiger in nature: 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 the extremely concentrated strength.
The protective coloration hid the beast among the yellow reed stalks. In the game of highlights and shadows under the canopy of the subtropical forest, this allowed him to get as close to prey as possible, so that a swift throw was sure. A rare animal could resist a mass of two centners flying in a swift throw, so that the black and yellow stripes merged and the tiger seemed gray.
Here is a case from the past. A camel strayed from the caravan, bogged down in the salt marsh. No matter how hard the drovers tried, they could not help the stuck camel. We settled down for the night nearby in the hope of still pulling out the camel in the morning. But at night the tiger did it for them. Despite the proximity of people, he killed the camel and dragged it a hundred and fifty paces.
Roe deer and wild boars in Transcaucasia, goitered gazelles, saigas and kulans coming from the sands to watering places to rivers and lakes in Central Asia, Bukhara deer hanguls became his prey. The hungry beast did not disdain even to have a bite of a jackal or reed cat that turned up. But he rarely ate carrion. 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. He enjoyed the fruits of sucker and sea buckthorn.
One of the few zoologists who studied the biology of the Turanian tiger in our country was Sergey Ulyanovich Stroganov, Doctor of Biological Sciences. 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 path of predators - a tunnel of wild vegetation. The beast always arranged a lair in the shade of trees, it was covered with crushed grass, and a platform of about forty square meters adjoined it, all beaten out and littered with the bones of animals killed by the tiger. There was a strong, foul smell all around.
S. U. Stroganov completed his observations with the following characteristic: "The Turanian tiger is bold, secretive and very sensitive. You can live for many years in places where tigers live and never see them." However, the secrecy of the Turanian tiger did not prevent people from getting to know him for a very long time. Europe and Russia recognized him much earlier than the Indian and other brothers.
The Turanian tiger was known to the ancient Romans. Animals caught in Persia and Armenia were delivered to Rome, where the nobility amused themselves, watching the bloody fights of wild animals with gladiator slaves. But the first tiger that came to Rome caused such fear that no one dared to fight openly with him - the beast was killed in a cage. IN Ancient Russia they only heard about tigers that a "fierce beast" lives in the south.
Russia's contacts with its neighbors gradually expanded, and tigers from Persia (now Iran) and Central Asia began to end up in royal and princely menageries. The merchant Fyodor Kotov, having seen a Turanian tiger during his wanderings in the Shah's menagerie in the city of Qazvin, compiled a description of it in the twenties of the 17th century. At that time, in Russian books, this beast was called "babr" - a word borrowed from the southern neighbors - the Turks. Bookish, Latin "tigris" appeared later.
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 the records 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 disguise itself, suddenly disappear and appear created him the glory of a werewolf.Tiger - the hero of myths, legends, fairy tales.
Hunting both for the tigers themselves and for their prey - wild boars and other ungulates, cutting down tugai and foothill forests, plowing land for cotton, fires in reeds - all this led to a catastrophic decrease in their numbers.
The Turanian tiger had one tiny animal ally in its struggle for survival. It's a malarial mosquito. Malaria has long been the scourge of those places in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Iran, where the last tigers huddled. When its foci were eliminated in our country and abroad in the zone of the range of the beast, people began to develop tiger linings without fear. Now people have finally realized that the tiger needs to 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 set for those who violate it. In Iran, a reserve of one hundred thousand hectares has even been created to protect it, but most likely people are already too late with these measures.
But even if it were possible to find the last Turanian tigers, it would be difficult to preserve them in nature. An individual plot, a kind of natural enclosure of this predator is not small, at least forty square kilometers, and for a free life it needs a thousand square kilometers of riverside thickets rich in wild ungulates. The Jolbars' propensity for wandering complicates the matter. It would be possible to save it by transferring the last individuals to the zoo, where they would give birth ...
But, alas, now there are no Turanian tigers left, it seems, even in captivity. The tame tigress Teresa, a gift to the Soviet ambassador in Iran in 1926, lived in the Moscow Zoo; she fell at the age of eighteen. In general, tigers can live up to fifty.
With the ambivalent attitude of man to this beast, today the question is unambiguous: guard! The tiger, in its own way, guards the wildlife, improving populations of ungulates. Its mere presence in the lands develops special caution in animals, contributes to their vitality. And one more thing: it has long been known that the tiger persistently pursues wolves. And the wild fauna suffers much more from them.
It is a pity to part with the hope of seeing this beast alive. Will descendants really have to get to know him by faded effigies with a glazed look and a sign: " Exterminated in the 20th century!"
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, according to the latest genetic research, they almost completely disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene era, perhaps around 10,000-12,000 years ago. A small remaining part of the population has survived, probably in the territory of modern China. From this area, the tigers have begun to spread again, migrating along the rivers following their prey, mainly deer and wild boar. Although all continental tigers are closely related and can be considered as regional populations rather than separate subspecies, they have developed some physical and morphological properties to adapt to different environmental conditions.
The 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, in the Sea of Japan region, while Caspian or Ural-Altai tigers (Panthera tigris virgata) were found mainly in the West. They lived in the river basin regions of western and central Asia, wherever there was enough prey, water and plants.
In winter these amazing cats there was thick, beautiful fur, usually more red than that of the Siberian tigers, more closely spaced black and sometimes brown stripes, long white fur on the belly, and in summer their fur was shorter. Slightly inferior in size to their Far Eastern relatives, adult male Caspian tigers weighed 170-240 kg and reached 270-290 cm in length.
They met in the territory from Turkey and Transcaucasia, in reed beds and floodplain forests along big rivers Central Asia, east of the border of Lop Nur and Bagrash Kul lakes in the province of Xinyang, formerly known as Chinese Turkestan.
The unique habitat of the Caspian tiger was the tugai vegetation located along large rivers, starting high in the mountains and crossing deserts, or around lakes. Tall and dense reeds grow along the banks of rivers, surrounded by floodplain forests of poplar and willow. This encourages the growth of tamarisk bush, saxaul and other salt-tolerant plants on the border with the desert. Due to such dense undergrowth, tigers sometimes had to stand up on their hind legs to inspect the territory.
The range of tigers and their prey, such as the 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 place of agricultural settlements of people.
The tiger played an important role in the culture of the people of southwestern Asia. The Tigris River was named after a predator who, according to legend, carried a pregnant princess on his back across a stormy river. On the other hand, thanks to this name, the tiger became associated with the fertility of the river. As a rule, 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.
In Central Asia, tigers were generally considered not to be a threat to life, and they coexisted near human settlements, even near large cities such as Tashkent. But the spread of settlements, especially Russian emigration in Central Asia at the end of the 19th century, should have led to their death. Since coastal vegetation was destroyed for cultivation and the rivers were used for irrigation, mainly for growing cotton, which has been common since the 1930s, tigers have lost their habitat and prey.
In Russian Central Asia, in the first decades of the twentieth century, military detachments were used to exterminate tigers, as well as leopards and wolves, in order to free up territory for human settlements. Pastoralists viewed tigers as a threat to the lives of their animals, including camels, horses, and sheep. Due to the fact that their beautiful skin was highly valued, predators were killed with both strychnine and steel traps, and huge bonuses were paid for their destruction. Soon the ribbons or tracks of the tiger range were divided by human settlements, and the tiger populations declined and became more dispersed: the ribbons became spots on the map of the distribution of the Caspian tiger.
The nature reserves established in Soviet Central Asia were too small to support the tiger population, and only a few patches of riparian vegetation remain, perhaps a tenth of the original reed beds and floodplain forests. Their size may have stabilized by now, but the tigers are gone.
The extermination of the Caspian tigers in Soviet Central Asia was associated with the destruction of the environment, which adversely affected the local residents. The trend of the command economy to focus on growing cotton since the 1930s has had dire consequences for humans and tigers. Demand for irrigation water has severely shaken the region's fragile ecosystem, resulting in a 50% decrease in the Aral Sea area and soil salinity.
Along the Syr-Darya and Amur-Darya rivers and around Lake Balkhash (Kazakhstan), the last tigers living here 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.
It is likely that the last Caspian tigers were seen in the USSR at the foot of the Talysh Mountains and the Lankaran River Basin in southeastern Azerbaijan near the Caspian Sea in 1964, but they may have been tigers migrating from neighboring Iran. Here, on the southern Caspian coast of Iran, in former times tigers were numerous, and in the 1960s, about 15-20 individuals survived in this region.
The last recorded tiger was killed in Iran in 1957, but it is possible that a few predators still survived in the area in the 1970s. Clearing of reeds and lowland forests on the southern shores of 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 surprising that fresh tiger skins were found in eastern Turkey in 1972, but no such case has been recorded since.
Further east, skirting the impenetrable Takla Makan desert in China's Xinyang Province, flows the Tarim River. Along this river and around Lop Nur (or Nor) Lake, into which the Tarim River flows, tigers tracked wild boars in reed beds and oases. But by the 1920s they were exterminated. Due to the fact that a lot of water was used to irrigate agricultural land along the Tarim River and the rivers flowing into it, Lop Nur Lake completely dried up, and the floodplain forest along the rivers, which was the range of tigers, was almost completely destroyed. Since the 1960s, the Lop Nur desert has been used by the Chinese for testing nuclear weapons. Despite this, some wild Bactrians (bactrian camels) still survived there.
So, back in the 1970s, the last Caspian tigers were exterminated, although the population was mostly 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. In such arid areas, they could not survive.
The ban on tiger hunting in the USSR in 1947 was passed too late to save the Caspian tiger. However, he helped save the few surviving Amur tigers. Their refuge is the Sikhote-Alin region, a forest that occupies the same area as England. Despite poaching, their numbers increased from the 1950s to the 1980s and now seem to have stabilized. Russian and international conservation organizations are working diligently to save the Amur tigers, and we must ensure that these magnificent cats do not share the fate of Central Asian predators.
It would seem that we just do not know about our smaller brothers in general and about tigers in particular. Already listed in the Red Book for a long time, they are everywhere registered and under strict control not only by professional naturalists, owners national reserves but also by international organizations. In some areas of the world where tigers live, they are monitored from satellites, which makes it possible to better track their migration routes and living conditions. However, a recent discovery made by a group of American zoologists led by Professor Joel Krakraf of 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. With the help of 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 were called Panthera sumatras and assigned to a subspecies of related animals that live on the Pacific islands. Unlike their mainland counterparts, they have their own genetic characteristics, expressed in habits, behavior, and appearance. Upon closer examination, it was found that they have a partially different color, a slightly different arrangement of dark stripes on the body. Some features of the body structure are noticed.
The discovery threatens to overturn past ideas about the life of this remarkable animal. It is generally accepted that initially tigers lived only in mainland Asia - in a vast zone from the Caucasus to the Amur, and then settled around the world, migrating to other areas. The "development" of the southeastern part of the continent took place at a time when this region was a single entity with Eurasia, that is, before the rise in the level of the World Ocean and the formation of numerous archipelagos - about 12 thousand years ago. Hence the rather conditional division into species and subspecies - according to the so-called "geographical feature". There are Amur tigers, or Siberian, Chinese, Bengal, Turanian, Caucasian... All these representatives of a huge family, in general, are close relatives, because over the past millennia they had the opportunity to communicate with each other, maintain a single genetic system and structure of the DNA molecule, responsible for heredity.
Perhaps, once the tigers from the island of Sumatra were 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 the framework of a single island - led to the "freezing" of the genetic code, preserving it in the form it was in prehistoric times. In fact, says Joel Krakraf, we are dealing with the most purebred tiger to date and must preserve this uniqueness.
The problem of tiger conservation 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 population of the Chinese tiger reached 4 thousand heads, and now there are about 80. According to the World Conservation Union, no more than 200 Amur tigers roam the Far Eastern taiga. Over the past decades, tigers from the islands of Java, Bali, as well as the Turanian tiger, which were separate subspecies, have disappeared.
| area | Description | Photo |
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| Siberian (Amur, Ussuri) tiger | ||
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The largest representative of the cat. An adult male reaches 280 cm in length (without a tail, the length of which is 70-90 cm) and up to 320 kg of weight.
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| Indian (Bengal) tiger | ||
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 is about 1200 individuals in the wild. The length of the Indian tiger is up to 3 meters, and the weight is 180-260 kg (for females - 100-160 kg). |
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Total allocated nine kinds of tigers, of which only six remain alive, and three are considered extinct.
Existing tiger species
Amur or Siberian tigers
photo: Joeke Pieters
Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) can reach almost 3.3 meters in length. The weight of males is up to 300 kg, and they are larger than females. This subspecies of tiger has a skull that is much larger than other species. The color of the Amur tiger is paler in winter, and with the advent of the warm season, the saturation becomes brighter. The fur is thicker and coarser than that of other tiger species due to the low temperature of the range where it lives. Amur tigers are capable of knocking down animals that weigh several times more than they do. They tend to prey on moose and wild boars.
Bengal tigers
Bengal tiger (lat. Panthera tigris tigris or Panthera tigris bengalensis) can be seen in India. It is the most numerous of all tiger species with over 2500 individuals in the wild. This species of tiger can weigh around 230 kg for an adult male and 140 kg for a female. Bengal tigers also have very long tails and heads that are larger than other species. They are excellent hunters and feed on a wide variety of prey that includes deer, antelope, pigs, and buffalo. Also, during the shortage of basic food, monkeys, birds and other smaller prey are hunted.
Indochinese tigers
The type of tiger that is known as the Indochinese (lat. Panthera tigris corbetti), found in several Asian countries. The species is darker in color and smaller than Bengal tigers, but they are capable of reaching a maximum weight of 200 kg for males and 150 kg for females. Indochinese tigers prefer to live in forested areas. There aren't many tigers like this anymore. The government estimates that the population of the species is only 350 individuals. The Indochinese tigers are suffering from food shortages as the number of wild pigs and deer is also decreasing.
Malayan tigers
Malayan tiger (lat. Panthera tigris jacksoni) can only be found in the south of the Malay Peninsula. This tiger was only recognized as a separate species in 2004. It is the smallest species on the mainland and the second smallest species of tiger. Males weigh an average of 120 kg, and females about 100 kg. Note that the Malayan tiger has cultural significance as it is featured on the country's coat of arms and is also the logo of Maybank, a Malaysian bank.
Sumatran tigers
photo: Hagen Schneider
Sumatran tigers (lat. Panthera tigris sumatrae) a very rare species that lives only on the island of Sumatra. Habitat destruction is still considered the main threat to the Sumatran tiger. The stripes on the Sumatran tiger are closer together than on other tigers. This allows him to be invisible in the tall grass. One of the Sumatran tiger's best tactics is to chase its prey through the water. He is an extremely fast swimmer, so he is easily able to intercept larger prey in the water, which he would not be able to handle on land.
Chinese tigers
Chinese tigers (lat. Panthera tigris amoyensis) most at risk of extinction. The species of this tiger is often on the list of the ten most endangered species in the world. In the early 1950s, Chinese tigers were estimated to have numbered 4,000. And already in 1996, only 30-80 of these unique animals remained.
Extinct tiger species
Bali tigers
Some species of tigers are extinct, among them is Balinese species of tigers (lat. Panthera tigris balica). As the name implies, the range of this species of tigers was limited to the island of Bali, Indonesia. Before extinction, the Bali tiger was the smallest tiger species. The species is still considered important in Balinese Hinduism.
Caspian tigers
Caspian tiger (lat. Panthera tigris virgata), which is also known as Transcaucasian tiger used to be found in rare forests. It was found in the south and west of the Caspian Sea. At least, in the wild still met until the early 1970s. The closest living species to the Caspian tiger is the Amur tiger.
Javan tigers
He lived on the island of Java, after which he got his name - Javan tiger (lat. Panthera tigris sondaica). This extinct species of tiger was found until the mid-1970s. The mass of males is from 100 to 140 kg, and females - from 75 to 115 kg. Unfortunately, the last Javan tiger was seen after 1979, in the area of Mount Betri.
Tiger hybrids
We talked about different types tigers, as well as those that have become extinct. However, there are some other species that can also be considered part of the tiger family, such as liger and tigon hybrids.
Liger
Liger is a hybrid, which is the result of the mating of a male lion and a tigress. The lion contributes a gene that promotes growth, because of this, ligers can grow much larger than their parents and have a length of 3-3.5 m, and a weight of 360 kg to 450 kg or even more. They, however, display appearance and the behavior of both parents. As a result, the liger has spots and stripes imprinted on the sandy fur. Male ligers have a 50% chance to grow a mane, just not as luxurious as a lion's. Although the resulting liger is definitely beautiful and interesting to study, the males of this hybrid are sterile even when their females are normally fertile.
Tygon
Tygon, which is the result of breeding between a male tiger and a lioness, is a less common hybrid. Naturally, tiger hybrids cannot be found in the wild, they can only be seen in zoos or circuses. The sizes of tigons are usually not above average.
Types of tigers with a unique color
White tigers
Very attractive appearance white tiger makes it a popular and desirable zoo resident or even an exotic pet, but albino tigers are rare in the wild. White tigers were first bred in early XIX century. They can appear in parents of tigers that carry a rare gene that occurs only once in 10,000 births.
golden tigers
Another recessive gene can lead to an interesting "golden" hue. The color is sometimes referred to as "golden tabby". actually have golden fur, with pale orange stripes. Their fur is thicker than that of other tigers. At last count, there are about 30 golden tigers.
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The tiger is one of the largest and most beautiful predators on Earth. These qualities of his did the animal a disservice: today, according to rough estimates, only about 6,500 individuals remain in the world - with a rather extensive geography of settlement. Most tigers are in India, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
In all countries where it lives, the tiger is a protected animal, hunting for it is prohibited everywhere.
tiger range
Today, tigers are preserved in 16 states - in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Iran, Cambodia, China, North Korea (this fact is controversial), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand.
Scientists believe that tigers appeared in northern China about 2 million years ago and only 10 thousand years ago began to settle. Due to excessive hunting for them, the habitat of animals began to decline, reaching a peak of reduction at the end of the 20th century: in 10 years - from 1995 to 2005, the territory of tigers decreased by 40%!
What tigers live in what countries?
Nowadays, 9 subspecies of the animal are known, 3 of which man has destroyed.
Amur tiger
It is also Siberian, Ussuri, Far Eastern, the most beautiful and largest. According to the habitat, it is also “the most” - the most northern. The tiger lives in Russia on the banks of the Amur and Ussuri, in the foothills of the Sikhote-Alin, where one sixth of all Amur tigers settled.
The number of the Amur tiger in nature is negligible on the scale of the Earth - just over 500 individuals, of which only 30 - 40 live in China, the rest - in the Russian Federation. For the Russian Ussuri taiga, the number of 500+ is optimal: a larger number of animals simply will not find food for themselves.
Slightly fewer Amur tigers are settled in zoos around the world - about 450.
Bengal tiger
They number about 2,400 individuals and are found in India (more than 1,700 individuals), Pakistan (140 individuals), Nepal (155 individuals), Bangladesh (200 individuals), at the mouths of the Indus, the Ganges (the territory of the Sundarbans), Ravi. There are 5 Bengal tigers in Russia. 
In the 70s, scientists created a "white version" of the Bengal tiger through inbred crossing. It does not occur in nature - only in zoos. In addition to the white color, people are admired in these tigers by amazing Blue eyes. In total, more than 130 white individuals are kept in zoos and private menageries in the world.
indochinese tiger
It lives in Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and has up to 1,800 individuals. The largest population belongs to Malaysia, where the most severe punishments are applied to a person for hunting a tiger.
The Indochinese tiger suffered the most losses because of ... China. In the Middle Kingdom internal organs the animal was (and is) used to make medicines, means of prolonging life and increasing strength. For the "ingredients" for drugs, the Chinese pay a lot of money, which inspires hunters to kill tigers and sell the insides. Thus, ¾ of the population of Indochinese tigers in Vietnam were destroyed.
Chinese tiger
According to unconfirmed reports, there are no more than 20 of these animals left. They live in south-central China and are under the threat of extinction in the near future. The reason for this is the exclusively consumerist, ruthless attitude of some Chinese towards nature and animals, the killing of tigers for the "needs of Chinese medicine."
Sumatran tiger
It lives only on Sumatra - an island in the Malay Archipelago, part of Indonesia. Economic activity human population led to a dangerous decline in the population: today there are less than 300 tigers endemic to the island. However, in Indonesia, the number of tigers is also solving this problem, although slowly, but increasing.
Malayan tiger
The Malayan tiger, like the Sumatran tiger, is endemic. It lives on the Malay Peninsula, in its southern part. The population size is about 800 individuals.
golden tiger
This is not a separate subspecies, but a variety caused by genetic changes in any subspecies. For the first time, golden tigers were seen at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, scientists have been trying to unravel the mystery of the amazing color of animals, but so far - to no avail. Most of the golden tigers give nature Bengal tigers. 
You can meet a very beautiful animal, in principle, wherever tigers live. But most likely - in zoos, where today there are about 30 "precious" individuals.
For the first time I saw a tiger in the Kiev Zoo. He was lying on a stone belly to the top and basking in the warm sun. I so wanted to climb over the fence and stroke this beautiful kitty. But of course I didn't. The tiger is not a gentle animal. This is a formidable and intelligent predator, which can be found only in some parts of our planet.
Where do tigers live
Today tigers can meet in a limited area. Scientists divide tigers into nine kinds. But three of them are final destroyed. Formerly tiger population numbered about 100,000 individuals. But over the past hundred years this The number has dropped to 4,000. People hunted tigers for their beautiful fur. Or just for fun. Today Tigermeets only in taiga Far East of Russia, in China, Korea and India. And earlier it was found in the territories of Afghanistan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Turkey. What places to stay choose tigers:
- rainforests;
- bamboo thickets;
- taiga;
- mangrove swamps;
- savannas.
Depending on where you live tigers differ in coat color And sizes. For example, Amur tiger- most large in size. But their left no more 500 individuals. reside these beauties in Russia, Primorsky Krai and China.Bengal tiger not as exterminated as other species and is the most numerous. He lives in India and Bangladesh. The governments of these countries carry out many programs to protect these wonderful animals from extinction. But precisely Bengal tiger more often becomes cannibal. On the Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula reside the smallest representatives this type of cat. Maximum weight such a tiger reaches only 130 kilograms, whereas Amur tiger may weigh more than 350 kilograms.
Amazing tabby cats
The tiger is a very beautiful animal. He has mass amazing abilities. Here are some of them:
- Tiger takes third place on the list largest predators of our planet.
- lives tiger about 20 years.
- Tiger fangs have 10 cm length.
- The tiger is an excellent swimmer. He loves to swim just for fun.
- Tiger sees at night in 6 times better than a human.
- tiger has nis only striped fur, but also skin.
- identify the tiger can along his lanes. They are unique.
- Tiger paw kick maybe break the back of the brown bear.
- Tiger maybe imitate the voice of a leopard or a bear.
Today tigers are threatened with extinction. In Russia, killing a tiger is punishable only by a fine, but in China, a poacher loses his life for this crime.
The largest and northernmost predatory cat in the world, the Amur tiger, lives in Russia. The people dubbed the animal by the name of the taiga - the Ussuri or the name of the region - the Far East, and foreigners call the animal the Siberian tiger. In Latin, the subspecies is called panthera tigris altaica. There is no difference, but official name Still - the Amur tiger.
Characteristic
The Amur tiger is a predator from the cat family, the genus Panthera, a class of mammals. Belongs to the species of tigers, is a separate subspecies. The size is almost like a small car - 3 meters, and the weight is three times less - an average of 220 kg. By nature, males are a quarter larger than females.
Rare the animal has thick long hair - it protects from taiga frosts, and black stripes on it mask from enemies. The fur coat of the Amur tiger is not so bright and striped, unlike other subspecies. The color does not change in winter and summer - it remains red, but in winter it is a little lighter than in summer. The animal has rather wide paws - they help to walk in deep snow.
The symbol of the Far East is listed in the International Red Book. In the 1930s, hunters exterminated 97% of the Far Eastern tigers. To save the animal from extinction, the state banned hunting for it, and since the 1960s, the number began to grow. For 90 years, the population has increased by 20 times, but this is not enough: the Amur tiger still has the status of a rare animal.
Life expectancy depends on conditions. In captivity, the animal will live up to 20 years because it has a safe home, food and veterinarians. In the wild taiga, the opposite is often the case: frost is -40 ° C, the absence of animals for food, the struggle for free territory, poaching. Tigers live in freedom happy life, but twice as short - about 10 years. Although this is enough to live longer than their fellow species.
habitat
The Amur tiger lives in the southern part of the Far East. The main habitats are on the banks of the Amur and Ussuri rivers in the Khabarovsk Territory and at the foot of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in the Primorsky Territory. Also, part of the animals is located in the Jewish Autonomous Region.
Some of the animals live in nature reserves, national parks and reserves - "Sikhote-Alinsky", "Lazovsky", "Bikin", "Land of the Leopard". Inspectors protect territories from poachers, rescue injured animals. It does not look like a zoo: predators live in free conditions, without restrictions on movement. But there is a problem - there is not enough space for the entire population, and 80% of the subspecies lives in unprotected taiga forests and hunting farms.
Far Eastern tigers choose the cedar-broad-leaved forests of the Ussuri taiga for life. If the cuttings are not stopped, the animals will lose their homes.
In Russia, the largest population of the Amur tiger is the pride of the Far Eastern taiga. Among all subspecies of tigers, Russia ranks second - we have 13% of the world population, the first place remains with India. Sometimes Amur tigers make a cross-border transition: by land or river, they get from Russia to neighboring countries - China or to the north of the DPRK. But this does not prevent our country from leading in the number of individuals.
Nutrition
The tiger is the top of the food chain in the Ussuri taiga ecosystem. This means that the entire Far Eastern nature depends on its numbers: if there is no tiger, there will be no nature. To prevent this from happening, there should be enough ungulates in habitats.
10 kg
a tiger should eat meat a day
The main diet is wild boar, spotted deer, red deer and roe deer. If these animals are not enough, tigers feed on badgers, raccoons, hares, fish, and sometimes overwhelm bears. In severe famine, Amur tigers attack livestock and dogs. But in order to be full and healthy, one tiger still needs fifty ungulates a year.
Lifestyle
Ussuri tigers are solitary in their way of life. The male meets with the female for a couple of days, does not participate in the upbringing of the cubs, and the female also lives her own life when the offspring reaches puberty. Amur tigers even go hunting alone, although it is more difficult to get food.
Amur tigers live for years in one territory, if there is enough food around. And only the factor of its absence can make them make the transition to another place. The territory is assigned to the tiger with odorous marks, scratches in the ground and bullying on trees. So if strangers decide to enter his territory, then only because of arrogant behavior - then a fight will occur.
The Amur tiger hunts around its territory. He sees the victim, crawls closer to her, arches his back and puts emphasis on the ground with his hind legs. If you manage to go unnoticed, after the jump, the predator takes the trophy, but according to statistics, only one in ten attempts is successful.
Each cat has its own place: 20 km2 is enough for a female, and 100 km2 for a male in the Far Eastern taiga. Tiger cubs settle in places hidden from strangers, which the mother equips in thickets, crevices and caves. One male has 2-3 females with offspring in the territory.
Amur tigers breed once every two years. After 3-4 months, the tigress hatches from two to four cubs. At first, the mother feeds the cubs with milk, they try meat only at two months. Around the clock, the mother is next to the children only for the first week, then she goes hunting. Until the age of two, the tigress teaches her cubs to get food, they live with her. Tiger cubs become mature by the age of three or four.
Animals show their emotions with sounds and touches. For example, when you need to greet each other, they exhale rhythmically through their mouth and nose. To show sympathy or tenderness, they rub against each other and purr like domestic cats. In irritation, they wheeze and growl softly, in rage they make sounds similar to coughing.
A male has up to 3 females with cubs © Victor Zhivotchenko, WWF-Russia
tiger and man
Relationships with humans are a complex issue for Russian tigers. On the one hand, because of people, they were on the verge of extinction, but thanks to people, the population grew. Population growth also raised a question: now the animals need more space and food. Again, human activity interferes with this through logging, fires and poaching.
Due to the lack of ungulates, predators sometimes come to the villages for cattle and dogs, which disturbs the local residents. Between 2000 and 2016, there were 279 such conflicts in which 33 tigers died. Tigers avoid contact with people: instincts are responsible for hunting wild animals, in rare cases, domestic ones. There are two cases when a tiger reacts to a person - he is injured or he has nowhere to run.
At the same time, local residents help the tigers, but they do not touch people. When the townspeople encounter the beast near the settlements, they call in a task force. Conflict minimization specialists arrive and take the predator to a rehabilitation center. There are two of them in the south of the Far East: Utes in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Tiger Center in Primorye.
In rehabilitation centers, the animals are fed, nurtured, but they are not allowed to get used to captivity - this is how they retain their instincts. Before being released into the wild, predators are put on a GPS collar: it allows specialists to make sure that the animal does not come to people anymore.